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Guest rich mc

hollow phleyes

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Guest rich mc

ive been playing with the hollow tying technique and like what i see. being in the midwest i will use them for mostly bass. so would anything be better for bass material wise kankelon, craft hair, ep, bucktail? ive used satin on mine but they are only small versions . would it make sense to have craft hair on the back half and bucktail for the head? thanks rich mc

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Hollow style has been, hands down, the most productive fish catching flies in my box.

 

The top one in the first pic landed several nice bass this past weekend. The red is kip tail, with pink congo for the head, extending all way back for the tail.

 

The second pic is 2 I tied last night to try. One with kip tail for the tail and feathers for the other.

 

All of them have shiny stuff wrapped in front of the tail , all the way to the head. I really like ep, congo, or sf for the heads. Feathers are awesome, but are fragile and easily destroyed when an errant back cast smacks the ground or trees. Or when unhooking fish. I've never tried bucktail for the head as I think it would flair out too much and possibly lose the transparency that I think makes these so effective. I use liquid fusion to shape the heads only back to the eyes, and the shiny stuff really shines through in the head.

 

I've found that I could adjust my sink rate by how sparse I tied them. Less material they sink a little faster and tie them more dense to get them to suspend.

 

I know you're a talented tyer and would love to see your small flies with satin. Craft hair really cool with a lot of movement, but I only have one color, and I just don't like it compared to other materials. Kankelon is ok, but too hard for me to shape. I like to use my fingers to spread the material evenly around the body before tying it down and then on the forward facing section that is pushed back, I either evenly distribute it when I push it back, or split it. Half on one side, half on the other.

 

Good luck and share some pics. I'm still a beginner and your a pro...literally. 😊.

I'm sure I could learn more from you than you from me. Hope my input helps in some way.

Take care.

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Guest rich mc

i may be a veteran tyer but i am a beginner at this style. my flies are about 2-2.5 inches . and using the satin they do fold down more when wet. after casting them today in a open spot at a pond i think satin has better action in the tail and craft hair may be better to hold the main body shape.

rich mc

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Guest rich mc

plain satin off a bolt of fabric from wall mart, craft stores or a kids super hero cape . cut to a square and pull the threads out you get two ,one shiny and one dull with a texture . i also run it over a dryer sheet when tying indoors this winter takes out the satic makes a great accent on other flies as well.

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These are flies tied with some satin Rich gave me last year (or the year before?).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very soft fibers, lots of movement ... some tendency to foul the hook, but they look great in the water.

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Hollow flies as I know them are always tied with buck tail heads. Very sparse, and the buck tail pretty much just makes the profile to the fly.

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I would do bucktail on the back half and craftfur on the head if anything. Traditional hollow fleyes were tied with just bucktail (the hollow semper fleye with hackles). The issue is you are limited to length of fly by the bucktail, typically ends up being from 3.5-8"(I have a couple tails with ~9" hair on them, I save that for special ties). Just remember the sparser the better and even distribution of fibers or whatever material you end up using.

 

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Guest rich mc

i would have quessed craft hair in the rear would give more movement and bucktail being stiffer would hold the profile lakes are starting to open up now in northern illinois i have a bunch of flies to field test rich

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