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dflanagan

Extended body flies

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I've been tying some extended body damsel flies tonight using bucktail. I'm wrapping the hair on a needle and then sliding it off (which is a PITA, by the way) to transfer to the hook. On the first one, the thread wraps on the body slipped and just about tripled the length of the body. The second one came out a bit better and the third seems to be close to just right.

 

What do you all do for these types of flies to keep the thread from slipping on the body? I've tried whip finishing each body segment but still have some movement in the thread. Is this something that just takes practice to get right or is there a trick to locking it all together?

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try using some head cement/sally hansen's hard as nails or super glue on the thread wraps. only a little drop at each segment

 

and regarding tying on the needle, you could try this recipe instead

 

https://youtu.be/J1UlXVqNNdA

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That's a great video. I saw pics of that fly but hadn't watched the video yet. I'll have to give it a try tomorrow. I finished another two flies using the needle technique. They came out a bit better and faster than the first few. Still a hassle with the needle. Gonna have to try the free hand method.

 

Thanks for the link and the idea about using head cement. Have to see how they work out.

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Somebody ... on this site I believe ... uses monofiliment, instead of a needle, and just leaves it in there.

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I use braided mono bodies colored with Pantone pens. It is a Gray Borger pattern which is on the cover of his book, Designing Trout ffies. The characteristic of a damsel fly is the THIN body.

 

http://www.garyborger.com/flies-and-fly-tying/braided-butt-damsel/

 

bb_damsel-dtf.jpg

 

 

common-blue-damselfly.jpg

 

 

The video referenced above and below is actually a better pattern for a dragon fly. Dragonfles have a thicker body. Damsels are most often blue and NOT green as in the video below.

 

 

It looks more like a dragon fly to me. The other possible problem is that bound deer hair is stiff and may be pushed away from the trout's mouth. The braided mono is flexible and will bend. Another problem is that the deer hair fly will always float and real damsels go under water to lay eggs and get drowned. The Borger pattern can be fished dry or as a drowned pattern.

 

 

image_2337-Dragonfly.jpg

After mating the female damsels must deposit their eggs in the water. Like some caddis they even go underwater to deposit their eggs so they are available to the trout. See the egg laying damsels in the video below:

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Somebody ... on this site I believe ... uses monofiliment, instead of a needle, and just leaves it in there.

 

When I made those kinds of bodies on damsels and paradrakes, I tied in a piece of mono extending out past the rear of the hook. Then I tied the hair to the hook and wrapped open turns of thread to the end of the extension and back forward. It's a little tricky but not that hard. I'm sure there is a video of the technique out there somewhere.

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I use foam for my damsel and dragon fly bodies easier to match the insect colors and easier to work with. I use the needle method. Fold the foam piece in half and stick the point of the needle through it make a couple of wraps on the needle then a couple of wraps to form the body segment and repeat the process until I have a segmented body the length I need. Slide it off the needle and use a needle to apply some super glue to the wraps.

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This is what I came up with after a few times tying it. I definitely want to try the body type in the video and I remember seeing a fly tied with mono...I'll have to track it down.

 

Thanks for that video of the female depositing eggs, SilverCreek. I've spent a lot of time watching damsels but didn't realize they actually went underwater.

post-59660-0-78613600-1494810244_thumb.jpg

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One problem I have found with the stiff extended body patterns is that they can get pushed out of the way and that leads to missed strikes. I wonder if the damsel fly patterns would have the same problem. The braided mono is flexible compared to the thread over wrapped bodied damsel patterns. I have not had hookup failures with the braided mono pattern.

 

I found hooking failures with traditional extended body flies for the Hexagenia Limbata hatches we get in the midwest. The traditional over wrapped yellow deer hair extended body flies led to missed strikes because the fly would not fit into the trout's mouth depending on the size of the fish and how the fish took the fly

 

If that happens with the blue damsel extended body patterns, I suggest a modification that John Nebel invented called the Flex Hex. His hex pattern folds up on the strike and I hook up even on the smaller trout that normally could not take in the standard extended body pattern.

 

You can read about his pattern here:

 

http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/doing-the-limbata

 

http://globalflyfisher.com/staff/hauer/flexhex.html

 

 

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Good points. I'm going to try one out tomorrow and hopefully get some hits on it. The way I've tied them, the thorax is really the only part of the fly attached to the hook. But, as you say, the abdomen is fairly stiff and I wonder if it will move out of the way enough to get a hook up.

 

I'll have to check out the flexhex. Been tying swap stuff tonight and haven't had a chance since I started this thread to give another style a shot.

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