Honest opinion

[MontanaBound 0]

Was hoping to get some honest opinions as well as some good critiquing, these are only a few that i have done but should be a good representation of my overall work. thanks. i am posting this in reference to a post i made in the steelhead salmon fly section of the forum.

 

Thanks for all the help

[Inconnu 0]

I'll try to be honest. I think over all you are doing pretty well so I do not intend this to be critical of your work just suggestions from my point of view.

 

#1 Looks good.....Griffith Gnat?

 

#2 Parachute hackle looks okay, it is a dark photo and hard to see all of the detail.

 

#3 When you tie off the wing, or just before, lift the butt ends and wrap a few wraps of thread under them to hold them up, then snip the butts off on an even plane. The dubbing on the body could be a little smoother but that really doesn't matter to the fish, more aesthetic than anything else.

 

#4 Use finer scissors to trim butts off behind the bead and if needed just a hint of dubbing to cover anything left looking unfinished.

 

#5 it looks okay, not sure what it is so I can only say it looks good as it is shown.

 

#6 I always like to use the tips of the tail feather fibres rather than cutting them short, put a couple of wraps of thread then pull them back to the correct length, then trim the butts.

 

#7 Possibly snip the wing post shorter.

 

#8 Maybe a straighter slightly shorter tail

 

#9 Wrap the hair for the shell back, far enough back so that when you pull it forward and over, it doesn't expose thread wraps.

 

Nice job though, they are all fish catchers!

[Bud Guidry 0]

nice flies

 

 

Bud

[DAP 0]

nice flies

 

 

Bud

If they catch fish then you’re doing fine! If you are going for looks then Inconnu said it best. Overall you have some nice flies that would fool most trout, especially the dries. Only thing I would add to number 4 is to fold your butt ends back then cut and wrap a few more times before you whip finish to cover them up and this also helps keep them secure.

[utyer 0]

Its been said before, if they catch fish, then their fine. If your looking for improvements, i see some areas where you can do some thing differently that will help the flies.

 

First of all, what size hook, they all look like they are on the same style, and size. For your nymphs (especially the bead heads,) get a 1 or 2 xl hook for these.

 

What size thread are you using? Many of your ties, are a little thick in the body, and the heads are a little ragged, and larger than need be. Smaller thread would help out with many of your bodies, and heads. Size 6/0 is plenty big enough for most flies down to size 14, switch to 8/0 for smaller flies. As you become more adept with the finer thread, go even smaller on small flies.

 

Your dubbed bodies are thick and show very little taper from back to front. Finer thread, and a lot less dubbing on the thread. You should tie 12 of the same nymph, and each time, reduce the amount of dubbing until you start to see the thread through the dubbing after it is wound.

 

I see a rib in the elk hair caddis, not sure why, you don't need one, and it will make the fly heavier than it should be. If you want to reinforce the hackle, use the finest copper wire you can find. 38 AWG is good for this. The wing is a little long on this one, and it doesn't look like body hair.

This wing should be a little more forward, and the butts should end just over the eye. Wrap under the butts and finish before you cut them. Pull the butts up and make one cut, then use your finger nail to stand the butt up a little.

 

The Royal Wulff should have a hair tail, use moose body just like the on the humpy, but use the same amount as you have on the Wulff. The wing here can be a little taller.

 

Use about 1/3 the moose body on the humpy tail, and wrap the deer hair back right over the tail tie in. The thread shouldn't show behind the hump. Six to 10 fibers is plenty for most sizes. The wing here is just a little too long, in judging the size of the body/wing hair, use a length of hair just slightly shorter than 2x the shank length about 1.75 is good. Clean out the under fur, even up the tips in a hair stacker, and tie it in right on top of the tail tie in point. Once the underbody is wrapped to the 2/3 point, pull the wing/hump over and wrap in front to stand it upright. Dividing the wing is optional, Tie in the hackles (2) and wrap 2 to 3 turns in back of and in front of wing.

 

Overall, your hackle work looks pretty good, your dubbed bodies can all be much thinner. The parachutes seem to have something under the quill or biot in the body, you don't really need this, make these thinner. You need to keep your thread wraps to a minimum, 5 wraps is enough to hold almost anything in place. Wing bases are one exception, as you cut your wing butts off, taper the cut, take the thread under and to the front of the wing, and make several wraps tight against the wing while holding the wing vertical. When it stays upright, return under and make a sooth firm single layer wrap of thread back to where you tie in the tail. The butts of the tail should be tapered and blended into the wing butts. Again using the finest thread you can will keep the build up to a minimum, and keep your bodies thinner.

 

General proportions: Tails = hook lenght from eye to rear of bend. Wing = body lenght. Hackle = 1.5 the hook gap.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[Fred H. 0]

I think your flies are fish catchers. I am not qualified to critque them as I do not fish or tie these particular patterns. However I may be able to offer a tip for you to help with your dry flies and that is to tank test them.

For me that is the best way to find out the correctness of a dry pattern.

Fred

 

[MontanaBound 0]

i was hoping to find out if my ability is up to the challange of tying some salmon flies and get into the full dress flies? i know it will be a challange either way just want to be as prepared as possible.

[Bruce Derington 0]

All things are possible. You may not know who Bud Guidry is But I believe he hadn't tied any flies B4 tackling the Classics and after a few short years he may be one of the best ! Bare in mind he is an artist and a award winning decoy carver, so I'm sure he may be the Natural, we sometimes here.There are many things involved in all tieing, proportions and thread control are 2 very important ones that have to be understood B4 your tieing can get to a level that will produce the Elegant creations many of us try to achieve. What most seasoned tiers will recommend is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. I think Bud tied 300 or more Classics in his first year. Take your time when tieing, is another tip you will here from these guys. Iwas taught nymphs from a guy and after he showed me how to tie one he told me to go and tie at least 100 B4 comming back. Tieing is a progressive thing, I'm sure your first month's efforts , to todays, show much improvement and you should learn something from every fly tied.

I agree with the suggestion of visiting Ronn Lucas's site and start with his lessons, then post them for advise. Keep tieing and strive to make corrections on each pattern you learn and master each one B4 moving forward