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Craft Fur Shrimp

2015.09.06.dryfly.me.shrimp

Hook: Gamakatsu F314 #4
Thread: UNI 6/0 Pink
Mouth: Mallard, Pink Craft Fur
Antennas: Super Hair Tan
Eyes: Easy Shrimp Eyes
Rib: Mono
Body: SLF Saltwater Shell Pink
Hackle: Pink Craft Fur
Shell: EP Fibres Pink UV, Bug-Bond

I have been chasing a Whiting Spey salmon pink cape for a while to tie up shrimps, but there is a shortage, so: craft cur can be used instead to tie them up. This is a pattegrisen pattern that I haven’t fished with previously, so I need to head out to fish this one of these days!

Red Claret Spey

2015.02.15.dryfly.me.red_claret_speyHook: Daiichi 2052 #1.5
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Black
Body: Underbody UNI-Floss white, Lagartun Red Claret French Silk Floss
Rib: No-brand gold
Hackle: Heron
Wing: Veniard Mallard Bronze Large

A freestyle spey where I wanted to have as few materials as possible, work on the body profile and try to not overload the fly with too much of the materials I used.

The lagartun silk floss with the gold rib really stands out on this one, the taper of the body is also one that I’m very happy with – it goes smoothly from start to finish. The one thing I could work on is the wing, I did it high over the body (and not really low-set) with purpose, and I’m quite happy with that, but the smoothness of the wing from some angles are not the best, so I’ll put another version up later.

 

Blue Charm Spey

2015.01.01.dryfly.me.blue_charm_speyHook: Alec Jackson Spey #1.5 Bronze
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tag: UNI-French Oval Medium, Lagartun French Silk Floss
Body: UNI-Floss Black
Rib: UNI-French Oval Medium
Hackle: Spirit River Spey Hackle Bright Blue
Wing: Squirrel tail as underwing, 2 layers of Mallard bronze shoulder over

A fresh start of the new year brings a large variant of the Blue Charm to this great spey hook from Alec Jackson! The squirrel underwing on this is generous to make the wing layer of Mallard sit nicely, that is also why the head became rather large, but not much one can do about that. I chose to not have a topping over it all, but for the next tie-up I’ll add that as well. I would also need some more of the blue spey hackle soon, or get a heron substitute to make some more of this for my box.

Happy New Year to all the readers I have here on dryfly.me!

Sunturn Spey

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.sunturn_speyHook: Alec Jackson Spey #1 1/2 Heavy Wire
Body: 1/3 Lagartun Black Silk Floss, 1/3 The Fly Co. Yellow Seals Fur, 1/3 The Fly Co. Red Seals Fur
Rib: UNI-Mylar Silver #10, UNI-French Oval Small Gold, UNI-Mylar #16 tied reverse over the hackle
Hackle: Foxtail Hen Neck Red, The Fly Co. Yellow Rooster Neck, Black Heron. Order: red, yellow and finally black in front
Wing: Veniard Mallard Duck Bronze Large

Today is winter solstice, and here in Norway this marks the coming of more daylight and the start of a journey towards the spring where we once again will get to go out and flyfish for trout and salmon. One of my favorite beer breweries here in Norway is Nøgne Ø, and they have a tradition to brew a batch of Sunturnbrew on this very day. It is dark, has lots of flavor, fits perfectly with my tastebuds and is a massive 11% alcohol!

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.sunturn_spey_bottle

Some years back I bought some bottles to see how it matures, and I open one bottle every year, on winter solstice, the very day it was created. This batch was brewed back on 2010.21.12 and is batch number #573. Today I was inspired when I saw that the brewers are at it again and are creating another batch of this great beer! I sat down and thought about the taste, the label, the winter solstice and created this spey fly that I call “Sunturn Spey”, a homage to Nøgne Ø and their Sunturnbrew.

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.sunturn_spey_back

The main idea came from the white to yellow to red writing on the label, I also wanted to convey the darkness of both the beer and the time of the year that we have.

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.sunturn_spey_frontThe flow of the hackle together with the seals fur dubbing represents the sun coming out of the darkness. I would like to get some clean Sunturnbrew labels and mount this fly in a frame together with it and send it to Grimstad to the brewers!

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.sunturn_spey_sideDetail from the body: the counter-wrap will ensure that the hackle stays in place

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.sunturn_spey_back_detailA double mallard wing on top:

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.sunturn_spey_topI’m very happy with how this fly came out, and I could frame it, but the colors and shape of this fly makes it one that I will tie up a few of to have in my salmon box for when the summer comes!

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.