Question for Capt Bob Lemay

[flytire 0]

What is the collar material on your big eye fly pattern

Thank you in advance

 

[Mark Knapp 0]

I'd like to place a guess. Barred orange and black marabou?

[johnnyquahog 0]

Put me down for a dollar on grizzly schlappen.  I guess I could dig out my copy of Veverka’s Innovative Saltwater Flies where capt. Lemay’s flies are featured.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

It’s 3:30 in the morning here and I’m booked to fish today so I’ll post the info tonight if possible… Thanks for your interest 

[Heff2 0]

My guess, a dyed grizzly hen hackle tied in tip first. Can’t wait to hear the answer and a report on his day on the water.  

[SalarMan 0]

It would seem to be a state secret. Come clean Captain!!!

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

No secret at all - in fact I'm using feathers - that most experienced tyers would reject out of hand...  This particular fly is one of a series from the late eighties, done up in five different colors - Drew Chicone featured a red and grizzly one in his recent book BELIZE FLIES that just came out last year and I did a step by step for him that shows the exact tying sequence for anyone interested.  I thought that he did a great job of explaining in detail the eleven patterns for Belize...

At any rate,  the collar is done with three wide, webby saddle hackles - that are tied in by the butt ends as a unit - then palmered forward.  What looks like maribou or hen saddles is actually the fluff at the butt end of the saddles that is left in place and not stripped away to add bulk and movement when in use....  You have to look at the stem on each saddle and only use that part of the butt end that has a thin enough diameter to be able to wrap around a hook without cracking, splitting, or breaking away.  The saddles (and the neck hackles that make up the tail) are the cheapest dyed or natural strung chicken feathers that come from China.... Wide, webby, and not worth much to most freshwater tyers - they're the sort of goods you might use for a feather duster (back when they were still in use...).  I still have a great supply since I always bought them - by the pound...  Here's a pic or two of the various colors and materials that the Big Eye tarpon flies came in.  I'm still drawing royalties on them with Umpqua... 

Here are the Green & Grizz, the Sands (white, yellow and grizzly) ,  and the Orange Grizz all are mounted on my improvised drying sticks... The head finish on the original bugs was FlexCoat, a rodbuilder's finish.  After application the flies needed to rotate for two hours until the finish set up properly... Since I've been buildign rods myself for many years using FlexCoat was a simple step in the production process... 

Here's the Sand Devil,  variation #4 in the series - it's been the most popular of all - and still in demand in some quarters... 

This entire bug is done up with red chinchilla feathers, neck hackles for the tail and saddles for the collar... Note that the fluff on the base of each saddle is a different color than the rest of the feather, making an interesting feature in the finished pattern...  The one remaining variation, the brown and grizzly has brown collar and grizzly tail  (not shown).

 

I'd say that johnnyquahog came closest in his guess since the saddles I use for this pattern are very close to being schlappen...  By the way the grizzly looking tail feathers (and the grizzly mentioned in collars for some of these patterns) - aren't grizzly at all - they're called chinchilla in the trade (or a times simply called variant...) that's a very good grizzly substitute in some cases.... - including the dyed orange collar mentioned in the original query... 

[flytire 0]

thank you for the response

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Thought it appropriate since the saltwater scene is so different from the freshwater world.