The challenge thread!

[niveker 0]

Next up, a simple tie with huge room for variation in size and color:  Gartside's Sparrow

[dflanagan 0]

Nice job on the spruce fly. That wool roving looks really good. 

[niveker 0]

1 minute ago, dflanagan said:

wool roving

Thanks Mr. Flanagan.  The fibers are longish and a little course, but if you tear off short pieces it ain't too bad to dub. 

Be happy to send you some in the colors I have, just pm me your address.   I have more than I'll ever use.  

[dflanagan 0]

1 hour ago, niveker said:

Thanks Mr. Flanagan.  The fibers are longish and a little course, but if you tear off short pieces it ain't too bad to dub. 

Be happy to send you some in the colors I have, just pm me your address.   I have more than I'll ever use.  

Thanks for the offer but I’m sure we have some around here. My wife is the real crafter and has boxes of all kinds of stuff. 

[johnnyquahog 0]

I will pick up the Gartside sparrow since I am working on them for donations.

[johnnyquahog 0]

This is  a confidence fly for me.  Better directions can be found on jackgartside dot com and he also ties it on YouTube. I’ve also been lucky enough to watch him tie it a couple of times.  He was a true trout bum.  These are part of a set of 16 going to casting for recovery.

 

Hook - size 10, 12 or 8. These are size 10 tiemco 5263 but any 2x or 3x works.

thread - I use 8/0 in black, olive, tan or orange

tail - short marabou fluffy feathers from ring neck pheasant or turkey.  I also use pine squirrel clumps. Keep tail short / hook gap to 1/3 length.

body - dubbing; above are Whitlock blends.  Spikey hares ear or squirrel, rabbit synthetic sparkley blends work well.

collar - see picture; natural or dyed pheasant rump feather.  Concave side folded back extended to end of tail and beyond.  Only one turn according to jack.  I usually do two complete turns to get good distribution of barbules.

head - aftershaft feather(s) taken from base of rump feather. This delicate feather is tied in and stroked back against the collar. I’m good with five turns and six is better. Moist fingers help.  Electric test grabbers may help but I prefer just fingers.

whip finish - try to keep the whip finished head smaller than my ties above.

above is an olive dyed rump feather along side the aftershaft feather. Snip the rump feather right above the fluff, wax thread and tie onto hook concave side down, take a turn or two and secure with a couple wraps of thread stroking/shaping feather rearward.

This fly can be fished as a nymph or streamer.

these were tied by Gartside who passed away way too early.  All black or peacock herl body is called an “evening star”.

 

I need to review this thread to see what pattern hasn’t been done.

 

next challenge:  any Carrie Stevens style trolling streamer for landlocked salmon or trout.  From Mickey Finn to grey ghost and beyond. Thanks and tight wraps.

[niveker 0]

21 minutes ago, johnnyquahog said:

These are part of a set of 16 going to casting for recovery.

Nicely done.  

21 minutes ago, johnnyquahog said:

these were tied by Gartside who passed away way too early.  All black or peacock herl body is called an “evening star”.

With added bonus pic, very nice.  Thanks for posting those.  I did not know about the 'Evening Star'  

As his ties show, such a versatile pattern, colors, body material, size - they all work .  

[niveker 0]

On 1/31/2023 at 9:33 PM, niveker said:

Spruce Streamer

Hook: Herter's 423 (#8, 3xl)

Thread: 70D, black

Tail: Peacock sword

Rib: 1 strand DMC metallic thread, light gold

Body: red roving wood/peacock hurl (40/60)

Wing: India cape, ginger badger, splayed

Hackle: India cape, silver badger

Critique: The wing is way too long, should be roughly 1 1/2 x the hook shank, not 2x.  I should have continued the rib through the peacock hurl for durability.  And before taking the photo, I should have let the wing dry after licking my fingers and then caressing the fly.  I do that alot, I've got issues.  

 

Stripped the front half of the fly, shortened the wings un-splayed this time, hackle is a tad shorter.  Much better proportions this time.    

 

[Guest]

Gonna add a couple if you don’t mind.

[niveker 0]

Nice Spruce flies.  Those are some nice feathers from a yard bird.  All my badgers area India capes and are on the slim side.  

[Guest]

Yep.  Watching some Wyandotte  with anticipation.  They are light in the center and dark outside.  Never seen a fly with them.  

[mvendon 0]

On 2/2/2023 at 10:34 AM, johnnyquahog said:

This is  a confidence fly for me.  Better directions can be found on jackgartside dot com and he also ties it on YouTube. I’ve also been lucky enough to watch him tie it a couple of times.  He was a true trout bum.  These are part of a set of 16 going to casting for recovery.

 

Hook - size 10, 12 or 8. These are size 10 tiemco 5263 but any 2x or 3x works.

thread - I use 8/0 in black, olive, tan or orange

tail - short marabou fluffy feathers from ring neck pheasant or turkey.  I also use pine squirrel clumps. Keep tail short / hook gap to 1/3 length.

body - dubbing; above are Whitlock blends.  Spikey hares ear or squirrel, rabbit synthetic sparkley blends work well.

collar - see picture; natural or dyed pheasant rump feather.  Concave side folded back extended to end of tail and beyond.  Only one turn according to jack.  I usually do two complete turns to get good distribution of barbules.

head - aftershaft feather(s) taken from base of rump feather. This delicate feather is tied in and stroked back against the collar. I’m good with five turns and six is better. Moist fingers help.  Electric test grabbers may help but I prefer just fingers.

whip finish - try to keep the whip finished head smaller than my ties above.

above is an olive dyed rump feather along side the aftershaft feather. Snip the rump feather right above the fluff, wax thread and tie onto hook concave side down, take a turn or two and secure with a couple wraps of thread stroking/shaping feather rearward.

This fly can be fished as a nymph or streamer.

these were tied by Gartside who passed away way too early.  All black or peacock herl body is called an “evening star”.

 

I need to review this thread to see what pattern hasn’t been done.

 

next challenge:  any Carrie Stevens style trolling streamer for landlocked salmon or trout.  From Mickey Finn to grey ghost and beyond. Thanks and tight wraps.

I'll take the Carrie Stevens style streamer. Warning, I'm not nearly as fast as most here are at tying patterns.

Regards,

                   Mark

[mvendon 0]

Ok,  Here it is after starting it this past weekend and finishing it up a short time ago.  The picture isn't the greatest, but I don't spend a lot of time behind the camera.

Carrie Stevens Blue Devil

Hook: Vintage 8X long streamer size 4

Body: Black floss with medium silver tinsel tag and ribbing going reversed like she tied it

Belly: Five peacock herls with white bucktail below that

Throat: Several small bunches of orange hackle followed by a couple small bunches of blue over that

Wing: Pre-assembled orange with slightly shorter blue feather over this, ruffed grouse shoulder with a JC eye glued to those for each side and weighed down overnight. (tiny drops of glue on feather stems near the feather base) Had to use a left and right shoulder grouse feather and align them so some of the feather would cover the throat once tied in on either side. Wing was then tied in line with the hook at about 11:00 and 1:00 position, so tips would be even in the back and the front would match up pretty good too.

Head: 4/0 Rice's silk thread with one coat of shhan 

Next Up :  A classic red quill dry fly  ( I don't think this has been a challenge pattern yet, but it's a real pain to "open each page in new window" to search. With 29 pages, it might be easier if we could have some kind of running list near the first page on what's already been tied for challenge patterns.

[niveker 0]

1 hour ago, mvendon said:

Carrie Stevens Blue Devil

Wow, I glad I didn't jump on that and embarrass myself.  I like how the grouse feather works.  Nice job.  

 

1 hour ago, mvendon said:

running list near the first page on what's already been tied for challenge patterns.

Past Fly Challenges.

Rubber Legs Nymph

Wooley Bugger

Reverse Spider Soft Hackle

John Storey

Grizzly Hackle Yellow

Charlie Boy Hopper.

Mop Fly

Royal Coachman Hairwing Streamer

Copper John

Elk Hair Caddis

Rock Worm

Haystack

Madam X

Two Bit Hooker

Letort Hopper

Czech Nymph

Bomber

Hemlock (quill winged wet)

Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Nymph

Don Martinez Black Nymph

Stonefly

Flat Wing Gurgler

March Brown Dry

Sparkle Pupa

Royal Wulff Dry

Humpy

Muddler Minnow

Professor Wet

Blae and Black

Brooks Sprout

Cains River Streamer (Highlander)

General Practitioner

Woven Salmonfly Nymph

Light Cahill (Catskill style)

Thunder Creek Streamer

Slumpbuster

Sculpzilla

Galloup’s Zoo Cougar

Front End Loader Caddis

Hula Damsel Nymph

Yellow Perch Deceiver

Hornberg Special

Batman Nymph

Clark's Stonefly

Clouser Swimming Nymph

Ballou Special Streamer

Calcasieu Pig Boat

Blue Gill Belly Scratcher

Darbee Two Feather

The Missing Link

Snowshoe Rabbit's Foot Emerger

Parachute Adams

Royal Trude

Joe's Hopper

Spruce streamer, Light

Gartside's Sparrow

Carrie Stevens Style Streamer (Blue Devil)

p. 29

[johnnyquahog 0]

Kudos!  Great job on the Blue Devil.  You definitely went above and beyond.