beinning spey fly tying

[spey guy 0]

Hey everyone, i have been fly tying for quite a while now and i am now quite interested in spey flies. the problem is, i have no idea as to what materials to buy first. since my budget is limited, i was wondering if someone could tell me what the most important materials to buy first are

 

thanks!

[GR8LAKES FLYER 0]

Since you have been tying for a while , I will assume you have a good vice with lots of holding power for the larger gauge hooks . Speaking of hooks , the style hook is very important . I prefer a good quality Bartleet hook ..... Partridge CS10/1 or Daiichi 2051 for most spey flies , I leave the heavier Irons (CS10/2) for standard steelhead and salmon wet flies .

 

For body materials , you can get by with wool .... natural type (100% wool) four stranded type will give a "buggy" or "vintage" look . The synthetic (lycra) will give a sleek , shiny appearance , almost floss like . You can use the same dubbing blends that you use on other flies , just pick your colours . I like metal tinsels and wire , I stay away from mylar ...... just doesn't withstand the salmon and steelhead . Matter of fact , it would rarely make it out of the vise . I do tie with great pressure on my tinsel ribs and wire counter ribs and the mylar would never even hold up during the tying process .

 

Pheasant pelts are a very good source of body hackles and collar hackles . Plus the breast and flank feathers can be used as winging material ..... I love pheasant You can always purchase teal and guinea hen as well , both are used on a multitude of patterns and very inexpensive . Blue Eared Pheasant is well sought after by most spey tiers , however on a limited budget , it would take away from purchasing a lot of other needed materials . a BEP pelt would run you at least $150US and a package of a dozen feathers is around $10US . I would rather get a few Ringneck pheasant pelts in natural and dyed colours and a Golden pheasant pelt with the head and crest and some good quality schallapan in an aray of colours before committing to a hefty purchase like the BEP pelt .

 

Goose and Swan shoulders come in a variety of colours and are fairly inexpensive for winging material . Good quality Bronze mallard can make all the difference when tying old school shrimp patterns , like the King series , Speals and Riachs (Reech) . Fortunately , good quality bronze mallard is not that expensive

 

Hope that helped some what .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[spey guy 0]

thanks mike! i'm sure this will help me and i very much appreciate your suggestions.

 

 

Luke

[Old Hat 0]

Luke my favorite hackle is Rooster Coque feathers. These are the long side tail feathers on a rooster that you see droop down in photos.

 

Like These

 

If you have a shop nearby often you can find them on the ends of cheaper saddle hackles or there are some locations like the one above where you can buy them.

[GR8LAKES FLYER 0]

Old Hat , coque feathers are my favorite as well and John has the best I have found . However , the barbules are quite long on the raichis and not suited for some speys , they would upset the proportions of the fly . The coque hackles are best suited for the "old school" shrimp patterns of Kelson and Francis .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Old Hat 0]

Yep, and that's the pattern style I like. I also use the coque on a lot of my hairwing steelhead flies, bearded and palmered.

 

Another inexpensive hackle that can sparingly be used is blood quill marabou.

[GR8LAKES FLYER 0]

Yep, and that's the pattern style I like.

 

Old Hat ,

 

It seems we are cut from the same cloth I'm sitting here prep'ing some blind eye's for an order ...... would you care to swap a fly or two

 

 

Coot or Moore hen is an inexpensive substitute for Blue Eared Pheasant ..... should have mentioned that earlier ..... sorry . However the feathers are not as long or as "wispy" as the BEP , but would do fine for smaller speys up to #2 long Bartleet . (Partridge CS10/1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Frank G. Swarner III 0]

Great responses guys!! You can't go wrong with that info spey guy!!

 

Mallard flank makes a great collar too......it can be good for body hackle if it is long enough. Gadwall is also very useful.

 

Try to find yourself a few duckhunters and be-friend them!!

 

Frank