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temno pivo

Upside-down Mayfly

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Hi Guys

This is a pattern I designed which I use to fish the rivers in Scotland

 

This is my first post so hope it works

 

Best wishes

 

Fotwin

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I must say they look innovative! Especially the parachute on the underside. They look like a nightmare to cast though. Do they land rightside up all the time? They don't look like they would.

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Hi Shoebop,

 

They actually cast very well.

The secrect is in the material I use for the wing which is totally flexible, so there is no spin.

The wing material is called Cling Film in the UK and is used in the kitchen to cover food or wrap up sandwiches etc. I call it a tennis racket wing because you form it using wing burners and the melted polythene forms a solid frame around the membrane in the middle,a little bit like the frame of a tennis racket

 

If you cast with an open loop what happens is the hook bend descends first towards the water and the flexible wings act a little bit like an aerofoil. That's maybe over stating it a bit but there very little problem with spin .

 

The hackle is what I call a Reversed Paraloop hackle. If you have ever tied up a fly using the normal Paraloop hackle method then you can see what I have done which is to tie the hackle in on the underside of the fly to imitate legs and to "cock up" the fly at an angle to the water.

 

Hope the above is an OK explanation

 

Best wishes

 

Fotwin

 

post-53736-0-25241100-1408795434_thumb.jpg

post-53736-0-20263300-1408795503_thumb.jpg

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Very interesting. mellow.png I have tied a similar pattern which I like but not with a parachute on the bottom or wings like yours.

Well done!

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I've always thought that upside down hook was better for a mayfly due to the way they sit with their abdomen extended upward. And it puts the abdomen closer to the hook barb, so it might be more effective.

One comment though: if you'll look in the photography forum, Terje has several mayfly photos, and I hadn't noticed before but the tail filaments are soft and curly, not straight and stiff, which is how we tend to tie them. Might want to try using monofilament strands instead of hair, to look more realistic.

FOTWIN those really are nice!

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Hi Flafly,

 

Glad you like the flies.

Thanks for your kind comments,greatly appreciated.

 

Your correct about the tails.

The fly I photographed came from my fly box and has been well chewed over the years.

 

I use ,almost exclusively,Orvis microfibbets for the tails. I find that they have the finess and stiffness to support the fly.

 

Because of the style and size of the wings, I find the wind can push them onto their side so I make sure the side tails are at right angles to the body by figure of eighting them with thread ,and I now use a little drop of UV resin to hold them in position.

They sort of act as "outriggers" with their outstretched arms preventing the fly from tipping over on their side.

I also trim the reversed Paraloop hackle so that it does not cause the fly to "roll" onto its side.

 

I find it a lovely fly to tie and fish.

 

It tends to land correct way up more often than traditional flies.

 

Anyway , too many words by me!

 

Many thanks for your kind comments

 

Best wishes and tight lines

 

 

Fotwin

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Hi Flafly,

 

Glad you like the flies.

Thanks for your kind comments,greatly appreciated.

 

Your correct about the tails.

The fly I photographed came from my fly box and has been well chewed over the years.

 

I use ,almost exclusively,Orvis microfibbets for the tails. I find that they have the finess and stiffness to support the fly.

 

Because of the style and size of the wings, I find the wind can push them onto their side so I make sure the side tails are at right angles to the body by figure of eighting them with thread ,and I now use a little drop of UV resin to hold them in position.

They sort of act as "outriggers" with their outstretched arms preventing the fly from tipping over on their side.

I also trim the reversed Paraloop hackle so that it does not cause the fly to "roll" onto its side.

 

I find it a lovely fly to tie and fish.

 

It tends to land correct way up more often than traditional flies.

 

Anyway , too many words by me!

 

Many thanks for your kind comments

 

Best wishes and tight lines

 

 

Fotwin

What hook are you using for these??

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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

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A number of years ago I had a play around with this and found out one thing very quickly. Longer shank hooks didn't work well. The support is too far away from the main mass of the fly, so they sank tail first. Once I started tying them on shorter shank hooks, they worked well. The old Oliver Edwards emerger hooks from Partridge (no longer available) are ideal. Any light weight scud type hook does fine though.

 

Cheers,

C.

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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

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