I could really use some help tying this Tenkara fly

[SpokaneDude 0]

I found this image of a Tenkara fly that I want to tie (this is my first attempt at tying a fly from a picture); I have only been tying for a short while now, and am not sure how to go about tying this particular fly... here's the image (click it to enlarge the view):

 

 

Can someone give me some suggestions for the materials for the body and hackle? My thinking is:

• the yellow body is possibly Cream Life Flex
• and the hackle is possibly Grizzly "High and Dry" Hackle or something stiffer

and probably a Daiichi 1120 or 1130 size #14 hook. I haven't figured out how to get the hackle wrapped... is it just over the Life Flex or in between turns?

 

Also, I can't decide if this is a wet or dry fly... any ideas on that?

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Usually when a fly is hackled ... with what appears to be a dry fly sort of hackle... that with stiff barbles - is intended to float or be fished on the surface. From your picture it looks like that is the intent.

 

The picture isn't really very large but form what I saw real briefly, the hackle might be wound along the same lines as the body material.

 

What is important (provided you are not trying to tie a museum piece or something that portrays an exact fly from an orioginal recipe) is that you do not get too hung up on the exact materials - if you have something similar, use it.

 

Just my opin

 

BCT

[Bugsy 0]

In general, tenkara flies are very simple and use very simple materials. The focus is presentation.

 

Bodies are often made from the working thread, and this appears to be the case here.

 

I'd start my thread a short distance behind the eye and wrap to the rear in tight turns where I'd tie in my hackle. Then I'd wrap another layer of thread up the shank, palmer the hackle forward, then tie off and complete the head.

 

While this fly could be tied to be fished dry, I see it as intended for subsurface presentation (much like a woolly worm). Tie it both ways if you wish (and if you have the appropriate hackle and hooks).

[Flat Rock native 0]

Usually when a fly is hackled ... with what appears to be a dry fly sort of hackle... that with stiff barbles - is intended to float or be fished on the surface. From your picture it looks like that is the intent.

 

The picture isn't really very large but form what I saw real briefly, the hackle might be wound along the same lines as the body material.

 

What is important (provided you are not trying to tie a museum piece or something that portrays an exact fly from an orioginal recipe) is that you do not get too hung up on the exact materials - if you have something similar, use it.

 

Just my opin

 

BCT

+1 & what Bugsy said, too. My photo display is not greatest but appears hacke is tied in shiny side down, dull side up, before winding up the fly body

[SpokaneDude 0]

@Bugsy: so, which is done first: palmer the hackle and then wrap the body material (Life Flex) in between the hackle or the other way around?

[fishinguy 0]

Id say the hackle is palmered after the body is finished. If it's the other way round, I wouldn't do it that way anyway. Id also just try a pale yellow thread body and see how you like it.

[rockworm 0]

I downloaded the picture and examined it with some magnification. I don't believe the hackle was simply palmered over the thread base. It looks to me that the thread was counterwrapped from the rear after the hackle was palmered. (Look at the lie of the thread and see the occasional barb trapped under it.) This is also how I would tye this fly to reinforce the hackle so it wouldn't come apart after the first fish.

[SpokaneDude 0]

@rockworm good idea! I've tied two so far, first one was nice, the 2nd was a mess due to using a short hackle...

[rockworm 0]

I agree it does look like a grizzly hackle- probably cock.

 

The hook is barbless and appears to be fairly heavy. (But that doesn't mean the fly wasn't meant to be fished on the surface! The originator may have been an optimist- A heavy hook can manage a big fish. And the palmered hackle could easily support a heavy hook- especially since the tenkara technique lets the fisher decide where in the water column his fly rides.)

 

The body material also appears to be heavy: Without some idea how big the hook is it's hard to guess- It could be 6/0 or 3/0 thread or something else. I would start with a substantial thread and twist it good to get a nice round rope effect. But I'm not sure the tyer maintained that thickness when actually counterwrapping the hackle. The thread wraps appear more "beefy" at the rear and at the front of the fly.

 

If I were you, however, I would take that picture as a "seed-idea" and let it grow at your vise. Try different materials, different techniques, different approaches, and choose the best. Who is to say the flies you create from this idea, however different from the original, won't be better?

[SpokaneDude 0]

Thanks everyone... I got several tied, doesn't exactly look like the image, but we'll see if it catches fish!

[Dave G. 0]

Thanks everyone... I got several tied, doesn't exactly look like the image, but we'll see if it catches fish!

I bet they do.

 

Meanwhile you could do worse than watching a video on tying a Griffiths Gnat, change the body material ( or not for that matter), tie it in the size you deem fit and you will get a fairly close result . Or same could be said for the Woolly Worm and leave the tail off. You just have to use your imagination a bit on the body material LOL ! But these all catch fish.

[mikechell 0]

Pictures, Spokane. Let's see what you tied up!

[flytire 0]

Looks like a chartreuse green Asher style fly to me

Chartreuse/yellow thread body

Grizzly hackle

 

http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/video-how-to-tie-the-orange-asher/

[Dave G. 0]

Looks like a chartreuse green Asher style fly to me

 

Chartreuse/yellow thread body

 

Grizzly hackle

 

 

http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/video-how-to-tie-the-orange-asher/

Basically a glorified Griffiths Gnat. I followed your link and further searched, and it turns out in orange that these things seem to catch fish in still water everywhere ( maybe moving water too). Thanks flytire ! I'm going to tie some up for our local ponds for this spring. Midge haven around here in the spring, actually starting any time now.

[SpokaneDude 0]

Mikechell here u go... finally figured out how to take macro photos w/ my iPhone... (click on image to enlarge, then click on SAVE to rotate it)... feel free to critique it...