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Fly Tying

Fotwin

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About Fotwin

  • Rank
    Advanced Member
  • Birthday 11/09/1948

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  • Favorite Species
    Brown Trout
  • Security
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  • Location
    Scotland

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  1. I find that when fishing for wild brown trout the addition of wings can make a big difference. That's my experience over many years. When fishing midge patterns with the wings sitting in the surface film , I find the difference very substantial and greatly improves my catch rate. Same for daddies and cow dung style of flies. It may simply be wings on flies give me more confidence and my catch rate goes up, but my experience says it is the addition of wings. That said,when fishing for wild brown trout, I find time and time again that using wings coloured yellow on a range of different types of flies,greatly improves my catch rate for which I have no logical understanding. Fotwin
  2. Hi Fin The Partridge Klinhammer Extreme hooks dimensions are almost spot on for this style of fly. The distance between the kink in the hook shank and the eye provides a tying in distance for the wings , thorax and reverse paraloop hackle which really works . The body length of this hook is spot on for providing the required body profile. I think you can see the proportions in the photos. I would give the Partridge Klinkhammer Extreme Hooks a go. I do not think you will be disappointed.
  3. What I always do when I have finished the fly is to sit it in a flat surface. If it falls onto its side then I trim the hackle so that it is stable. There are a couple of things you can do with the hackle. Depending on the angle you cut the hackle will result in the fly sitting more level on the water. The second is not to cut but splay the fibres to the side with your fingers to make it stable. The last thing you can do with the hackle , but is a bit hit and miss is to use say an Indian cock hackle with a good taper. You tie the hackle in by the tip , convex up take it up the post and tie it of. When you pull round the post the short hackles are at the rear and the long hackles are at the front near the eye. I don't bother with this too often. I do use other mayfly styles such as the haystack mayfly and occasionally the no hackle dun , whose makers names have gone out of my head. Best wishes
  4. Hi Fin As I have said , I originally prepared a series of sketches , about maybe 12-14 which showed the steps to create a fly of this style. The drawing is now in a box in a storehouse as I have just moved home. One of the sketches, probably the second last showed the hackle being trimmed on the underside of the fly so that the rounded bottom of the hackle did not roll the fly onto its side. Basically if you take your scissors and lay them along the underside of the body of the fly, then you can trim/cut away the rounded part of the under hackle which is what makes the fly roll onto its side. Alternatively, you can pull the fibres of the hackle back and to the side of the fly before you tie in the hackle. Sorry , I can't provide a step by step,because I'm now up in Argyll, having just moved home and I'm having trouble tuning into BBC World News Fotwin
  5. It's stamped 2012 on the back so it's post 1990 Sorry I don't have a ruler handy to place alongside the flies Fotwin
  6. Here are some photos, The front hackle of the duns sits into the water supporting the thorax and the wings which lie above it, the tails and body lie in the surface film supporting the fly. Hope the above is clearer. I've included a photo of the small midge patterns with detached bodies which I use. Size ? Around size 18 The hooks are Tiemco 212y which I find very good. I've included a photo of the detached body sedges and detached body daddies , I use. They are not my best because I've packed away some fly boxes in my house move. As an aside, one problem with detached bodies is that the foam and thread connection can become broken either through casting or by being chewed by a fish. An easy way around this is to reinforce the detached body by taking a piece of monofilament, say 3-4lb strain, and with a cigarette lighter slightly but one end to form a very small melted ball. You then tie this into the centre of the foam detached body and then tie the completed detached tail including the nylon onto your hook shank. I usually add a small drop of superglue onto the hook shank prior to tying in the detached tail with its central reinforced core of nylon. It really does make detached bodies significantly more durable Best wishes.
  7. You are correct , the upside down fly style I use means the hackles tied on the underside of the hook at the thorax positions do sit on the water surface and does mean the thorax and wings are clear of the water surface. The tails sit in the surface film as does the body. The front hackle sits into the surface film and supports and balances the thorax and wings which are not touching the water. Using the detached body style gives a great fly which I tend to use for spinner patterns as the fly body and wings sit in the surface film. I use the detached body style a lot for midge patterns which work fantastically well for me when fishing for wild brown trout in the hill Lochs. Also the detached body style for sedge and daddy long leg patterns are amongst my favourites for dry fly fishing. Fotwin
  8. Hi Crackaig, Great to hear from you again , hope all is well. I originally tied this upside down flies on Oliver Edwards emerged hooks. They worked well. When they became no longer available , I would take a standard dry fly hook and using a pair of sharp nose pliers I would kink the shank to give me a hook of the profile I needed. When the Patridge klinkhimer extreme came along I did not need to do it anymore. The upside hook has a profile where the straight part of the hook of the kink/hook sits flat on the water supporting the body of the fly. Beyond the kink up to the eye, the remainder of the hook body sits out and above the water at about 45 degrees to the body. That gap between the remainder of the hook above the water is filled by a reverse paraloop hackle I trim this hackle so that the finished fly does not roll on the curved hackle onto its side when blown by the wind. It's a pity that the step by step drawings I prepared were not published , which show the 'how to do ' . i.e a picture is worth a thousand words. My wife and I have just moved home and the step by step is somewhere amongst the rest of our possessions If I find it I will post it because it shows how to do , and it's relatively easy, and it's a style of fly which I would like other fly tyers to know about, as they may be able to make it better Again best wishes Fotwin
  9. Hi Jerry, The hooks I use are Partridge klinkhimer extreme hooks. I find size 16 and 18 to cover most of the natural mayfly sizes of the UK The kink in the hook acts as a really good help as to where you locate and tie in your material onto which you use tie your reverse paraloop hackle. I tie in at the point where the kink start. Fotwin
  10. Gremlins! Gremlins! Am I mistaken, do you change thread wrap direction when tying your flies. It looks to me as if you use a clockwise wrap of thread around the shank of the hook and then change it to an anti-clockwise wrap? Or as I said am I mistaken? Looking at the eye of the hook I use an anti-clockwise wrap which I think opens the thread and allows it to sit flat? Most people seem to use a clockwise wrap, I I.e. going away from them.
  11. I place a small spot of glue onto the back of my thumbnail and using my nail like a painters pallet I lift of the glue with a fine needle and place it on the fly. The residue on the thumbnail can be scrapped off when dryish
  12. Try going online and type in Italian Loom Flies. This is where this technique originated from, ie. from Italy. There is a terrific and original ,British fly tyer who calls his flies ,using this technique, pendulum flies. The trick to understanding how these flies work is , the size of the flies are not dictated by the size or length of the hook shank, but by the way they are constructed. The hook hanging underneath the body,can be very small ,reducing the need for hackles to support the flies in the water. My own version of this style of fly I give the name , .....No Hackle/ No Hook Fly. The hooks I use which hang down below the finished fly can be as small as size 20, which if you think about it, there is very little additional weight from the hook/iron
  13. Great post, Thanks for the info and the really good article. I use the small teal feathers with the dark centre spot which I dye into various colours to add "Eyes" to some of my flies. Works quite well and is pretty inexpensive.
  14. Thanks eide, You are doing us all a genuine service, which is desperately needed. Being able to compare one manufacturers hook against another manufactures hook so that we can make an informed choice is desperately needed. Your grid system works... If only manufacturers would adopt it we would all save not simply money , but would not be sitting with boxes of hooks which do not do what we had hoped for and are left feeling conned. I have been trying to find wide gaps hooks , some with short shanks for midge type flies and others with long shanks for muddler type flies. We can all read things like 2x long etc but one manufactures 2x is different from another's 2x and for some of us size does matter. Again, thanks Eide, for a great job you are doing, greatfuy appreciated. Best wishes
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