Fly tying practice

[jeremymcon]

I've been working on tying flies for a little over a month now. Here are a few of my favorites (I wish they all looked like these - most were too ugly to post. I think I'll save them just so I have a point of reference, though. Lol.)


Zonker:

Clouser minnow:
This one was tied with artificial "fish hair" rather than bucktail. I recently bought a few bucktail pieces to try out, so we'll see if it makes any difference.

Beadhead Hare's ear nymph:
I used pheasant tail for the tail and wing casing because that was what I had. Is there a standard material for the tail and wing casing? I've seen different recipes call for different things.

Shark's Caddis larva:
I think this is technically a Shark's Caddis, since I included a little dubbing into the antron yarn I used to make the body.

Beadhead Pheasant tail nymph:
These things were surprisingly hard to tie! Getting them to look properly proportioned is tricky. A lot of mine were too long and skinny. Even this is a little on the skinny side.

Scud:
I liked this pattern because it was really simple. Again pheasant tail for the tail and antennae because that was what I had. I weighted this one with some adhesive lead strips.

 

[DJBerg]

Man those make most of my flies look like poo.... nice tying!

And remember ugly flies catch fish too, I had a chartreuse zonker that caught me many many walleyes n bass. Horrible tying job worked awesome.

 

[Foxgap239]

If ugly flies didn't get fish, I would not be FoxGap239, I would be Skunk-O-fer. That said, they aren't ugly. They can be better but they sure make my first ties look sad!

 

[Brownie101]

Not bad at all!

 

[jeremymcon]

DJBerg wrote:
Man those make most of my flies look like poo.... nice tying!

And remember ugly flies catch fish too, I had a chartreuse zonker that caught me many many walleyes n bass. Horrible tying job worked awesome.

Yea I guess they would... Maybe I'll add all the really ugly ones I tied to my fly box instead of just storing them... Anyhow thanks for the complement. Chartreuse zonker is still on my list... Need to get some chartreuse rabbit strips.

 

[DJBerg]

Grab some white while your there probably my two fav zonker colors, well really pretty much for any streamer tying lol

 

[GenCon]

For your first flies they look really good. Keep at it!

GenCon

 

[nymphingmaniac]

all very good for a beginner and you have nothing to feel bad about sharing for feedback. The zonker is quite good. Some may feel the rabbit strip is a bit long, but that's personal preference.
quite the contrary to your opinion on the PT, it is not too skinny, it's just right. The other nymphs are too fat IMO. The thorax/wing pad on the BHHE is too small- think about 1/3-1/2 the size of the entire fly

Loose the legs on the PT and build the thorax up a little bit. If you feel the need for legs, make them less thick and stubby. Many believe, and I have observed this in fishtanks, mayfly nymphs pull their legs into their body when they drift/swim. The legs become prone only when they cling to substrates. The amount of tail on the PT could be reduced. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like you did not twist the PT fibers while wrapping. I prefer to do this as it makes it easier for me to control the profile. But not all do it this way.

With the exception of the "head", which tends to be a shade darker, the color on scuds is fairly uniform. I would suggest not using the dark tail and antenna on it.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

oh one more thing about the BHHE, I have not seen a nymph where the tails are significantly darker than the body. Use a tail that is closer to the color of the abdomen

 

[dc410]

Looking good Jeremy! Definitely try some real bucktail for your Clousers. Leave the natural taper of the bucktail in place by not trimming the tips. You will need to measure them up fairly accurately before tying it in. Leave your flash long until you are finished tying both colors of bucktail in. Trim the flash just a bit longer than the hair at the end of the tie. You will get great movement out of them when they are tied this way. focus on keeping the materials on the sparse side. Keep up the good work!

 

[jeremymcon]

dc410 wrote:
Looking good Jeremy! Definitely try some real bucktail for your Clousers. Leave the natural taper of the bucktail in place by not trimming the tips. You will need to measure them up fairly accurately before tying it in. Leave your flash long until you are finished tying both colors of bucktail in. Trim the flash just a bit longer than the hair at the end of the tie. You will get great movement out of them when they are tied this way. focus on keeping the materials on the sparse side. Keep up the good work!

Yea I've heard that a sparse clouser minnow is better. I did notice when fishing mine that they didn't look quite the same as the ones I bought after they get wet. I realized that once they get wet the fibers stick together to make the shape of a minnow (duh). The ones I made didn't taper as nicely at the back as the bucktail ones I bought. I hadn't heard the tip about leaving the flash longer. I'll have to try that too. Thanks!

 

[eunanhendron]

i'll say this. Great flies.

Invest in (or make) some cobblers wax, and use it. You'll find it will help hold materials in place better, particularly deer hair for your clousers.

The other benefit is it will help you to use minimal thread wraps to hold materials in place.

Otherwise, great work, keep at it, and you'll see improvements again in a months time.

 

[jeremymcon]

I've never heard of cobblers wax... I have dubbing wax. Is that the same thing?

 

[eunanhendron]

Not at all. Cobblers wax is much more sticky. Pm me your address and I'll send you a piece. I make it.

 

[afishinado]

All good suggestions above.

To tie decent flies, I suggest you use a well tied fly as a template. Note the materials, proportions, etc. Keep tying that fly until you can replicate the template fly. The techniques you master can be used when tying many other patterns.

Charlie's Fly Box is a great site to use for tying many patterns. Use the link to tie you pheasant tail pattern. I would bet, after tying 6 or 8 flies, they will start to look a lot like the pic in the link.

Flies need not to be perfect. As long as you use good technique, the flies you tie should be fishable.

Good tying.

 

[boychick]

Good job! Those should all catch fish. I was particularly impressed with the Clouser, my first Clousers were pretty ugly.

 

[jeremymcon]

nymphingmaniac wrote:
all very good for a beginner and you have nothing to feel bad about sharing for feedback. The zonker is quite good. Some may feel the rabbit strip is a bit long, but that's personal preference.
quite the contrary to your opinion on the PT, it is not too skinny, it's just right. The other nymphs are too fat IMO. The thorax/wing pad on the BHHE is too small- think about 1/3-1/2 the size of the entire fly

Loose the legs on the PT and build the thorax up a little bit. If you feel the need for legs, make them less thick and stubby. Many believe, and I have observed this in fishtanks, mayfly nymphs pull their legs into their body when they drift/swim. The legs become prone only when they cling to substrates. The amount of tail on the PT could be reduced. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like you did not twist the PT fibers while wrapping. I prefer to do this as it makes it easier for me to control the profile. But not all do it this way.

With the exception of the "head", which tends to be a shade darker, the color on scuds is fairly uniform. I would suggest not using the dark tail and antenna on it.

I didn't see your comment earlier. Thanks for all the feedback! I modeled the hair's ear on one that I purchased, but I would definitely believe you if you said it was too fat. Same with the shark's caddis. What other materials could I use for the tail and wing casing?

Also I saw some recipes that called for the legs (actually, I was thinking they were supposed to represent emergent wings) and some that didn't. I'll have to try it without.

Do you use the antenna at all on scuds, or just match the color to the rest of the body?

I've never actually seen the bugs that these nymphs are supposed to imitate in person. I guess learning about them would help to inform my tying a bit. Maybe I'll invest in a small net and go see what's in my local stream...

 

[whheff]

Very good for your first flies. I would also suggest buying Charlie Craven's book "Basic Fly Tying".

 

[lv2nymph]

DJBerg wrote:
Grab some white while your there probably my two fav zonker colors, well really pretty much for any streamer tying lol

I second getting this color, tied with a silver body it can be a very good fly. The flies you're tying are looking good keep at it.

 

[jeremymcon]

I took some of your suggestions, and tied a couple more flies:

Beadhead pheasant tail: I built the thorax up a little more on this one, and the legs are finer. Tail may still be too long, and the wing case is kind of thin, but it's getting closer.

Another view (in my box of experiments/newly tied flies). I like the one on the far right the best. Some of the others have too large a bead head.

Scud: I used light brown hackle fibers for the tail/antennae this time for a more natural color. I'm not sure I like the shape of this one as well as the other one I posted. I tried tying this one on a size 14 hook instead of a 12, and it was a bit harder to get it well proportioned.

This is one of DC10's recommendations: picket pin! I'm still working on hackle selection... this saddle hackle feather was a little too large and coarse - I had to trim the fly a little after it was tied.