Just finished a few dozen bunny leaches for Alaska. Heading up on Aug. 5th for two weeks!
Fly Tying
- Thread starter SoDakDom
- Start date
Hope you have a great time! I've always wanted to go there. I'm just afraid I wouldn't come home!
biggest was learning a new skill, being able to tie new or unique flies and such. i used a lot of the internet, looking at step by steps, and youtube. i bought an orvis encounter tying kit that came with a DVD. it has very good step by step videos on many patterns.
Pictures, or it didn't happen!
ill get some pics, i know they arent perfect but at least they didnt suck.
got quite a bit of tying done today, 6 elk hair caddis, 2 vermont caddis, and 7 BH caddis larva. hopefully ill be able to get some material for tying royal coachmen, hornberg, and some wet fly patterns.
The most important thing for new tiers is to learn techniques and the characteristics of materials. I don't know how far away you live to one of the better fly shops, Stone River Outfitters, Bedford, NH, but you should find about anything you need there. Many tiers I know regularly visit the local craft stores in search of materials.
Wet flies are fun to fish and easy to tie. Be careful you don't over-hackle the fly, which defeats the purpose of the hackle. Wet flies are meant to be fished within very, very short depths of water. There is a movement within the flyfishing community for soft hackle flies. Dave Hughes, the late Sylvester Nemes have provided a trove of knowledge on the subject. Domestic hen skins are much, much cheaper than genetic dry fly skins as you have probably noticed.
Lately, I've been tying dozens of midges, #18 to #24, for Project Healing Waters. Strong light and magnification are critical for me when I tie these tiny flies. You might try tying the Zebra Midge in size #18 as a start and tie smaller later. The Zebra Midge works just about anywhere. But ask flyfishers in your area about midges.
Now that would be a wonderful trip. What else are you tying besides bunny leeches? Where in Alaska are your going?
I've been to Alaska at least three times over the years. The group I go with always want to go to Prince of Wales Island, which I believe is the third larges island in the US. PoW has at least five rivers loaded with salmon and sometimes large sea-run cutthroat trout. I usually target the coho salmon. Coho move through the pods of pinks and are easy to spot when an angler can get a little elevation to see the water. It's a hoot when a coho takes a fly and tries to change zip codes in its run. I've seen some fly rodders get spooled from coho. I take a tying kit with me and materials specially loaded for the various flies I expect to work. I tie at night for the flies that worked that day. I do the same whenever I fly out to the West.
I expect you'll be in flyfishing heaven shortly after you arrive at your destination in Alaska. Enjoy the rush!
Great idea. Zebra midges are easy. So are Pheasant Tail Nymphs. I suggest beginners start with nymphs, and just 1-2 patterns. Dries are a bit tougher, and certainly more expensive.
We use Papabear Adventures (http://pbadventures.com/) to fly us to Kisiralik Lake. We also rent rafts from Papabear. From the lake we float down the Kisiralik River for 12 or 13 days camping along the way. The fishing is spectacular.
This is my 4th trip using Papabear.
thanks for the advice, the midges and nymphs definetly where very easy to tie, over the weekend i bought some material to tie more, now i just need hooks to tie the coachman and hornberg flies.
Before we leave midges, you might want to Google the Disco Midge, which I believe is a Pat Dorsey pattern. It is really effective about anywhere as well. I switched to foam beetles this past week. The 1 or 2mm foam is available at most craft stores and foam is cheap, less than $2 for an 8" x 10" sheet. Just cut strips slightly larger that the gap of the hook. Use a relatively short hook in #10 - #14. I found an ideal hook, the Knapek N, at troutlegend.com. Legs may be fine black rubber or black Krystal Flash. You can use dubbed black or peacock Ice Dub or twisted, wrapped peacock herls for the body. This time of year should be ideal fishing with beetles. Unsure what I'll be tying next. I'm getting a lot of calls for scuds.
funky midge for sure, ill definitely try it out. i use foam beetles especially high viz ones with midge droppers, i had a hit once. the brute nearly snapped the olive scud i was using. i tried my hand at some wet flies this weekend, i tried a leadwing coachman, i also did a couple of my own creations. the first was just practicing wet fly wings, and a whip finish; its a black thread with a white duck quill wing. the other creation is tied on a #12 dry hook, silver tinsel tag, golden pheasant tail, red floss body, silver wire ribs, brown hen hackle throat, with a white duck quill wing, and a red head. i also tied it with mallard flank wing. while at a new field and stream store i found the vise i had decided i was gonna get, thankfully my girlfriend talked me out of it. i ended up needing the money for repairs to my truck. im still having trouble getting the hackle to sit back on wet flies, wonder if its my application method.
Tetraodon, I am not sure what you are using for soft hackle, but I can share a few tips for you. Hen, partridge, and grouse feathers are most often used in creating soft hackle flies. Wild game feathers are more delicate than hen and break more often than hen. But you can avoid breakage by soaking the feather in water or even glycerin for awhile before you use them. The usual way it is tied in is by the tip. With the outside of the feather faces up on the hook. Normally, the outside of the feather is convex, has more distinct markings, and has slightly more shine than the inside of the feather. Prepare the feather by removing the soft down or fluff nearest the bottom of the stem. With your thumb and forefinger of one hand grab a very few barbules at the tip of the feather and with the forefinger and thumb of the other hand spread out the barbules along the length of the feather toward the stem. The feather now should have its barbules perpendicular to the stem. Wet down the few barbules at the tip, which are separated from the barbules of the rest of the feather, preen them together, and cut them into a tiny triangle. Tie in this triangle behind the eye and wrap the thread over it with two soft and one firm wraps. With your hackle plier wrap the feather two close turns toward the body of the fly. The hackle should splay out evenly around the hook and slightly toward the body. If not, overwrap into the hackle once or twice.
Hope I explained it well enough. Before you begin you should measure the feather for its proper size. North Country or Yorkshire flies traditionally have hackles well past the bend. I would keep the hackle sparse, perhaps just a couple of turns of hackle. However, some patterns show heavy hackle. In my humble opinion, heavy hackle defeats the purpose of wet flies. Sparse hackle simulates the flutter and struggle of appendages of an insect. As always, practice, practice, practice.
Hope I explained it well enough. Before you begin you should measure the feather for its proper size. North Country or Yorkshire flies traditionally have hackles well past the bend. I would keep the hackle sparse, perhaps just a couple of turns of hackle. However, some patterns show heavy hackle. In my humble opinion, heavy hackle defeats the purpose of wet flies. Sparse hackle simulates the flutter and struggle of appendages of an insect. As always, practice, practice, practice.
very good advice, not sure the origin of the feathers im using as they are only labelled as neck hackle in the kit, im heading to field and stream this weekend so ill keep my eyes out for some hen hackle. among my growing list of things. i know i need better hackle pliers, the ones i have had a burr and cut a few feathers before i took them to my small ark stone. ive seen some instructions say to pinch the hackle to it lays back, so ill experiment and see what works.
Tetraodon, if you haven't done so already, try partridge feathers for your wet flies. Buy the whole bird, which is true of most game birds, instead of a bag of individual feathers. If you can't find decent bird skins locally, mail order from one of the better fly shops. Blue Ribbon Flies, West Yellowstone, MT has really decent wild Hungarian Partridge skins. You might want to buy Starling whole bird skins while you are at it. Starling is cheap and provides those tiny feathers for amazing Starling and Purple and other small flies. One pattern I've had huge success is Stewart's Black Spider, which uses Starling. It looks like the fly has a bad hair day, but it has been more effective for me than Griffith's Gnat. Google it for more.
Does anyone have pictures of their handiwork?
ill post some when i can sometime today. i got a huge compliment the other day, i was out on the water with my father using the flies i tied when we ran into another fly fisherman. a good friendly chat, then he asked the all important question, "what patterns you using?".
at that point i had a couple hits on my royal wulff, showed him my fly box filled with royal wulffs, royal renegade, a royal dissident, elk hair caddis, rusty spinners, zebra nymphs, and several random wet flies. he asked were i got all my flies and after i told him i tied them myself, he asked if i sold them. so apparently i tied some good flies.
do you all have any one off patterns? i tied a random, no pattern fly that apparently cause quite a few hits, and 3 20"+ trout landed. i dont have a picture yet but it was a peacock herl body tied even with the barb up 2/3 of the shank, 2-4 turns of dry hackle, with a long red tread head. now i just gotta name it.
at that point i had a couple hits on my royal wulff, showed him my fly box filled with royal wulffs, royal renegade, a royal dissident, elk hair caddis, rusty spinners, zebra nymphs, and several random wet flies. he asked were i got all my flies and after i told him i tied them myself, he asked if i sold them. so apparently i tied some good flies.
do you all have any one off patterns? i tied a random, no pattern fly that apparently cause quite a few hits, and 3 20"+ trout landed. i dont have a picture yet but it was a peacock herl body tied even with the barb up 2/3 of the shank, 2-4 turns of dry hackle, with a long red tread head. now i just gotta name it.
Those are cool! Thanks.
here are a couple of mine.
