bulb

I fish a ton of zonkers, here are a couple of recent ties.

Zonkers.

Nice clean tie SBPatt, always appreciated that about your posts 👍 like the pattern too

In my opinion the look of a wet fly out of water is quite different from a submerged fly. Take for example a zonker streamer. The fur is going to mat down alot if you wet the fly, but submerged it has plenty of volume. However, this depends on the type of material used and working experience with a given material is needed to know how the material is going to look and behave when wet.

I've found wetting flies is useful if you use natural materials which can be affected by wetting and drying. Bucktail mats down after a rinse and drying, makes for a nicer profile and less errant fibers.

I see the point buying straight eye hooks right off the bat but i have two packs of 25 of these down eye hooks that i got really cheap, thought i might as well use them.

I've been pretty hard on them to test if the eye holds upp Mike but I'll try your idea. Haven't tested if the eye opens up in a stright tug. Just to clarify i didn't heat them much, maybe 5-6 seconds fully exposed to a lighter flame.

Thanks for the input folks. The straight eye is for purely cosmetic reasons, but I don't fish with flies that don't look good to me so it's a big deal I tried heating the eye with a lighter for a bit just to soften it a little and it worked, no more breakages yet. Still, feels a little sketchy but the ones that made it really seem to hold up

So i have these down eye hooks that are perfect for small streamers exept that i want a straight eye. So i got a pair of pliers and sorted that out. Thing is some of them break if I go too fast. thoughts/tips? Don't want to fill a box with defective hooks, but the ones that did't break feel sound.

Sneak peek of a little brahma bugger variation in the works

 

 

Those are fantastic, Bulb. Kimo .. you really DO have some competition !!!

You're right Mike. That is some gorgeous stuff Bulb.

 

Kimo

Thanks guys, you're too kind! 😅

Some vinyl scuds, litte guys is a size 20 and the big guy is a size 10.

Thanks Retro!

Hey folks long time no see! Here are two recent creations. I'm planning a three month trip to NZ starting January, and I'm looking for fishing company. If anyone is interested let me know! Another thing: I'm contemplating bringing flytying materials with me, and i know customs are really strict. Any tips/advice on the matter is welcome.

Cheers

Hugo

Zonker.

 

 

 

Been experimenting with quills lately

Wow! Fantastic taper. How are you able to get the quills flat where you begin the tie in at the curve of the hook? When I've tied them in I get a bump at the initial tie in point and that screws up the taper.

I'm new to the forum so I apologize for the late reply to this post.

 

Thanks mate! What I found helps is to limit the wraps at the tie-in point as much as possible, and using a thin thread. I tie in the quill with a single wrap at first, then for my next wrap I spiral up the thread a little bit and tie in the rest of the quill. The first wrap of the quill is on bare hook, just below the tie-in point. I've since used 6/0 thread and built up the taper with thread, thick thread is less forgiving but I've found it works with some practice. For my first 10-15 flies I tied I used 12/0 thread, it was the thinnest I had lying around.

/Hugo

Thanks for the kind words Kimo!

Been experimenting with quills lately

One of my first attempts at a semi realistic scud.The body is a strip of vinyl from a regular vinyl glove, legs are gray ostrich and the antennae are brahma hen fibers.

Thanks for the kind words Johnny! I bought a bunch of 25 mm. shanks over the holidays and wanted some pike flies in the 20cm range, just big enough to get a big fish interested but still managable with an 8wt

Thanks for the input guys. The conclusion I've come to is that if I do all i can to minimize stress & pain for the fish, then I've tried my best to be as humane and caring as possible. I guess refraining from fishing is the best option in that regard but that's just not going to happen Besides, the point of catching fish isn't harming the fish, we do it for the thrill of the hunt and exitement of the take and fight right? Taking the occational fish for the table is also fine in my book.

I used to fish with traditional gear for pike when i was younger, and alot of the lures had three sets of barbed trebles that unfortunately could snag in the gills if you were unlucky. Now i don't want to bash conventional fishing in any way but switching to purely fly fishing with single hooks was my way to minimize damadge. It's also alot more fun in my opinion.

Have thought about this for a while and it's been bothering me. I truly love flyfishing, i sit and tie flies every day and dream of spring and fishing trips with my dad and friends. But in the end, I have to gouge a fish in the mouth with a hook, and forcefully pull it in before releasing it. This is of course extremely stressfull and painfull for the fish, and we do this for our own enjoyment. It just feels cruel and selfish on one hand, on the other hand we flyfishers go to great lengths to be as gentle to the fish as possible. Thoughts?

Hi all, haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been tying. . . Here are some recent pike creations

Articulated bream

Blsck and cerise

Some all white

Question: does anyone fish (freshwater) crab patterns for trout? Had a look in the archives but didn't find any related threads. Reason im asking is that i read online about a guy fishing in zimbabwe that caught a rainbow with a belly full of crabs, which intrigued me.

http://www.flyfishing.co.uk/destination-fishing/248401-zimbabwe-trip-part-1-operation-trout.html

True Mike, for multi-shank flies old hooks won't cut it. Was thinking of intruder type patterns or wire articulated flies like JacksonK mentioned. If my local flyshop hadn't had a 50% sale after christmas i'd be making my own shanks by now

I've also thought about that JaksonK, been watching jerry french on youtube and his composite ooops for steelhead. Realized that any old hook and a pair of wire cutters is all thats needed for a shank.

Thanks retrocarp! I've tied two more since in orange/brown and olive, will post some pictures when i get home. Im fiddling with mixing in long marabou barbs in my dubbing loops, to give a transparent feel. Feels like a crash cource in material handling, it's really hard to get all the materials into the loop without messing up...