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eborraga

Still very new to tying

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Only been tying for a month or so. Just trying to do easy patterns that I have materials for. Here is a Mickey Finn and a few jigs I tied over the last couple of days.

 

Comments and critique are greatly accepted. Thanks again for all the info i've gained to this point.

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Nice Mickey Finn. I tie them a little more sparse so the silver body shows through and it isn't overly buoyant. Also, something to try with your marabou on jigs, bring the marabou into a tight bunch and pinch tightly, then tear (don't cut) the tips to make a fuller tail using less marabou. When you cut, it gives a straight unnatural edge. Tearing gives it a nice look.

 

Here's a great jig pattern if you want to try dubbing. I tie them in 1/32, 1/48, 1/64. and 1/80. You can get gold, silver, or natural lead heads in many hook outlets. You can use any fur, but most often I use rabbit zonker strips in any color. My favorites are black, chartreuse, white, and natural rabbit.

 

Cut off a 1/2" piece of a zonker strip and then cut the fur close to the hide strip and tie it in tightly for the tail. Cut another 1/2 to 3/4" piece of zonker strip and cut from the hide. Mix the fur and dub it onto the thread. Dub a thick, full body and tie off your thread. If you use red thread, you can make an exaggerated red collar where you tie off the thread. Then fluff up the body with a dubbing brush, Velcro, or a dubbing needle.

 

Rabbit is very soft and moves freely in the water. You can add a little crystal flash, black with a few strands of red crystal flash is my current favorite.

 

I will try and get some pictures loaded.

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The Mickey Finns look good; especially the 2nd and 3rd photo. I'd go maybe a little shorter on the marabou tails on your jigs (to prevent fouling of the marabou around the hook, and also to prevent short strikes), but everything in those pictures will catch fish and that's what it's all about! Nice work.

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Welcome again, to the site. Nice pictures !!! Very clear.

 

My only recommendation ... make your pictures a little blurry. That way, the tiny imperfections (like the not-quite-perfectly-smooth head on the Mickey Finn) don't show.

 

Other than that ... your flies look good to me.

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You will find that this is a very helpful and supportive forum. People give great suggestions. Congratulations and get out and fish them. There is a special feeling when you catch a fish on a fly you have tied.

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The taper on the jig fly you have pictured on the vise looks really, really good. That's not easy to do.

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The taper on the jig fly you have pictured on the vise looks really, really good. That's not easy to do.

After watching countless videos and reading countless threads on how to tie this, i was surprised it came out that good :) Seems like the less hackle I use, the easier it is to achieve.

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My opinion is that the Mickey Finns have too much material and tied too long. This will decrease your hook ups.

 

Fly proportion is one of the hardest thing for new fly tyers to get right. It is the right amount of material placed on the hook in the the right place. A good way to learn proportion is to look at commercially sold flies from a noted dealer like Orvis. The materials on the fly may be different but the proportions will will correct.

 

Below is the Mickey Finn that Orvis has listed on line. Compare it with the proportions on your fly.

 

0648L2W.jpg

 

Similarly the red marabou jig has too much marabou tied too long. You need a general rule so you know how long and how much marabou to use on a jig, This is based on the length of the hook, which determines the length of the body of the fly. I think the marabou tail should be about 1 to 1.5 times the length of the hook. Yours look about 3 times the length of the hook. I think this will lead to more short strikes = the fish hitting behind the hook. Also I would use less material. Do a test of how the flies look in a sink full of water like in the video below.

 

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My opinion is that the Mickey Finns have too much material and tied too long. This will decrease your hook ups.

 

Fly proportion is one of the hardest thing for new fly tyers to get right. It is the right amount of material placed on the hook in the the right place. A good way to learn proportion is to look at commercially sold flies from a noted dealer like Orvis. The materials on the fly may be different but the proportions will will correct.

 

In the case of bucktails, I think that even many commercially tied examples are overdressed. Less is more when it comes to these flies.

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Nice first or early new tyer ties ! In the future though take the advice of dressing them down a little bit. On Mickey Finns I only use a few strands of each color. The wing is the collective of all the combined/ put together strands and it's full enough, less really does catch more fish believe it or not. When I first started trying I put down enough of each color to be a wing in themselves lol. Additionally, really you needed a longer hook for the size fly you made if someone wants to really pick at your flies, the wing doesn't go much past the tag/tail on these flies. Look up some photos at google and watch a few videos from someone like Davie McPhail or In The Riffle. But again for early ties they are fine and will catch fish as is.

 

Edit: I didn't realize Silvercreek already stated all this and posted the same fly, sorry about that !

Here is one rendition from Orvis: 0648L2W.jpg

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All of the jig tails are way to long. I've never caught anything on a Mickey Finn but I think silvercreek about summed that up. All in all they look good from a tying perspective and they will fish. I'd probably strip the jigs though just because of short strikes

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mickeyfinn1.jpg

 

mickeyfinn.jpg

 

  • Head: Black.

    Body: Medium flat silver tinsel.

    Ribbing: Narrow oval silver tinsel.

    Wing: A very small bunch of yellow bucktail, over which is a very small bunch of red bucktail, which a bunch of yellow bucktail equal in size to the first two bunches over this. (In dressing this fly correctly, it is important to note that the lower yellow band and the red band are of the same size, but that the upper yellow band is about twice the size of the lower.)

as dressed by john alden knight (streamer fly tying & fishing - joseph d bates jr - page 302-304 fly plar 2 indicates short hook and streamers & bucktails the big fish flies - joseph d bates jr page 340-342)

 

the above is from here: http://flyanglersonline.com/features/oldflies/part158.php

 

there is no tip/tag or silver mylar piping however they can be tied that way as a variant

 

they can also be tied on any size or length hook. just proportion accordingly

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