Green Highlander- #3/0

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:

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:

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

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

Rear-view of the green highlander:

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

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:

Comet Variations

Posted on 3 April, 201411 March, 2014 by Håvard Eide double flash jc jungle cock lagartun pheasant salmon templedog tube uni

Single hook: Dai-Riki 899 #1/0
Double hook: Kamasan B280 #6
Tag: Lagartun French Tinsel
Tail: Golden Pheasant
Body: Red/Black UNI Floss, Lagartun French Tinsel
Wing: Yellow & Red Templedog, Yellow Flash, Black Templedog, Silver Flash
Sides: JC

As I’ve noted before: I try to tie up a pattern in different colors, or, as in this case: different types to see how they come together. Today it was a repetition of the comet from the other day. I really like this pattern and the double will see some smaller variants down to #12 for trout.

Small tubes on treble hooks

Posted on 11 February, 20147 February, 2014 by Håvard Eide salmon salt tube

I have tied a lot of big hair-winged tube the last two months, but salmon (or trout for that matter) isn’t always interested in the big juicy flies! So today was a tie-up-small-tubes-for-treble-hook day and I got some in different color variations to see how they come together. All flies are done with Arctic Fox and/or temple dog.

Lime & Black:

Blue & Black:

Orange & Black

Blue & Black with flash on a red tube:

Yellow & Black with a experiment on the head:

First double-hook salmon fly

Posted on 18 January, 2014 by Håvard Eide B280 double jc kamasan lagartun ostrich pheasant salmon sheer templedog uni veniard

Hook: Kamasan B280 #6
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Black
Tag: Lagartun Varnished Frensh Tinsel Oval X-Strong Medium
Tail: Golden Pheasant topping
Butt: Ostrich
Body: UNI Floss Black, Lagartun Varnished Frensh Tinsel Oval X-Strong Medium
Wing: Blue & Black Templedog
Cheek: JC
Varnish: Veniard No.1 Clear

A first for me today: a double-hook salmon fly. I have never had any double-hooks available, but I was in the local flytyer shop and I picked up a box of Kamasan B280 in #6 to do some experimenting. This blue/black wing pattern should prove very effective, the pattern itself is very simple and doesn’t include many materials. In fact: you can easily cut out the ostrich, golden pheasant tip and the JC and still stand with a very good fly!

View from below:

The Kamasan B280:

My golden pheasant head where I pick the topping from:

3 tube flies with different hackle color

Posted on 14 January, 201414 January, 2014 by Håvard Eide arctic fox lagartun salmon templedog tube uni wapsi

Tail: Arctic Fox
Body: UNI Floss Green, Lagartun French Tinsel rib
Wing: Arctic Fox Red, Templedog Black
Hackle: Wapsi Strung Schlappen in different colors

Spent some time with different hackle colors on the same base pattern to see how they turn out on the fly. The long hackle on the Wapsi packages is good for these sized tubes, but I really should get some skins with different length to be able to adjust to the pattern instead of letting the hackle dictate the size of the fly.

The red hackle came out the best together with the rest of the body:

Red from the front:

Olive hackle, this made for a more trigger color:

Olive front:

Orange hackle, here I didn’t lay the hackle the correct way, so it points up and out instead of following the curve of the fly:

Orange front:

salmon

Green Highlander- #3/0

Comet Variations

Small tubes on treble hooks

First double-hook salmon fly

3 tube flies with different hackle color

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