Medic3141

@SalarMan well done, indeed! Beautiful wings with Lady Amherst and Golden pheasant... that couldn't have been easy to accomplish! Hadn't heard of this pattern before and finally found it in Kelson's book. "Irish grey" is a new hackle color I'll have to watch for, I really like it. Beautiful work!

Agreed! That looks like a great program! @FliesbyNightThe library is from https://www.archive.org It's where I've found Kelson, P.T., Orvis, lots of old books. I think to download you need to sign up, but it's all free.

@Silver Creek my mistake, i didn't specify the type of fly. I was talking about wet flies, specifically traditional Atlantic salmon flies. What I've read is that from the tie-in point, right above the point of the hook, the tail should extend to the rear 1.5x the gap. The feather ends up being longer because it's curved. The problem I'm running into is how to plan out and tie my flies because I have hooks of the same size, 3/0, but they have different gaps and shank lengths. The info you provided is exactly what I use when I'm tying flies for trout. Well, what I try to use, anyway. The vertical wings and posts don't always turn out as planned. Thanks for the info, those are great pics and I'll keep them for when I'm tying trout flies!

@SalarMan @Sandan I've been doing that for a while and found it really helps. I tend to trace my hooks onto 3x5 notecards then measure and draw out where the tail and topping "should" meet. That way I can hold up the card behind my hook to see if my tail is roughly where it "should" be. Gives me a rough guide. Regarding the gap, the 3/0 hooks I have range from 1/2" to 11/16" and while I realize we're only talking about 3/16ths of an inch difference, it sure looks like a lot more when I draw them out. Is it safe to say that if the tail doesn't look preposterously out of scale, I'll be ok to use the 1.5x gap as a guideline and go from there? Thanks!

Greetings, I have some questions on tying classics, and I apologize if this isn't the right place to post them. I have looked through a variety of sources and haven't found specific answers, so I thought I would pose them here. I will try to be concise so this doesn't turn into a novel. My questions center around proportions. I have read the standard tail is 1.5x the hook gap, and that has worked well on the hooks I started tying on, mostly Partridge CS26 3/0. However, now I am starting to build my collection of blind eye hooks, and these seem to have a much smaller gap than what I'm used to. I have several different kinds of hooks, and even in the same size the gap and overall length vary. Sometimes the difference in gap even in 3/0 is significant, and I don't know how to go about determining proportions for the flies I am tying. Does the convention of 1.5x the gap still hold true? Does the length of the shank determine anything besides wing length? My next question is on these hooks with smaller gaps, how do you determine the height of the wing? I know sometimes the wing can be huge; looking at flies like the Captain, Colonel, or Greenwell, the wings can be much larger than the hook gap. I just want to make sure I don't end up with a fly that looks like a bear riding a tricycle. I've read Kelson, Pryce-Tannatt, and others, and so far I haven't found good guidelines on this. Any advice, suggestions, or resources would be much appreciated. Also wanted to share with the group https://www.archive.org if you haven't come across it. You can search their database which is how I found Kelson, Pryce-Tannatt, Hale (1892 edition), Mary Orvis Marbury, and others. I think to download them you need to sign up, but it's free. Thought people here might enjoy the database if they weren't familiar with it. Thanks for your help everybody. All the best, Troy

One of the Doctor series. Did some reading on it and the creator of the pattern is most likely lost to time, unfortunately. FeathersMC.com has a great write-up about it entitled "Is There a (Red) Doctor in the House?" A friend of mine is a doctor in Nebraska, and recently got married. I thought a Red Doctor would be a neat gift as she and her new husband both love fishing, and she's a doctor in Husker (red) territory. I've tried to get the wings into a more traditional shape, and worked on a few other details, too. Critiques and suggestions welcome! Thanks!

@KrakenFly Cool idea, and executed very well! Your hooks look great! Do you sell them or make for your own tying needs?

Beautiful fly, @SalarMan! What is the R.B.M. series? I found Hale's book, but it just references the series and doesn't explain what it is. What material did you use for the body? Looks incredible. Golden pheasant on top, is the bottom strip of the wing turkey? Love the turkey underwing.

Thanks @Sandan It's been a lot of fun learning a new style of tying, but has certainly presented numerous challenges I had not been expecting. I appreciate your compliment.

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate it! @SalarMan Thank you for the critique. The hook is a 3/0 Partridge CS26. I have looked for blind-eye hooks but honestly haven't come across many, and even fewer with price tags I could afford. Suggestions would be very welcome. Besides the CS26, I have mostly up-eyed hooks like Mustad SL73, Gamakatsu T10-6H, and recently picked up some Alec Jacksons. I've watched some videos of tiers/tyers making gut loops or improvising gut loops, and it looks like another interesting challenge. I had been focusing more on the tying aspect, although understandably, the hook certainly impacts the aesthetics of the finished fly. The wings, unsurprisingly, have been my most constant challenge tying these flies. I haven't been able to consistently secure the wings with the shape, length, and angle I intended. Progress, not perfection. Question for the group: where do you get your turkey feathers for wings? You're the first group I've had the chance to ask. Thanks again!

Greetings! I'm relatively new to tying salmon flies, got started about a year ago after reading The Feather Thief. I'd grown up tying trout flies and thought salmon flies would be a fun challenge. "C'mon, can't be that hard, right??" Oh how wrong I was. I'd been reading this site and found that people were kind enough to offer critiques when asked. I would appreciate any feedback on my work I attached. It's called The Lizzy, which was in Kelson's The Salmon Fly. Recipe as follows: Tag: Silver twist Tail: A topping Body: Green, yellow, violet, and crimson seal Ribs: Silver tinsel (oval) Hackle: Blue from yellow fur Wings: Tippet strands; gallina, swan dyed light blue, yellow and crimson, mallard, and a topping I forgot the horns and didn't realize it until too late. Still kicking myself for that. Maybe I should staple the macaw feathers to my forehead so I don't forget next time! Thanks in advance for critiques, feedback, and suggestions!