First creations- How do they look?

[docsab]

New to fly tying. Shown are my first creations- wouldn't mind some input regarding how they look- proportions, etc.

I know my tails may be a bit long, and I need to better define my bodies on the flying ants- head, thorax, abdomen- I'm trying to get my dubbing tighter

Comments/criticism welcome. Thanks

 

[Fishidiot]

Nice job Doc!
There's a lot good about these flies. Many beginners use beads that are too large - yours are fine. They're a bit scruffy but that usually makes for a fly that catches trout well. The smaller nymphs in your collection are especially good. Another common pitfall for newbie tiers trying to tie Zebra Midges is to wind the back of the body too far down the hook bend and this reduces the ability of the hook to stick and hold fish. Your flies are good with respect to this. The two midges on the left side in the middle of the row (clear beads) are pushing this. Don't go any lower down the shank. The two dries in the upper right hand side are tied pretty dense. Try a smaller hackle and somewhat fewer turns - this should produce a sparser, neater looking fly (sparsely tied flies are usually better than dense ones).
To get a tighter dubbing and make more pronounced head/abdomen sections on the ant flies, try using extra wax on your thread and twisting the dub on to the thread in small amounts with a more thorough twisting between your fingers. Apply head cement to the head/abdomen in between wrapping the dub and this will stiffen it a bit. Don't make the abdomen too large or you'll close the bite of the hook. Your ants are actually pretty good and don't need body sections much bigger than you already have 'em.

Well done.

 

[djs12354]

Doc,

I'm too new to offer any critical comments. They look good to me.

Re the dubbing, take your first pinch and then put half of it back. to help with tightening - get your first turn of dubbing and thread on the hook and then twist the dubbing again. That first turn serves to anchor the dubbing and let you get a tighter twist. Does this make sense?

 

[djs12354]

Doc,

I'm too new to offer any critical comments. They look good to me.

Re the dubbing, take your first pinch and then put half of it back. to help with tightening - get your first turn of dubbing and thread on the hook and then twist the dubbing again. That first turn serves to anchor the dubbing and let you get a tighter twist. Does this make sense?

 

[InTheMend]

I see you're a fan of Tightline Videos' tying tutorials. They got me started also..

 

[gfen]

better than a professional tier i know.

 

[krayfish]

With those, you should catch the sh#t out of fish. Good job.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Look at you, doc!

Those scuds are gonna be money on the LL....tie more.

 

[Volksnurse]

krayfish wrote:
With those, you should catch the sh#t out of fish. Good job.

Just catch the fish. Not the sh#t.

Nice job Doc!

 

[afishinado]

A suggestion to all tyers: buy, borrow, or steal a well tied fly of the pattern you wish to tie or even find a good pic of the pattern. Having the actual fly to use as a model and finding a tutorial with the pic in a book or online would be ideal.

Study the proportions and overall appearance and keep tying that pattern until you can replicate the model fly consistently. Okay, one pattern down, pick another one.

Learning to properly tie one pattern is like a building block to tying many other patterns using similar techniques. For example, if you learn to tie a parachute Adams, tying a parachute BWO, Hendrickson, Cahill, etc. is really the same, just maybe smaller or bigger with different color bodies, wings, hackle and tails.

 

[McSneek]

These are really nice for a new tier. Only thing I would add to what others have already said is some of the tails look like they are tied on the side of the hook rather than on top. Make sure you have your tail material positioned properly on top of the hook shank and make a couple of good pinch wraps before you let go. Make sure the material stays on top of the shank. It can slip if you're not holding it in place while tying down or if you're not tying it down on top of a thread base.

 

[docsab]

Great feedback- that really helps put me in the right direction.

djs and fishidiot- thanks for the dubbing tips- I think that will help as my dubbing always seems to twist about the line when I try to tighten it.

And yeah, I'm a tightlines fan- great vids.

Now to catch the sh#t out of some fish...