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Rusty Shackleford

My hackled flies won't float...

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1 hour ago, Poopdeck said:

Those flies should float. It has to be your leader and/or fly line sinking and pulling the fly under. Is your line cracked and waterlogged. 

in a glass?

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A high floating Catskill style fly can be tied with 2x gap hackle, spider style, back away from the eye to balance the fly on the hackle without the rest of the fly touching the water (theoretically), but your flies are more bushy style. They'll float longer but sit lower. (Theoretically) The spider style Catskill dry has few materials other than the hackle to weigh it down, too. No deer hair or calf hair on top, short body, wispy tail, no meaty hook or meaty dubbing.

Here's a nice example that a well regarded fly tying legend posted on Troutnut, tied by Mary Dette:

dette2.jpg.88c2e777d1698d416382c849fd7e61d5.jpg

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2 minutes ago, chugbug27 said:

A high floating Catskill style fly can be tied with 2x gap hackle, spider style, back away from the eye to balance the fly on the hackle without the rest of the fly touching the water (theoretically), but your flies are more bushy style hackle. They'll float longer but sit lower. (Theoretically) The spider style Catskill dry has few materials other than the hackle to weigh it down, too. No deer hair or calf hair on top, short body, wispy tail, no meaty hook or meaty dubbing.

Here's a nice example that a well regarded fly tying legend posted on Troutnut, tied by Mary Dette:

dette2.jpg.88c2e777d1698d416382c849fd7e61d5.jpg

Makes sense, I've only been tying for a year or so now and this is my first real attempt at tying up some dries that utilize hackle for flotation. 

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1 hour ago, Rusty Shackleford said:

I've been using the various dry fly hooks from Allen, they say standard wire on the package but flyhooks.org has them listed as 1xf and they sure seem like a light hook to me. Maybe I should try a pack of the more expensive hooks for my dries and see if it makes a difference... I figured maybe I'd be good since Charlie Craven's go to dry fly hook is a TMC 100sp-bl which is a 1x heavy hook. 

Maybe for heavily hackled flies but for the Adams it is the TMC 100 1XF hook I referred you to:

https://charliesflyboxinc.com/portfolio-items/fly-box-template-33/

Materials Needed:

Hook: TMC 100 #10-20
Thread: 70-denier black
Tail: Moose Hock
Wings: Grizzly Hen Hackle Tips
Body: Gray Beaver Dubbing
Hackle: Brown and Grizzly Rooster Hackle

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Your tying is absolutely not causing a floatation problem, and your material selection is consistent with whatever standards there still are for these flies. All three look great, especially the Stimulator. And they are all three floating flies you can hang droppers off if you want.

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Okay okay, I give up. I only read the title and looked at the pictures. Now that I read it I think we can rule out leader and fly line. It has to be your glass of water since the hook does not look unusually thick to me. Do you have soft water? 

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I don't think the hooks are the problem, I rarely use dry fly hooks for dries. You're flies look great

buck bug tied on tmc 3761, nymph hook, 2x heavy

royal wulff tied on tmc 2302, standard wire

stimulator tied on tmc 200r, standard wire

DSC_0004.thumb.JPG.cf68d79200e02b3a073cb4a546dd39db.JPG

 

dropped in a glass of water, floating just fine

DSC_0006.thumb.JPG.dd04d4ab1146f803d150df672c71a729.JPG

DSC_0008.thumb.JPG.79e24b1c468ec04e053bf1f7c7a81fa0.JPG

 

10 minutes later, the stimulator is on the bottom, probably the wire ribbing and the dubbing soaking up water

DSC_0009.thumb.JPG.92cc39540bf7a7822c1c8a9200dd5304.JPG

 

DSC_0011.thumb.JPG.961ec479ba41400206fe4b8aad98531d.JPG

I like how the hackle trapped some air bubbles on this pic

 

DSC_0012.JPG

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1 minute ago, upnorthtier said:

I don't think the hooks are the problem, I rarely use dry fly hooks for dries. You're flies look great

buck bug tied on tmc 3761, nymph hook, 2x heavy

royal wulff tied on tmc 2302, standard wire

stimulator tied on tmc 200r, standard wire

DSC_0004.thumb.JPG.cf68d79200e02b3a073cb4a546dd39db.JPG

 

dropped in a glass of water, floating just fine

DSC_0006.thumb.JPG.dd04d4ab1146f803d150df672c71a729.JPG

DSC_0008.thumb.JPG.79e24b1c468ec04e053bf1f7c7a81fa0.JPG

 

10 minutes later, the stimulator is on the bottom, probably the wire ribbing and the dubbing soaking up water

DSC_0009.thumb.JPG.92cc39540bf7a7822c1c8a9200dd5304.JPG

 

DSC_0011.thumb.JPG.961ec479ba41400206fe4b8aad98531d.JPG

I like how the hackle trapped some air bubbles on this pic

 

DSC_0012.JPG

So they shouldn't float higher than that? I guess I just had my expectations too high, most of mine seem to float about like those except for my Royal Wulffs which tend to want to break through the surface at the tail and really starts to swamp the fly quick, maybe a thicker or longer tail on those? or maybe deer hair instead of elk body?

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That's how a dry fly looks floating on the water. the tail on you're royal wulff  looks fine, trying using  a hackle 1 size smaller and see if it makes a difference, might balance better.

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10 minutes ago, SilverCreek said:

Use high quality stiff dry fly hackle wrapped closely on the fly.

34874819994_4abc35a545_z.jpg

I am 99% sure that picture is faked. Like the old picture of the Royal Wulff on the cover of Dan Bailey's catalog, which I believe was taken with the fly on a thin layer of liquid on a mirror. 

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29 minutes ago, Jaydub said:

I am 99% sure that picture is faked. Like the old picture of the Royal Wulff on the cover of Dan Bailey's catalog, which I believe was taken with the fly on a thin layer of liquid on a mirror. 

Sure does set the bar awful high, doesn't it? lol

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10 hours ago, Jaydub said:

I am 99% sure that picture is faked. Like the old picture of the Royal Wulff on the cover of Dan Bailey's catalog, which I believe was taken with the fly on a thin layer of liquid on a mirror. 

I agree.  That fly is sitting on a hard surface.

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