Damsel flies

[Mark Knapp 0]

Damsel flies. Some that float.....

and some that don't.

The wet fly version, is made with steel blue brass beads for the body, blue glass eye beads, Lady Amherst pheasant tail fibers dyed blue, blue grizzly hackle, heavier hooks and Antron yarn wings.

The ones that float, have thin wire hooks, monofilament eyes, dyed blue grizzly hackle and an Antron yarn hackle post. The extended bodies were made with blue dyed grizzly hackle glued into a single body with silicone or blue died Lady Amherst Pheasant tail fibers glued together with head cement (they were the best).

The first steps for the dry version.

A whole flock of them. The upper ones float, the lower ones sink. Do damsel flies ever sink? We only see the ones that float, so we tie them in dry flies. Maybe fish don't know either, or care. I'm going to try a wet version.

Next, damsel fly and dragon fly larva. Thanks for looking.

[TSMcDougald 0]

It will be interesting to see if the fish take the wet version.

[chugbug27 0]

4 hours ago, Mark Knapp said:

Do damsel flies ever sink?

They are about the least clumsy of everything out there, huh? Maybe not the type of sinking you're thinking of, but... they do travel underwater to oviposit.... From Ralph and Lisa Cutter's Bugs of the Underworld...

https://youtu.be/ebZRqQGABQ4?si=EOjLib1tg37rIMfa

[Mark Knapp 0]

4 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

They are about the least clumsy of everything out there, huh? Maybe not the type of sinking you're thinking of, but... they do travel underwater to oviposit.... From Ralph and Lisa Cutter's Bugs of the Underworld...

https://youtu.be/ebZRqQGABQ4?si=EOjLib1tg37rIMfa

Thanks, that was very cool. Thanks. I didn't know that, but I can pretend I did when I tied them.

[chugbug27 0]

I liked it so much I ordered some blue squirmy wormy

[Mark Knapp 0]

48 minutes ago, chugbug27 said:

I liked it so much I ordered some blue squirmy wormy

Good, I'm going to try a few with the tails just floppy (feathers not glued) Should be fun. Doing some larva right now.

[SilverCreek 0]

6 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

They are about the least clumsy of everything out there, huh? Maybe not the type of sinking you're thinking of, but... they do travel underwater to oviposit.... From Ralph and Lisa Cutter's Bugs of the Underworld...

https://youtu.be/ebZRqQGABQ4?si=EOjLib1tg37rIMfa

The ovipositing damsel adult is a stage that cannot be imitated by almost all adult damsel patterns. Congratulations to Mark Knapp for tying some sinking adult damsels.

My favorite pattern is Gary Borger's adult damsel pattern, the Braided Butt Damsel. The patterns that have imitated Gary and used braided butt are like the one below

which uses foam. Obviously the pattern below will not sink.

The Borger pattern uses a yarn body which allows the fly to sink. Here is the pattern from the cover of Gary's book.

The Borger pattern also can be adapted to tie the immature teneral stage of the blue damsel.

 

Instructions for the Borger Braided Butt Damsel:

MATERIALS:

Hook: #10 Tiemco TMC100 or equivalent dry fly hook

Thread: Black Monocord

Abdomen: 30 Lb. Cortland braided mono dyed with permanent markers. Start with white braided mono and use a permanent marker (BCS 136) to dye it blue. Then use a black marker to give it alternating blue and black bands. I use a Berol Prismacolor Art Marker  PM-40 Copenhagen Blue. Gary recommends a Process Blue Marker but I haven't been able to find it. Cut it into sections 3 .5 cm. long (about 1.25 inches) and melt one end of the mono with a cigarette lighter to seal it.

Post: Dazzelaire yarn - Island Blue color

Thorax: Dubbing made from the post yarn. I comb out the end of the yarn with a regular hair comb and cut the combed out yarn into 2-3 inch strips. Then I repeatedly comb all of this until it becomes one pile of dubbing.

Hackle: Light dun or Sandy dun cock hackle tied parachute style. Hackle should be about the length of the body.

 

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bring the thread to the back of the hook and make a small ball of thread or a small dubbing ball on the hook. This should be placed so that it will elevate the abdominal segment off the hook. Take the unsealed end of the abdomen segment and fray the mono for 1/4 inch. Tie down the mono using the frayed end and put on some super glue and overwrap the mono back to the tread ball

2. Double up the yarn so that it forms a loop for the yarn post. Off set the ends slightly so that the transition on the hook will be smooth. Tie down the yarn ends in front of the abdominal segment on top of the superglue and wrap back so that the post starts just at the fur ball. Wrap the shaft of the post to form a base for the parachute hackle.

3. Place the hackle so that the concave (shiny) side faces down and tie down with two wraps. Put some dubbing on the thread and overwrap the body to hide the dark thread at the base of the post and the tie down area for the hackle. Take three to four wraps with the hackle, tie it down, and cut it off.

4. Dub the thread and wrap the thorax to the head of the fly. Spread the hackle in the front of the fly to the sides and pull the yarn post forward over the thorax and wrap it down behind the eye. Bring the thread in front of the yarn and whip finish the head. Cut the extra yarn post off leaving about a stub of yarn about as long as the eye of the hook. The black thread around the yarn simulates the eyes of the insect and the stub of yarn, the head.

5. Straighten out the hackle in a smooth semicircle in back of the thorax and arrange the abdomen in an upward curve. Put *clear*  and *thinned* head cement at the base of the thorax and hackles to hold them in place. Put some head cement between the abdomen segment and the dubbing ball to hold the abdomen in position.

6. Tying hints - Dye and band the abdominal segments as one long piece of braided mono, then cut to length and melt the end. Put on the head cement after you finish all the flies. Do not skip the superglue or your abdominal segments may pull out. Use a whip finish on the head and you can skip the head cement for this area.

 

 

[Mark Knapp 0]

On 9/19/2023 at 11:01 AM, SilverCreek said:

The ovipositing damsel adult is a stage that cannot be imitated by almost all adult damsel patterns. Congratulations to Mark Knapp for tying some sinking adult damsels.

My favorite pattern is Gary Borger's adult damsel pattern, the Braided Butt Damsel. The patterns that have imitated Gary and used braided butt are like the one below

which uses foam. Obviously the pattern below will not sink.

The Borger pattern uses a yarn body which allows the fly to sink. Here is the pattern from the cover of Gary's book.

The Borger pattern also can be adapted to tie the immature teneral stage of the blue damsel.

 

Instructions for the Borger Braided Butt Damsel:

MATERIALS:

Hook: #10 Tiemco TMC100 or equivalent dry fly hook

Thread: Black Monocord

Abdomen: 30 Lb. Cortland braided mono dyed with permanent markers. Start with white braided mono and use a permanent marker (BCS 136) to dye it blue. Then use a black marker to give it alternating blue and black bands. I use a Berol Prismacolor Art Marker  PM-40 Copenhagen Blue. Gary recommends a Process Blue Marker but I haven't been able to find it. Cut it into sections 3 .5 cm. long (about 1.25 inches) and melt one end of the mono with a cigarette lighter to seal it.

Post: Dazzelaire yarn - Island Blue color

Thorax: Dubbing made from the post yarn. I comb out the end of the yarn with a regular hair comb and cut the combed out yarn into 2-3 inch strips. Then I repeatedly comb all of this until it becomes one pile of dubbing.

Hackle: Light dun or Sandy dun cock hackle tied parachute style. Hackle should be about the length of the body.

 

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bring the thread to the back of the hook and make a small ball of thread or a small dubbing ball on the hook. This should be placed so that it will elevate the abdominal segment off the hook. Take the unsealed end of the abdomen segment and fray the mono for 1/4 inch. Tie down the mono using the frayed end and put on some super glue and overwrap the mono back to the tread ball

2. Double up the yarn so that it forms a loop for the yarn post. Off set the ends slightly so that the transition on the hook will be smooth. Tie down the yarn ends in front of the abdominal segment on top of the superglue and wrap back so that the post starts just at the fur ball. Wrap the shaft of the post to form a base for the parachute hackle.

3. Place the hackle so that the concave (shiny) side faces down and tie down with two wraps. Put some dubbing on the thread and overwrap the body to hide the dark thread at the base of the post and the tie down area for the hackle. Take three to four wraps with the hackle, tie it down, and cut it off.

4. Dub the thread and wrap the thorax to the head of the fly. Spread the hackle in the front of the fly to the sides and pull the yarn post forward over the thorax and wrap it down behind the eye. Bring the thread in front of the yarn and whip finish the head. Cut the extra yarn post off leaving about a stub of yarn about as long as the eye of the hook. The black thread around the yarn simulates the eyes of the insect and the stub of yarn, the head.

5. Straighten out the hackle in a smooth semicircle in back of the thorax and arrange the abdomen in an upward curve. Put *clear*  and *thinned* head cement at the base of the thorax and hackles to hold them in place. Put some head cement between the abdomen segment and the dubbing ball to hold the abdomen in position.

6. Tying hints - Dye and band the abdominal segments as one long piece of braided mono, then cut to length and melt the end. Put on the head cement after you finish all the flies. Do not skip the superglue or your abdominal segments may pull out. Use a whip finish on the head and you can skip the head cement for this area.

 

 

Those are super.