william anderson

Anyone else tying killer bugs for the upcoming season?

Thanks, fellas.

Tail: Lemon duck, short Rib: Dark Copper Uniwire Body: Golden Pheasant Tail Thorax: Sulphur Superfine synthetic Hackle: Spruce Grouse, but a dark partridge would be great as well. William

This looks like something that will make a remarkable impression on the surface. Beautifully done. What's the body made of?

Carl, a classy bug from you as always. I like the spike squirrel dubbing. I have a few packs of the dubbing that seem less manageable but the effect you get here is a nice one.

Beautifully tied.

I haven't used this technique in quite a while for nymphs. Thanks for posting this. It's something I would like to do again. It's a nice effect. w

John, this is a really rich looking streamer. I really like the subtlety of this combination. Nicely done. w

Ray, I have a new batch that you'll be intersted in. I have been trying to work out the right blend for waxing gossamer silk for the prespun bodies made using the spinning blocks. It's the firmest blend for me, to date, but i'll keep tweaking it. If you find a good source for the cobblers wax, please let me know. I'd love to have a pinch around for comparison. Just for those interested in the hard resin, I use violin rosin. It's cheap and easy to find. w

this is helpful. I don't tie a lot of salt water patterns but a buddy is headed south for bonefish and asked for a few to take a long. I like the overall impression of this fly in particular. Thanks for sharing this one. w

Doing my best to narrow down a suitable combination for the PMD. Here are a few techniques. I see these as drowns or cripples, fished in the film. PMD Dun - Light Aussie Opossum on #19 Silk 1180 Hook: Daiichi 1180 #16 Thread: Griffiths 14/0 Orange Hackle: Medium Dun Hen Tail: same Abdomen: Aussie Opossum prespun on Orange #19 Gossamer Silk PMD Dun - Quill, Seal and Light Dun Hook: Daiichi 1180 #16 Thread: Griffiths 14/0 Orange Hackle: Light Medium Dun Hen Tail: Medium Dun Hen Abdomen: Pale Dun Hen Hackle Quill Thorax: Natural and Olive Seal plus Hares Mask Edge Blend. PMD Dun - Cinn, #19 and Dun Hook: Daiichi 1180 #16 Thread: Griffiths 14/0 Orange Hackle: Medium Dun Hen Tail: Medium Dun Hen Abdomen: Pale Cinnamon Turkey tail (2 Fibers) twisted with orange #19 Gossamer Silk Thorax: Natural and Olive Seal plus Hares Mask Edge Blend. Any comments of suggestions might shorten my design process. I would certainly appreciate it. w

I've recently moved from an armoire situation to an actual, honest to god, desk. It's liberating and I've been leaning a 8x10 piece of black hard felt behind the vise. What a huge difference. Love your magnet set up very much. Gets the wheels turning. w

Ray, that's a gorgeous fly and Murray's right...it looks like a Tucker. Lets wet some of these early this Spring! This might be a high mark in the photography as well. Just fantastic. w

Thanks, Murray. I've enjoyed looking over your older posts here as well. Quite a nice body of work. w

This is buggy as hell. I can see why you would get your share of takes using it. Lots of vitality here. Is this a dropped loop from the shank? w

Ian, I like these little wet patterns. Especially the more natural orientation of the wing. It's a nice touch. w

Thanks fellas. These are favorite style of flies for my Eastern US streams. Cute....wasn't what I was going for. =)...but thanks. w

Dun Partridge and Iron Dun Flymph Hook: Daiichi 1250 Thread: Burgandy Griffiths 14/0 Hackle: Partridge dyed dun - special thanks to Carl "Old Hat" Sanders Tail: same Body: natural mole spun on Pearsalls Gossamer Claret silk - spun on the Clarks Spinning Block w

I hope Ray will chime in with his experience using the blocks. This original post is from some time ago and I know he's spent quite a bit more time with the blocks since then. I have as well, and I can hopefully offer some help with a few of your questions. The block I designed is based on the original blocks produced by Richard Clark and Pete Hidy, with my own minimalist take. But I've found a few things that may help. Or at least confuse the issue. There are a number of waxes that work very well with the dubbing brushes and most folks one the one hand want to know what the correct wax would be, and on the other usually try several and each has some advantages. The image below is the tin taken from Pete Hidy's fly tying kit. You can see he uses a block of straight bees wax, a type of cobblers wax (which has a bit more tack and offers a darker overall effect), and a blend that is similar to the wax I use most often - a blend of beeswax, rosin and a pinch of olive oil to soften the mix. Jim Leisenring used a few different waxes as well, but for the most part he preferred a was with a very high resin content which required some effort to get the bead of wax soft enough. Of course, he didn't use the block, and rolled his brushes on his pant leg, but the waxes silk and twisted bodies are essentially the same principle. The block just offers a cleaner operation. I have a buddy who uses a very soft tacky wax and he does very well with it. Others see little benefit in using anything other than the beeswax, believing the wax is sufficient to help the silk and fibers meld into a cord. They manage to distribute the dubbing and spin the bodies without the tack found in some wax blends. I can appreciate that as well. On the question of how many flies to get from a brush, typically I think most tiers use one brush for one fly as you try to build the taper into the brush, and with enough practice work it out so the thorax is built in and the whole thing comes together very efficiently once wrapped on the fly. You can even change the dubbing material for the thorax before spinning the body for differnt effect. You can see the marks next to the background strip. These are marked at half inch increments which helps to guage how long the body would be, or how much dubbing you'll need for any particular fly or fly size. I was spinning bodies that were 2-2.5" long before I incorporated the marks. It's a nice refenence and I usually need all the help I can get. =) The body above would work well on a size 12, or as I usually do, I just tie in by the small part of the taper, allowing a few turns with no dubbing at all and then just tie until I have the thorax, that way I'm not spinning different bodies for different fly sizes because I use this hare's mask blend for flies 18 - 12. I do have a few flies that I know I will be only tying in 16's for instance, and those spun bodies are usually just over an inch, but that's it. The taper is significant so you really wouldn't use the same brush for more than one fly as you would with a wire brush. (I'm sorry to go on and on, I just happen to enjoy this topic.) There are some amazing wire brushes and you can get a number of flies out of each brush so spinning them the longer the better. The block above can be used with fine wire as well, and can be used to create a tapered body with the wire. It seems a different operation and very different effect than the long wire spun bodies that are common. This is the hare blend dubbing shown on primrose silk on a partridge and hair flymph. Thanks for your patience. =) w

This is a tying station that I have used for years. Then I reconfigured my armoire to become the stations home and material storage. The station is the same but now it's on heavy glides and pulls out of the armoire like a desk. These things are always in a state of evolution, but it's working for me at the moment. The other half of the armoire houses my little photo set up as well. My wife likes that the entire enterprise can be put out of site in a moment. =) w

I admire the courage to take this on. I try to keep my tying area as tidy as possible, but adding a couple live birds would make a mess of things. Good on you for stepping up and I look forward to seeing the skins you come up with. Please keep us posted. I bought a grizzly hen skin from a local guy in central PA and I swear the nuances he is able to get make me second guess the standard offerings. Best of luck. w

These are fantastic little beadheads. I like the flashy thorax material and the overall construction is really spot on. Nicely done. w

These look positively deadly. What size are these? Nicely done, btw. w

Ray, as you know, I'm a big fan of the flymphs tied in this manner. This is especially nice and I appreciate the plug. JohnP too. Thanks. I hope to make being a participant here more of my routine. I have enjoyed watching you guys for some time. w