despatiesim

Sweet rat Eide! Looks identical to my tie of them, but a lot cleaner. Cheers!

Gorgeous fly! Piker, our salmon season is June to september, so yeah, the off season is long! Especially when you only get to go for a week like I do... :0((

Thanks again all! I've started tying in my hackls from the tip, which has made a huge difference in the head size(never had to do this on my hair wings). All your tips and watching youtube vids are paying off! Cheers! Simon

Nice fly, nice fish and nice pics! Good stuff! Simon

Bet those will be popular with fresh run fish! Thanks for sharing! Simon

Sweet! Are trebles allowed your ways for salmon? Simon

T hanks Dave! I had never seen a vise like t hat!

Thanks guys, great stuff. I already cut my hair wings at an angle: it really does make a difference. I'm definetly going to have to concentrate on making fewer wraps. I usually put a drop of head cement when tying in the wing, so I shouldn't need that many wraps. I'm also going to have to look into different types of thread. I thought 6/0 was equivalent to 140 denier thread and that they were all round. Things have changed since I used to tie... there are a lot more options now... I 'm wondering maybe I need to change my feather placement when tying it in for wrapping collars? Any clues as best angles so the wraped fibers better align along the fly (which would require less thread wraps to place them back?)? thanks! Simon

Hi all, I've been tying my first spey flies and definetly need to get my heads a bit smaller. This could be said for my hairwings too, but I have better control on those. The patterns I'm tying have a heron collar followed by a silver phesant collar, just before the head. I find I'm bulking up at the end trying to push these collars down more in line with the fly( before the colars I find the size of the head still doing well). I'm thinking to going over to 70 denier or 8/0 thread, but wondering if you would have any advice to help me get this under control? Thanks for any help! Simon

Nice! A bit denser than I usually tie mine, but very nice indeed!

Yes ... and while you're watching some of her tying and fishing videos, be careful you don't fall in love. I had a look at a few of her tying videos, and good god, she ties as well as she casts!

thanks Frank! Very instructive! Simon

Thanks guys! Didn'know April had fly tying on her website. Will have a look at the different suggestions. Simon

Hi all, do you have any good references (books or online) on how to learn to tie spey style salmon and steelhead flies? Thanks and merry Christmas to you all! Simon

Very nice! I have to learn to tie spey flies over the winter.

Thats a big fish! Determination paid off!

Sweet patern!

Once again, I do understand what you mean. And even if I can't get to the bottom of this, I definetly won't be throwing the reel away... I will learn to live with it. The rivers I fish for Atlantics are most often big. Wider than I (or anybody I know of) can cast across at a 45 deg angle to sweep with a one handed rod(that is the general wet fly technique used). So basically, to sweep the pool you gradually make longer casts at 45 deg until you reach a distance of cast as you are comfortable with and can repeatedly do. You then start stepping down the river after each cast at this same maximum length to gradually sweep as much as you can of the pool. So I'm not readjusting the length of the cast constantly. Once I reach the maximum cast I feel I can make, I keep the line I have out constant . If I shorten the length significantly (I'm talking several feet, not inches here) while stepping down the river, I just missed part of the pool I should have covered. If the line was lengthening, I'd just be covering more water. But when it shortens, I could be missing fish... Atlantics are so few, I definetly don't want that... I hope this explains why it affects the type of fishing I do. Cheers!

I also hold the line in my non casting hand, but usually with some line stripped out for shooting. I've asked a few experienced people (and the orvis tech) if they think it could be due to casting technique (poor), they all said no. The Orvis tech thinks it could be related to the weighting, but wants to have a look first hand. Finally, I've broken down and have ordered a high end reel to replace it (will promote this reel to another rod). If this is still happening to the new reel(another brand), I'll definetly know it's just me... if not, I'll see what Orvis can find. Thanks all for your input! Simon

Hi, I'll leave assessing what you sound like to your own judgment. This said, I do understand what you are getting at. We often do over think things. The reel is definetly not useless do to this issue. But I do have to disagree with some things you said. For me (and after all as the owner of the reel thats all that counts), the issue is not insignificant. I''m using it mainly for Atlantic salmon, where we make a good cast at the head of the pool and then step-cast all the way down to sweep it efficiently. Line creeping back onto my reel means I'm unknowingly covering less of the pool (yes, a few times I realised there was 4 or 5 feet wound on) where a taker could be lying. To deal with this I have to keep an eye out and every so often peel line back out. Ok, not a big deal to some, but not nothing to me.. but nobody else has this problem (ok almost nobody) and I find it disapointing I have to do this on a brand new reel that I paid more than 300$ for. To add to this, the dealer isn'very enthusiastic at helping me out. Good thing Orvis is. Probably, if I had more occasions to fish, I wouldn't be fretting over these details. But I have limited time for fishing and take the time to consider these trivial matters the rest of the year while dreaming of getting on the water. Cheers, Simon Fi

As expected, the dwaler had never heard of anything like it... and didn't feel like doing anything about it. Orvis didn't know about something like this, but on the other hand told me to ship it in and they'd have a look no charge. I will once the snow falls. I'm gojng to be trying my luck at steelhead and want to make sure I have it for the autumn.

Piker, that's exactly it. Left hand holding free coils or hauling. Its not really a big issue, but annoing as hell as I 'm swinging a wet fly and sweeping a pool for salmon. As the line gets reeled back in, I 'm gradually covering less and less of the pool. When I notice it, I have to pull back out the extra line to re establish the sweep! am going to talk to the dealer, but have low expectations...

Hmmm. The reel has less than 10 days of use... I 'm not sure if it does it in every position or not... guess I'll have to talk to the dealer... or maybe Orvis directly. thanks!

Hi all, I'm looking for some input from more experienced flyfishers here. My Orvis Hydros reel is winding on its own when I cast. I'll do 2 or 3 false casts to place my line. When I look at the handle, it has moved foreward 1/4 turn. After a few casts, there is more line on my reel than I would like and I have to pull it out again. Does this happen to others? Specific to this model? A fault? I'm thinking it could be poor balancing of the spool. It is really anoing when swinging flies. Any input would be welcome!

Beautifull ties gents! Thanks so much for sharing! I'll have post a few of mine once I figure out how to photograph flies properly. They are not nearly as nicely tied, but still interesting to share! Simon