Constructive critisism please

[Captainmojo 0]

I just recently started tying deer hair flies, and I was wondering what I can fix for next time.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Can you take a closer up pic so I can see more clearly how it's packed? It looks amazing. We could have another great deer hair tier in the makings here y'all.

[BattenkillBum 0]

Looks good, maybe leave a hair collar next time. Legs could be longer. By learning to stack rather than spin you will get a denser more tightly packed body.

[mikechell 0]

That's a good looking deer hair bug. My only suggestions are:

 

 

1. Leave a little collar of the deer hair here. It smooths the transition from deer hair to marabou.

2. If you want more "pop" ... fill in the face with silicone sealant or some other thick cement. Most people who do this use a flat piece of plastic or metal to create a perfectly flat face for noise.

3. Leave the legs longer. These are proportionally too small. Longer rubber legs move more when the bug is sitting still, giving a more lifelike appearance between "pops".

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

All good suggestions for the tying phase. If that's marabou for a collar, maybe make it a bit smaller/shorter. Like was mentioned, try deer hair for a collar too. When you take the picture, don't have a light facing the camera. I think if the light was from above and at least at the camera there would be no 'blinding' effect form the light source.

 

Take a picture so we/you can see the tailing feathers better. A better picture may reveal more details as far as how long the tailing/kicker feathers are and so forth.

 

BCT

[Captainmojo 0]

All good suggestions for the tying phase. If that's marabou for a collar, maybe make it a bit smaller/shorter. Like was mentioned, try deer hair for a collar too. When you take the picture, don't have a light facing the camera. I think if the light was from above and at least at the camera there would be no 'blinding' effect form the light source.

 

Take a picture so we/you can see the tailing feathers better. A better picture may reveal more details as far as how long the tailing/kicker feathers are and so forth.

 

BCT

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Better picture - now, if you have any craft foam sheets around, use one of them for a background - other than white as your tailing is white. You need to use a color that will be in contrast enough to show all your features of the fly tied.

 

Like Mike stated, looks like if you want a more flattened front surface of a popper, may want to consider using some sort of goop or 'stuff' (adhesive) that would hold the front surface together in the flattened state.

 

Look at collars of popper pictures and compare that to what you've tied. The marabou seems a bit long yet but, like it is stated many times here in this site, it will fish fine. Try spinning or stacking deer hair for a collar (like has been previously stated).

 

Now that I think of it though, probably a hackle collar is more appropriate as you are spinning and stacking deer hair for the body. There's few rules though about fly tying that can't be altered so, have fun with it.

 

BCT

[johnnyquahog 0]

Captain - It looks like you had a tightly packed dense fly right up to the back of the eye. That part of the bug looks great. As already stated above you can get more hair on the hook if you stack it. I have been coating the face on poppers with either LCA (light cured acrylic) or liquid fusion. This 2/0 fly I did yesterday shows the hair collar and recessed (burned in socket) eye. I'm still learning too.

 

tight wraps...

[mikechell 0]

Now, Johnny and Captain ... you two need to get together. If you combine Johnny's deer hair (tail) collar with Captain's marabou tail ... you'd have what I would consider a perfect deer hair popper.

[Captainmojo 0]

Better picture - now, if you have any craft foam sheets around, use one of them for a background - other than white as your tailing is white. You need to use a color that will be in contrast enough to show all your features of the fly tied.

 

Like Mike stated, looks like if you want a more flattened front surface of a popper, may want to consider using some sort of goop or 'stuff' (adhesive) that would hold the front surface together in the flattened state.

 

Look at collars of popper pictures and compare that to what you've tied. The marabou seems a bit long yet but, like it is stated many times here in this site, it will fish fine. Try spinning or stacking deer hair for a collar (like has been previously stated).

 

Now that I think of it though, probably a hackle collar is more appropriate as you are spinning and stacking deer hair for the body. There's few rules though about fly tying that can't be altered so, have fun with it.

 

BCT

 

 

Captain - It looks like you had a tightly packed dense fly right up to the back of the eye. That part of the bug looks great. As already stated above you can get more hair on the hook if you stack it. I have been coating the face on poppers with either LCA (light cured acrylic) or liquid fusion. This 2/0 fly I did yesterday shows the hair collar and recessed (burned in socket) eye. I'm still learning too.

 

tight wraps...

 

 

Now, Johnny and Captain ... you two need to get together. If you combine Johnny's deer hair (tail) collar with Captain's marabou tail ... you'd have what I would consider a perfect deer hair popper.

Thank you so much for all of your input, this has answered many of my questions. I will be posting more improved deer hair poppers soon with the new knowledge I have developed. Again, thank you.

[Captainmojo 0]

Also, would it be fine if I were to throw some flashabou in the tail?

[mikechell 0]

Nope ... that would be a legally restricted use of material and banned in several States as too effective at catching fish.

 

joking

 

Some of the waters I fish, flash spooks the fish .... the more natural the color, the better the chances of a take. Usually, some flash is a good thing, and draws the attention of more fish.