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Alex_F

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Everything posted by Alex_F

  1. Cheers NJF. The thing I was after was a nymph that only reflected on the back and belly. If you look at a real midge pupae you'll see that there's no gas bubbles along the centre line, only in the upper and lower segments. I achieved what I set out to and it certainly hammers fish but it only comes into its own on days when they're being reeeaaally picky. Usually a standard, simple buzzer imitation will do perfectly well. ATB Alex
  2. Hi Travis, here's a basic dyeing step by step that I did a while ago, you might find it useful. For a medium olive I use a mix Veniard's brown olive and dark olive. For golden olive I use Jacquard sun yellow over dyed with Veniard grey. In the SBS I was using Veniard's dyes but it works equally well with Jacquard. The only real difference with the SBS and now is that I got some glacial acetic acid and diluted it to a 15% solution which is a bit stronger than your average vinegar. Other than that I use pretty much the same procedure. I mention the importance of keeping a note of time and quantities, this only holds true if you want consistency of results over a number of capes dyed the same colour. If it's just a one off then there's no need. I can't comment on RIT as I've not used it myself. Even so, AK Best's book is a good read with lots of handy hints. Hope this helps. ATB Alex
  3. If you're interested, you'll find a full SBS for the above pattern here. Have fun.
  4. A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by Alex_F: Electro-static Buzzer
  5. Do these look anything like them Arkle? An old friend of mine went to some extraordinary lengths years ago to dye his Seals fur and other bits and pieces using natural dyes and mordants. He even used Horses (not Ass) urine to get Rogan's famous fiery brown. Now me, I'm a considerably less obsessive but I tried to emulate the shades he attained by using normal acid dyes. The yellow is pretty straight forward, bright yellow with an over dye of very weak insect green. The fiery brown is a blend of shades but gives the warm golden brown glow of the original when seen by transmitted light whilst looking bracken orange/brown by reflected light. That took some experimentation. I ask as he may have been copying Rogan's colours as he was certainly tying in the 70's. The picture makes them look a bit drab but it's the best I could get without setting up a decent light source.
  6. Not a bad attempt TS. The use of "Straddlebug" dressings as they are known is pretty much isolated to the big loughs of Ireland and to some extent Scotland so it's unlikely you'll get much of a response to your dressing on a board that's heavily US based. It's not a reflection of your tying, it's just that most folks won't know what it is. If I might give you a little constructive criticism. Try using a different coloured thread, say olive or yellow. The thread colour makes all the difference to the shade of a dubbed body. Try getting hold of some real Seals fur, it's miles better than Antron IMO. The ribbing really wants to be a bit thinner with slightly closer turns and the head's a bit big. Having said all that your fly will still catch fish. As Jon says, it's a fly for a brighter day. I occasionally use a different version of the Gosling that has a golden olive/ golden brown Seal body and the hackles are Golden Pheasant red body feather and palest bronze mallard (see attachment). My favourite Straddlebug dressing has to be one of the many French Partridge variations. A large Golden Olive Dabbler is something I often use these days. Keep up the good work. Best wishes. Alex
  7. Edit: Double post. Sorry
  8. Or Formaldehyde. If this pelt in question is the Golden Pheasant skin you've recently bought then I'd leave it alone and pluck individual feathers and wash them. The reason is that a dry GP skin can be very thin and is liable to turn to mush in water. If the skin in question is robust enough then by all means wash it. For drying skins and capes place a few layers of newspaper topped by a few layers of kitchen towel on a flat surface. Place your skin on top then repeat with layers of kitchen towel and news paper to form a sandwich then place some heavy books on top to create a press. This will help flatten the skin and soak up excess water. After a day remove the skin and allow to air dry or blow dry at a low heat setting.
  9. Alex_F

    Seal Fur

    I get mine from Canada in bulk and dye my own but if you want to try ordering from the UK the best place would be from Steve at Cookshill who has a range of 22 shades. Seals fur, accept no imitations. :headbang:
  10. All four of your recent flies are just spot on. I can tell you're tying up for the Duck Fly. With any luck I'll be over on Corrib / Mask in the middle of April for a bit of Duck Fly and Olive shenanigans.
  11. Arkle is correct, the closest pic was in Twofingerz' post http://www.fliesonline.co.uk/erol.html#1558x2330. The dressing I use these days is: Hook: 8 - 12 L/S. Silk: Red. Tag: Globrite floss shade 4. (fluoro red). Body: as tag. Rib: Flat gold tinsel. Hackle: Three turns of long hot orange hen. Wing: Hot orange Calf tail, Arctic Fox or Marabou. It's a very effective lure from August to October when the fish are seriously on daphnia.
  12. I use a very similar process to this with the exception of using 40% volume peroxide and Wella products as opposed to Clairol simply because Wella is the easiest to obtain where I am. Depending on what feathers you wish to bleach you may have to be very careful as the bleaching solution may cause some damage to the barbules and hooks used to marry the barbs together. If it's capes then you should be fine. Also, make sure you wash them thoroughly before and after bleaching. Normal dish washing detergent is ok but I prefer Venpol or Synthrapol as they're considerably less "sudsy". :dunno: As far as dyes go I mainly use Veniard dyes but have started to use Jacquard acid dyes too and had very good results with them. There is a product in the US called Fly Dye but I'm afraid I've no experience with it.
  13. That sounds very familiar! But in Ayrshire we used to fish the upstream worm as well, perfectly legally. It's a great primer for fishing upstream wets later.
  14. The above method is by far the best but as Ashley says get white belly hair, it pretty much pure white to start with and is the #1 stuff for dying bright primary or secondary colours.
  15. Alex_F

    Hook poll

    Partridge because of their quality and the fact that they're the only ones who make anything like the YMM2A which is the closest you'll get to the discontinued CS7, the perfect hook profile for wets IMO.
  16. Very simple and guaranteed effective Buzzer/Chironomid patterns There's few more in on-site pattern database. Try searching the db for Buzzers too as that's a common name for Chironomid nymphs in the UK.
  17. The original Dog Nobbler's were an invention of Sid Knight or Trevor Housby, I'm not sure but these names stick out in my memory in relation to the Nobbler. They were a big hit in the '80s and were derived from jigs in as much as they used crook shanked hooks. A BB or AAA size lead shot was super glued and crimped to the shank to the eye side of the crook. The shot was then given an eye. Later, due to jig hooks being in short supply for the average UK tyer the shot was just crimped to a standard L/S lure hook. Other variant tyings used heavy lead wire instead of the shot, often covered with Peacock herl. The standard tyings were very similar to Wooly Buggers in appearance with the exception, as noted above, that there was no body hackle. The recognised method of fishing them was to hurl them out on a floating line and retrieve in short quick strips, leaving a pause of a second or more to allow the fly to sink. In doing this you get the fly to move in a very erratic rising and falling motion. I still use a white Nobbler/Bugger/Missionary cross for fry feeders today but substitute the lead shot with a tungsten cone head. I've had Trout to 5lb and Pike to 17lb 11oz on it. In the pic the original jig hook and lead shot is shown inset.
  18. Hi Jon, nice fly there matey. Good luck with the Royal Coachman. For wet daddies I prefer something like in the attached picture, but there again I'm a sucker for SF bodies. The body is a mix of pale yellow, pale ginger, fiery brown and brown Seals fur blended until an over all buff colour is reached.
  19. Sorry Peddler but your best bet would be to start from scratch with silver Mallard flank instead, or possibly Teal if you want heavier barring. It is possible to lighten materials with peroxide but with fragile feathers such as Wood Duck I wouldn't advise it.
  20. Here's a few more pics and patterns for you.. First off is a floating fry imitation. When the trout are feeding hard on fry at the end of the season they often charge in to fry shoals and stun the small fish which then float to the surface twitching in their final throes. The trout then come back in and mop up the helpless victims. This fly is made with an ethafoam body base with wide pearl mylar piping pulled over. The mylar is then coated with clear 5 minute epoxy for 2/3 of the body, the tail section is left untreated. This lets the tail bend which means the hook up is relatively unimpeded. It it fished static or with the odd twitch every now and again in areas where fry feeding activity has taken place. The second, third and fourth are versions of the Diawl Copyn, a spider version of the Diawl Bach. A collection of general spiders which work all year round and can be excellent during a hatch of chironomid. The fifth is the Erics Beetle. A great imitation of a host of aquatic bugs and beetles. The sixth is the March Brown Spider. Most lowland still waters and many slower rivers have a large population of water louse. At the beginning and end of the season trout often feed heavily on these small crustaceans, the March Brown spider imitates these very well if fished deep and slow. Again, more stuff to follow when I get time.
  21. Okey doke. Here's a couple of fry patterns I use at the back end when the fish start crashing the huge shoals of fry. The top one is very much a S/W derivative with plenty of crystalair and crystal flash etc but the trout love it pulled quick. Fished slower it's good for pike too. The bottom one is basically a zonker but with a 2mm mink strip instead of rabbit as it offers more movement. Other variations are white, brown and black or a pearl mylar body depending on light conditions. Pearl for bright days, silver for dull days. I've also added a wet daddy I use as it outfishes the dry nearly every time. The body is a mix of Seals fur and a brown or greenwells hackle with pheasant tail legs, you can get the full pattern here but I'll add it to the database at some point. We tie smaller versions on 10s to 14s in different colours which we call hoppers. Not to be confused with US hoppers. Leech wise, I use a black wooly bugger or varients with a green, red or orange bead head. Again I'll try to rustle up some more pics when I get time.
  22. Admittedly I fish over in the UK but I fish 99% stillwater from browns and rainbows. Here's a couple of my chironomids or buzzers as we call them over here, they should work anywhere chironomids hatch. I'll take a few pics of my lures/streamers when I can.
  23. For Spiders I use Pearsalls Gossamer, for muddlers and spun hair I use Gordon Griffiths cobweb and for virtually everything else I use Roman Moser Powersilk in 3/0, 6/0 and 8/0 as it's incredibly tough.
  24. Hi, you might find this link useful. Collated by Bob Petti. With any luck he might pop along and add any other tricks he's picked up since then. On dying, white belly hair can be dyed to just about any colour you want. Cut the hide up into small pieces of say 4"x4" and make sure it's soaked for a day in a detergent solution such as synthrapol, then wash out in luke warm fresh water. This'll degrease it and a pre - wetted hide helps the dye to take. you will almost certainly need to use a heavier concentration of dye than you'd use on feathers as the hide itself takes up dye in large amounts. Keep the hide moving so that the dye can get all the way to the roots, I use an old table fork to hold the piece of hide and rotate it against the lay of the hair. For really bright colours like hot orange I use distilled water for the dye bath. For fluorescents, always use a base dye of a normal bright colour first as fluoro dyes tend to give pale shades if used alone. Let the hide dry for about a fortnight as the skin can take ages to be free of all moisture and the last thing you want after all that trouble is mold growth.
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