Jump to content
Fly Tying

Quacker

core_group_3
  • Content Count

    26
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Quacker

  1. That's the exact picture I was going to post. I believe the recipe allows for colors to match the Sculpin in your local streams. Thanks very much for you input. Since I don't have any Cree and I doubt that I'll be able to get any locally I'll need to use a substitute a different color. I think I have what I need to tie one of these in olive. Again thanks very much for your informative response. If I tie one that I think is acceptable I'll post it for a critique. Jim H
  2. Know the proportions of the flies you want to tie, learn to tie the fly the right way then as the Most Interesting Man in the World would say, practice, practice, practice. As Retocarp also said, let the fish decide, your flies don't need to be prefect to catch fish.
  3. It's used as the outside feather of a 6 feather tail on a Whitlock Matuka Sculpin. I don't think this is a dyed color, cree capes and saddles are too hard to find. I also don't think this is really red, I think it's named Red Cree. Unfortunately I can't find a clear picture of this fly that shows the colors clearly. Thanks for your responses, Jim
  4. I want to tie a pattern that calls for Red Cree hackle. Does anyone know what this hackle looks like or what would be a good substitute for it? The guys at Feather Craft in St Louis had never heard of this.
  5. The first woolly bugger, the tail should be the no longer than the hook shank, the hackle should be 1 1/2 the width of the hook gap and should start at the back of the body which should start at the the bend of the hook. The eye should be about the size of the hooks eye. I think the bully spider's head may be a bit to large, when I tie them I use silly legs which are smaller and flatter than the round rubber legs. Legs look like they are tied in as the pattern calls for. Nice base by the way. The fly that you designed should have a tail the length of the hook shank and be tied on top of the hook. The abdomen should be 2/3's of the length of the hooks shank and normally carrot shaped, thorax should cover the front 1/3 stopping before the hook eye, hackle again should 1 1/2 the width of the hooks gap. I don't remember if the woolly bugger pattern is weighted or not if it does then lead wire or equivalent would be called out and be wrapped around the hooks shank. May want to stay away from big eyed buggers. I'm by no means an expert tier but I do OK. I have found that if you stick to one pattern and pay close attention to proportions and detail and tie that pattern until everyone comes out looking exactly the same before moving on to something else you will become a much better tier. If you use the general guidelines for the abdomen 2/3 the hook shank and the thorax 1/3 the hook shank you will have most fly bodies covered. Hope this helps a little.
  6. I need some more of your expertise to help me with another problem I'm having. I've been tying parachute Adams flies and I'm having trouble tying off the hackle at the bottom of the post. I've tried several methods to secure the hackle to the bottom of the post they all seem to work to some extent and I'm sure the fish don't care if they're not perfect but I'm not satisfied with the way they look. Does anyone have a good way to tie off the hackle without trapping fibers and produce consistent results. It's not hard to tie this stuff but it's hard to perfect them with consistent quality. Looking forward to your expert advise.
  7. There are several good videos on the internet that show the difference between capes and saddles as well as hens vs roosters. You can also check out Metz and Whiting's web sites. My limited experience with the UV resins I've used, I found that the thicker viscosity did not cure tack free and de-laminated over time on most of the flies I put it on, it may have been the brand I was using all I know is that it didn't perform well. I switched to a low viscosity resin and it cures hard and faster. I think if you are going to use UV resins it's important to invest in a good UV curing light or laser and ask your local fly shop to explain the differences in the products they sell. Nice looking chicken.
  8. Not trying to get rid of you guys just trying to thank everyone. I think I found a good video on the internet for Butterfly bodies by a tier I believe is from the Netherlands. Sorry I'm getting old and can't remember why I came upstairs, so of course I don't remember his name. I'm sure someone out there knows who I'm referring to. If I pull everything together and get one that looks good I'll post it for your feedback. As for the Bat of course I could try to tie it but more than likely it will not look anything like the posted picture when I'm done, that's not a good thing. Thanks for the bat link.
  9. Every year the Mo department of conservation has a one day event to introduce people to the out doors. One of the events is fly tying, our club has 4 or 5 people tying safety pin flies for the kids and even adults. The kids stand in line waiting to get a fly, sometimes they ask for a particular fly saw on someone else. They would place there order and come back a few minutes later to pick up their fly. Last year I took at least a 100 safety pin flies with me and tied continuously for at least 4 hours with 3 other tiers. It was my first year, from what I've been told we normally hand out at least 1000 of these things during the day. Always a great success and a hot spot for the kids who attend, it's also great fun for us. We tied a lot of multi-colored foam bugs and beetles as well as large colorful streamers and many other creative THINGS. If you want to tie a pin fly as a gift great, make it a piece of art, if you want to have some fun and put smiles on kids faces find a venue that you can participate in and have fun.
  10. I've seen the dragon on the Internet, I believe it was tied by the same person who produced the butterfly DVD, the butterfly is great, both are works of art and the tiers are way out of my league. I have considered foam bodies, thanks for that information. The bat would have been a great holloween project, is there a pattern for it, my granddaughter would love it! I think all of you have provided me with what I need on the butterfly topic, thanks very much to all of you. Might be a good idea to move on and help the next frustrated fly tier with a problem. You've been very helpful to me.
  11. Last time I tied these on safety pins I used feather wings that came out looking ok, at least the kids seemed to think so. They still need a lot of work . What I don't know is how I should be tying the body.
  12. Check out EBay that's where I got my HMH Stardard and saved about $70 on a new vice. You may be able to pick up a higher quality vise and still stay in your price range. Couple things I like about the HMH is the almost unlimited adjustment of the head/jaw part of the vice. You can set it horizontally to tie rotary or any position up to at least 45 degrees for great access to the back of the hook. I set mine up based on what lm tying and really just how I feel at the time. Very clean looking and functional is what I wanted. When I decided to get a new vice I spent a lot of time on the Internet to find one that fit my needs, check them all out and pick one that fits your fly tying needs. Easy to use, will hold a large range of hooks, strong jaws, and affordable.
  13. I'm also new to this forum. I have used a Renzetti traveler and recently moved to a HMH Standard both are rotary vises. You really can't go wrong with the traveler. Stockyard Fly Fishing has a sale going on this week on there vises might want to check it out. I haven't used my traveler since I got my HMH but both have their advantages. Jim H Quacker
  14. Does anyone have any fun safety pin patterns for kids?
  15. Does anyone know where I can find butterfly patterns. I don't plan on fishing these they're for safety pin flys for kids so I need something that looks realistic but fast to tie. I tied some last year and the kids were requesting them, so I ended up tying them as they waited, just made something up as I tied. This year I would like to be better prepared and have something tied and ready to hand out. I would be grateful for any help or direction. Jim H Quacker
  16. Bubba may want to consider staying away from sharp blades.
  17. I try to be as accurate at possible with proportions to the extent I measure them when I'm tying. May sound like a hassle but its very simple and fast just use the points of your scissors, if the tail is suppose to be the length of the body just set the points on the hook shank, hold them in place and transfer the measurement to the tail. I do this because I want to be consistent and I want my flies to look as good as I can make them. They may all come out looking like crap but at least they'll all look crappy in the same way. I think I would rate flies in three ways. Flies that look great, flies that "are fishable" real meaning, it looks really bad but it might catch fish, and last are the ones you look at when your finished tying and say to yourself, "I don't know what that is!", those are the ones I take the razor to before they come out of the vise. You talked about the materials black hole. Today I left my black lab home for a couple hours when I got back he wasn't acting normal, I went up to my office and fly tying area, he stayed downstairs, not normal for him, I found a few small feathers on the floor by my bench. The only thing left of my new ginger saddle hackle, he even ate the plastic bag it was in. $$$$$
  18. I wish I could use different quills but I'm tying this particular fly for scoring not fishing so I have to stick to the pattern material list. If I was fishing this thing I agree, I would use whatever I have available, good advise. Staying away from the thick ends of the quills is also good advise and something I found out the hard way. Good news is I think I've figured it out. First don't try tying the quills down on the hook using the thick/bottom of the quills. Pinch the wings together on top of the hook and make one loop of thread over the top of the quills. Slowly pull straight down compressing the quills, stop when the wings start to lift off the hook eye. Continue to tie in the wings with touching tight wraps moving toward the hooks bend. Firmly hold the wings together and pull to the vertical move the thread to the front of the wing and with thread wraps wedge the wing in the vertical position. There may be other ways to do this but this seems to work for me pretty well. Thanks for all your help and suggestions, would have been much more frustrating and time consuming with out it. Jim H Quacker
  19. Utyer, Thanks for the options. The pattern I'm trying to tie is very specific on the materials calling for duck quill wings. I'm thinking that the soft part of the duck quill I'm using may be to short for a #12 dry fly. I may be using undersized flight feathers, what do you think?
  20. Thanks for the info. Now I know I have a common problem and it will probably take me 100 or more tries to get it right. I hope I can find enough duck feathers, good thing duck season starts soon๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘.
  21. Thanks for the quick response, now I know I didn't screw something up and I can't do anything about it. Jim H
  22. I'm having some difficulty tying duck quill wings, I hope someone can give me a few ideas on solving my problem. When tying the wings on the top of the hook shank using a pinch wrap to compress the fibers I can't get the far wing to compress properly. The near side wing comes out looking fine but the far side wing continues to come out with several quills folded over causing the wing width to be narrower than the near side wing and also messes up the wing shape. I would be grateful for any and all suggestions. Can anyone tell me how I can get "bait fisherman" out of my profile, I don't know how it got there and now I can't get rid of it, embarrassing!
  23. You may want to check out the International Federation of Fly Fishers, www.fedflyfishers.org. Spend some time on the Internet checking out fly tying videos and fly tying materials. There are many good fly tying sources on the Internet check them out. I get most of my materials from feather-craft.com in St Louis because I live in the area. They have a great catalog and I'm sure they would be happy to provide some advise and send you a catalog. I've used several other shops for materials and supplies and have had no issues with anyone I've used. I haven't found any feathers worth using from craft stores but there are other items such as beads, yarn and some wire as well as craft foam and craft hair/fur that at be useful. Don't waste your money on crap you can't use. Invest in a good fly tying vise. You can get a quality vise without breaking the bank. As someone else said, invest in a couple good fly tying books that has a focus on fundamentals. Since you're 3 hours from trout water I would also recommend starting with panfish flies. Google "blue gill fly tying" and check out some tying videos.
×
×
  • Create New...