njflytyer

Made my first sulphur stillborn last night. Can anyone tell me how I can improve it? Are the proportions right? I tied it on a Size 12 TMC 200R.

Quick question. I need emerger hooks (DaiRiki #270) in a size 12. Largest I have is a size 16. Can you fashion an emerger hook out of a straight shank hook? If so, what kind of hook works best for this application? And what's the easiest/best way to do this?

Anyone have a recipe & instructions for tying a white miller mayfly (dry)?

Does anyone know of an alternative to vinyl ribbing that is called for in a lot of stonefly patterns?

OK, so I tried to tie my first ever midge pattern tonight. Didn't go so well. Was following a recipe that called for a size 20 (or smaller) hook, black thread body, fine gold rib, orange poly post, with grizzly hackle wound around the post. Everything was going just fine, all I had to do was tie in the hackle, wind it around the post, tie it off, and whip finish. I had two major issues at this point: 1) I got my half neck of grizzly hackle from my supply box. Using my hackle guage (for the first time) I started to search for a feather near a size 20. All I could find were 16 and 18. After reading the package label, I realized that bronze grades only go up to 18. Is matching hackle size to hook size very important for wrapping hackle around a post? 2) So I ended up using an 18 anyway. It looked quite big compared to the hook. Tied it in anyway and made three wraps around the post. Then I had to tie it off. Big problem. I kept smooshing the hackle I just wrapped. Furthermore a whip finish behind the post smooshed some more of the hackle. It looks like crap. Any advice on tying down hackle that's been wrapped around a post?

I know the zug bug is an easy nymph to tie up, but I still need instructions to make sure I do everything in the right order. I can't find a step-by-step anywhere on the net. Thanks!

I just read the back of the packaging of a 1/2 saddle of Whiting Dry Fly Hackle. Apparently I can get about 550 flies out of a half saddle. Obviously there aren't 550 feathers (or are there?) in it. What is the most efficient way I can ensure maximum use and minimum waste. Not much written anywhere about this. Another question related to this: what size flies (i.e. the range) can you get from a saddle versus a neck?

OK. I haven't seen tying instructions anywhere on how to do this. Can you provide a URL if you have one? I can always look at my FT benchside reference. Maybe you're right about being too critical. The fly is supposed to catch the fish and the not fisherman, right?

Been practicing the PT nymph a few times now and I just can't seem to figure out a few things. For ease, I'm tying it on a size 14 2X long nymph hook. I'll go thru the process in detail below and explain where I encounter the problems. Hopefully someone can help. 1. Slip on bead. Start dark brown thread. 2. Tie in a piece of copper wire near the hook bend. 3. Tie in 5-6 fibers of PT at the midpoint of the hook such that the tips of the fibers extend beyond the hook bend by about 1/2 the shank length. I tie in the fibers from the bend all the way to the bead b/c if I don't my nymphs end up looking scrawny later on. After I tie up to the bead, I trim the tiny amound of excess I have left. 4. Just above the hook bend I tie in about 8-9 fibers (with the tips facing the eye) and secure it in by wrapping the thread just a tiny bit towards the hook bend. This gives me an anchor for my body material. I then start wrapping the fibers forward building a body and tie it off at the bead, wrapping a few times to help secure the bead as well. 5. I then wrap the copper wire forward 4 times and tie that off near the bead. 6. Just behind the bead I tie in 6 fibers for the wingcase/legs. The tips of the fibers are pointed towards the eye and overshoot the eye by about 1/2 shank length. As I secure these fibers, I wrap the thread towards the hook bend just a tiny bit, creating a small platform to tie my herl in. 7. I tie two strands of herl in. I make about 8-10 wraps of the herl in a crisscross pattern to form a ball shape and then trim excess. 8. Here's where the real problem starts. Since I only used 6 fibers for the wingcase/legs, when I pull the wingcase over, it looks very narrow. You can't even tell that its a wingcase. I look at my store bought flies and the wingcase is much fatter. As I'm trying to tie the wingcase down, I'm also trying to separate the legs into two sets of three, but its not cooperating. I use my left hand to hold down the legs and wingcase in the correct position and then start doing some light wraps over the wingcase. Very awkward. 9. During the whip finish I also tend to get legs caught up. So basically I have three issues: 1) My PT fibers don't seem bulky/fuzzy enough. At least when compared to closeups taken in tying recipes like this one which I followed. The photos in that one show the PT as being fuzzy. Mine don't seem that way. Maybe its just b/c its a closeup shot. Are there quality grades for PT feathers? 2) I experimented with the wingcase/legs issue by tying in 10-12 fibers instead of the six and then trimming the extra legs off. This gave me a fuller wingcase, but looked a little funny b/c its hard to know which legs to trim to give a nice symmetrical appearance. 3) Even if I'm lucky and can separate the legs nicely and they are just the right length, I always end up screwing them up when I tie the wingcase down and/or whip finish. There's got to be an easier way! :wallbash:

Is the source of this dubbing really an opposum? I have a few pouches that I've never used. Does anyone use this dubbing? If so, for what?

Yeah, its me Jim (C&R from NEFF). I figured I'd get more responses to my tying inquiries on this site since its more geared towards it. So far, so good. Never even knew this site existed until today. See you in Somerset perhaps? I'll be there Fri and Sun with sstasiak most likely.

Is brown hackle substitutable for dark ginger in a case caddis application? I only have light ginger, not even medium. Brown is my only other choice.

Looking for a book that goes into detail about fly tying material. The FT Benchside reference does not go into as much detail as I would like (that would defeat the purpose of the book, of course). Would like to have an up-to-date reference on materials including natural & synthetics, their applications, as well as rare material.

From time to time I'll hear about rare tying materials. Can anyone identify some of these, what makes them rare, and how much they typically cost?

Just bought large white foam sheets at a deeply discounted price. Never used them before in any tying application. What's the best way to cut these up into smaller strips? exacto knife and ruler? And how big should these strips be? Primarily interested in making wing cases for emergers.

Just wanted to say hi. Joined the forum today. Great site. Looking forward to interesting discussions. I started tying (trout flies) last year. Been hooked ever since. I frequent other fly fishing sites but was looking for one more geared to tying. Sounds like this is the site.