Ol'Nog

I've tied a lot of Lady Caroline's recently; simply because I like tying this fly, the way this Spey fly looks and I've read a little of its history. Somewhere I read that it was tied as a Shrimp fly. I can see that, the sleek Bronze Mallard Shoulder wing, the long soft Heron Hackle, a touch of red/orange In the tail and head hackle. However I felt somehow something representing eyes was missing at the tail. Shrimp and Prawns have prominent eyes. No way would I think I could improve on such a successful Salmon and Steelhead fly, I just wanted something a little different. So I have used three materials in the tail: the usual Golden Pheasant Red breast feather (I used dyed orange) on top of which G.P. Topping, on top of which a small G.P Tippet feather. The Tippet gives the impression of eyes, the Topping adds contrast. A Blue Eared Pheasant feather is used for the body hackle The head hackle consists of 2 G.P Red hackles from near the tail of the skin, dyed orange. I used 2 as my feathers were quite sparse. The body is dubbed green/brown Wool with the usual 3 ribs; flat gold, oval gold with oval silver locking down the B.E.P. hackle wound counter-wise to the gold ribs See photos for clarification. Apologies for poor photo resolution, I have no camera so used my iPhone with available light.

I nuke wild feathers in the microwave, 1 minute does the trick. No hassles with bugs after that, kills bug eggs too.

Thanks utyer, good info I'll try the half inch staple length.

WWKimba hi, good info thanks. I'm gonna try cutting shorter roughly to the width of my fingers.

Hi niveker, I think the cut length maybe too long? As twisting the dubbing on the thread, part of it is untwisted, I twist on that bit, and the previously twisted dubbing comes loose. Thinking about it now, maybe the ideal staple length would equal the width of my fingers? Also I find removing the excess dubbing after completing the body is not easy. I've tried Blue Eared Pheasant from USA for the Hackle but it's difficult to get, so I'm using old Heron I got from francnsnaelda some years ago. Thanks for the compliment on the Lady Caroline's, I just enjoy tying them.

Having run out of suitably shaded wool and dubbing for the body on Lady Caroline's ( tying 1/0 to 3/0), I'm attempting to mix my own Dubbing. I've bought some Roving or Felting wool Olive and Brown ( enough of the stuff for 3 quid or so to last a lifetime) to achieve approximately a reasonable shade. However I'm not sure what staple length to cut up for the dubbing. I've tried 20mm and 25mm but not too happy with the result. Is there an ideal staple length I should cut the wool to?

Watched ol' Nige the other night. Thought came to me on a Brexit fly. Colours Red, White, Blue. Just wondering if anyone else has tied up something similar? Maybe Red topping tail, White Swan wing, Blue body ribbed silver, Red throat hackle...we can have fun can't we🙂

Mostly I can only find single strand, (1 ply?) Floss and usually it seems to be rayon. I'd like to find 2 strand or 4 strand but can't find who makes or supplies it. It's OK for most flies including tube flies (Atlantic Salmon). However tying Classic Salmon flies on single irons you can't beat pure silk...it glows, not just shines like rayon, nylon etc. I use silk gloves to handle the silk and always wind a double layer. For really smooooth silk floss bodies use a flat thread like Danville's (I use 3/0), it's spun but oh so easy to unwind and lays really flat. Then burnish with a highly polished burnishing tool. Semi precious stone tools, like highly polished quartz give a much better finish than metal tools. Incidentally DO NOT allow the silk floss to get wet (easy to do if you lick your fingers to smooth back a hackle or wing), it stains. Only way to not see the stain is to dunk the finished fly in pure water - not tap water. Fish don't mind but it won't display good.