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Green Butt Spey

2015.01.24.dryfly.me.grey_but_speyHook: Alec Jackson Spey #1.5
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tag: UNI-French Medium Oval
Body: First half green Glo-Brite Fluorescent Floss, second half peackock herl
Rib: UNI-French Medium Oval
Hackle: Black heron
Wing: Mallard Duck Bronze Shoulder

A fluorescent green spey! Inspiration came from a pattern on the facebook spey tyer page. Tried to keep this slim and not fill it with too much material, and I think I succeeded in that: it is slim, just two turns of hackle and a overall slim profile. This will swim very well!

2015.01.24.dryfly.me.grey_but_spey_closeThe front-view:

2015.01.24.dryfly.me.grey_but_spey_front

 

 

Two Blue Doubles

2014.12.09.dryfly.me.blue_double

Hook: Kamasan B280 #6
Thread: Sheer 14/0
Tag: UNI-French, Lagartun French Silk
Tail: GP
Butt: Black Ostrich
Body: UNI-Floss
Rib: UNI-French
Underwing: Black fox
Wing: Mallard Duck, 2 toppings

A quick one this afternoon: Two doubles that started with the blue charm as inspiration and a little bit of google image search where I found the wing and GP layout that I thought would work good together.

Green Highlander- #3/0

2014.11.25.dryfly.me.gh

Hook: Partridge Bartleet Blind-Eye #3/0
Thread: UNI 17/0 Trico White, Sheer 14/0 Black
Tag: Lagartun Oval X-Strong Fine French Tinsel, Lagartun French Silk Floss
Tail: GP topping, Wood Duck
Butt: Black Ostrich
Body: Lagartun French Silk Floss, Seals fur Green Highlander
Rib: Lagartun French Tinsel
Hackle: Green Highlander Cock Saddle
Underwing: GP tippet
Wing: Dyed Turkey Yellow/Orange/Green, Wood Duck, Mallard Duck
Throat: Rooster Neck Yellow
Cheek: Red Crow Substitute

This one has been a long time in the making: I started last year with some married wings but it went on and off for a while and I didn’t have material that I needed for this pattern. I still don’t have everything I would like to have: the wing should have some GP/Bustard/Mottled turkey, a good JC and horns. But: step by step I’ll add more to this pattern, this time it was all about getting the 18 strands of wing to stay together and tie them in without the fibers going in every direction, and I did! Next time I’ll increase the wing to 21/24 strands and manage to tie that in properly, but I don’t mind doing more variants on this pattern (as long as I get some more silk gut soon….).

There are some adjustments on this (there always is!), but the parts I’m happy with on this fly: the GP that meets up in the back, the GP underwing that aligns (and the fact that I figured out how to do it), the fact that the wing stayed in one place when I tied it in (“Tying the classic salmon fly” helped me out there) and the mallard duck roof.

I’m also quite happy with the start of the fly: the silk was nice and (almost) even, together with the tinsel it was a good starting point:

2014.11.25.dryfly.me.gh_tail

The underbody of white UNI-Floss before I started to add silk and seals fur. This makes for a better profile on the final fly:

2014.11.25.dryfly.me.gh_body

Up until this point the fly is flowing nicely: the hackle could be better and the yellow throat should be thicker:

2014.11.25.dryfly.me.gh_body_done

The colors of the green highlander is what pulled me in the first time:

2014.11.25.dryfly.me.gh_close

Rear-view of the green highlander:

2014.11.25.dryfly.me.gh_rear

The topping is forming a nice veil on top of the fly and packs it in:

2014.11.25.dryfly.me.gh_front

 

If I were to save one fly I have ever created it must be this! I know that if I come back to this in a couple of years time I will find a lot of things to point out, but this is the process: tie up, learn, repeat. And for me part of that process is to put these patterns out here, together with a macro shot that shows all the little flaws it have, but that is one of the things that drive me to become better!

To give you a idea of how big this fly is:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Blind Eye #3/0 freestyle

dryfly.me.2014.04.23.salmon_freestyleHook: Partridge Bartleet Blind-eye #3/0
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Black
Tag: Lagartun French Tinsel, Yellow Floss
Tail: Golden Pheasant
Butt: Ostrich
Body: Yellow  & Black Floss
Rib: Lagartun French Tinsel, UNI-Mylar
Hackle: Spirit River Schlappen
Throat: Guinea
Sides: JC
Wing: Golden Pheasant Tail, Veinard Mallard Duck Bronze Shoulder

I bought some material to start off tying the classic atlantic salmon fly Jock Scott, but I realized that I didn’t have good enough goose shoulders to create a good wing for this #3/0 hook. So this is a freestyle to start familiarizing myself with more classic salmon tying, but not following any particular pattern. I also mix up different styles here, but this is just for practicing thread control and placements.

dryfly.me.2014.04.23.salmon_freestyle_topFront view: I like the profile it creates with the low wing and the JC sides.

dryfly.me.2014.04.23.salmon_freestyle_front

 

 

Blue & Gold Spey

dryfly.me.2014.04.13.spey_blueHook: Dai-Riki 899 #1/0
Tag: UTC French Tinsel Oval Gold Medium
Body: UNI-Floss Doc.Blue
Rib: UTC French Tinsel Oval Gold Medium
Hackle: Spirit River Spey Hackle
Throat: Guineafowl
Wing: Veniard Mallard Duck Bronze Shoulder Medium

A rather quick test to work with the Mallard wing and the spey hackle. The Blue/Gold in the body came out really good and I think the spey hackle will give it a good deal of life in the water.