Hook: Partridge Patriot #8
Thread: UNI 6/0 Red
Tag: UTC French Tinsel
Tail: Red & Yellow bucktail, Gold flash
Body: UNI Floss Black
Rib: UTC French Tinsel
Wing: Black Hair
Hackle: Yellow & Red
I got 50 Partridge Patriot yesterday and had to test it out by tying up some cascade. I haven’t tied on this hook before or fished this pattern, but the hook looks and feels solid and the pattern should be good for both salmon and seatrout.
Hook: TMC 7999 #8
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Black
Tag: UTC French Oval Silver
Body: UNI-Floss Black, White underbody
Rib: UTC French Oval Silver
Wing: Hair
Hackle: Whiting Rooster Black
A small and very simple salmon fly that I haven’t tested out in real-life yet, but I do think this pattern should give results, maybe in a smaller river on low water! Will tie this up in #8/#4 and #1 to have something to test out when the time comes.
This autumn is really turning out to have a single-hook salmon focus, but relax: I have some double hooks that needs tying as well :)
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.
Hook: TMC7999 #1/0
Thread: Sheer 14/0
Tag: Lagartun Oval X-Strong Fine, Lagartun French Silk Floss
Tail: GP, Veniard Red Crow Substitute
Butt: Black Ostrich
Body: Yellow/Claret/Black Seals Fur
Rib: UNI-Mylar #10, Lagartun Oval X-Strong Large
Hackle: The Fly. Co Rooster Neck
Throat: Veniard Chinese Cock Doctor Blue
Wing:Pair of Jungle Cock, 2 pair of GP tippets, 2 GP toppings
Sides: Jungle Cock
Head: Black Ostrich
Another classic salmon for my fishing box: the Durham Ranger. I have a JC that really isn’t that good for display flies, but for these fishing flies they are great! The durham ranger is one that I haven’t tied before but is in almost every book about the classics, and it shows up on many sites describing this pattern that was made by William Henderson in the 1840’s. I didn’t have all the material to be true to the original pattern, but I made due with what I had.
I always tie up a couple of each when I start a pattern to get a feel on how the pattern is, this time the second time around did come out better:
The seals fur body in three different colors:
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:
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