Flyfishing, flytying and hooks

Orange Once And Away

dryfly.me.2013.10.19.once_and_away_orangeHook: Daiichi 1167 #12
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Black
Body: UNI-Floss Hot Orange & Br.Yellow
Thorax: Peacock
Wing & Thorax cover: 2 Jumbo CDC Orange
Antenna:  Peacock

Looking through the flies of Hans Von Klinken on danica.com and found the Once And Away that I have tied up in a orange variant. The pattern said contrasting thread and I had the hot orange and bright yellow on my desk, so from there it came out to this funky color-variation of the once and away. After I tied in the peacock for the thorax there was two strands of peacock that just stood perfectly to the side, so I trimmed them down to the same size as the wing.

dryfly.me.2013.10.19.once_and_away_orange_under

 

Shucking #20 deer hair caddis

dryfly.me.2013.10.19.shucking_deer_hair_caddisHook: Mustad 94840 #20
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Brown
Body: Whiting Bronze Brown
Wing: Wapsi Premo Deer Hair Natural Brown

I follow a lot of blogs and read my own planet.dryfly.me daily to get inspiration and ideas on new patterns to try out, the other day smallflyfunk had a #20 deer hair caddis that I reallly liked the look of. I got two new strips of deer hair not long ago: the Wapsi Premo Deer Hair, which I really enjoy working with on slightly larger patterns, but on smaller patterns I have never used much deer hair since the previous strips I’ve tried just wasn’t good enough for tying in on such a small  hook. So: this #20 pattern was a just the test I needed to see how it holds up.

The quality of the hair is great, the #20 caddis was a breeze to do, the limiting factor is actually getting the wing small enough when you hold it to tie it in! If you are tying caddis or other patterns that require deer hair: go into a shop and really get a feel for how it is, and spend that extra money on a good strip of hair, it will help you a lot in the future ( or you will end up, like me, with lots of bad pieces of hair in a box ). Read this article on choosing hair on globalflyfisher.com

The caddis on my thumb for size:

dryfly.me.2013.10.19.shucking_deer_hair_caddis_thumb

 

Red Midge Pupa

dryfly.me.2013.10.16.red_midge_pupae

Hook: TMC 2457 #14
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Brown
Tail: Sparkle Organza
Body: Red Floss, UTC Ultra Wire SM Silver
Thorax: Peacock

Working with floss can be a pain at times; it splits up and doesn’t stay put where you want it. But it really doesn’t matter when it comes to flies like this that you actually go out and fish with: this red midge pupae should be a good addition to any box for when the trout season starts up again