The Fly Tying Bench - February 2011 by Emmitt Simmons Introduction If you were one of the Frozen Chosen who made the trip to Murfreesboro, Arkansas this past month you certainly have a greater appreciation of how lucky we are to be living in the deep south. Jack Lithgoe and I left for the trip with an array of fluffbutts, wooly buggers, A and W s and even a Jedediah or two. I came home needing to tie a few more of those patterns and vowed to try to tie some soft hackles and SR71 s for the next trip. Little Mo guide, Jeff Guerin showed us a Tiger Midge that he tied. I d love to hear from Little Mo vets as to what patterns they found to be productive. Jack Lithgoe and I should craft a pattern called The Ice Breaker which is capable of busting through a half inch or better of ice to get to the trout. Hmmm, might need something more than a 6 weight for that. Beginners Corner-Proportions It is evident that a lot of time and effort goes into developing a fly that looks right. Various patterns call for different types of hooks and in turn, the materials are proportionate to the length and gap of the hook. Here are some rough guidelines that I found for making your flies look just great. Patterns may dictate a great variety of proportions that don t follow these simplified rules. 1) Wet Flies Tail= length of hook shank Wing= length from eye to back of hook bend- Wing may be pointed up, in line with shank or slightly down depending on pattern requirements. Hackle= One to one and a half times the hook gap. Pull the feather fibers out perpendicular to the rib of the feather to measure. There are gauges that can help with measuring this but most folks seem to do this by sight. 2) Dry Flies- Tail= length of hook shank, Wing=length from eye to bend of hook, hackle same as above 3) Nymphs and Streamers- There are too many patterns and varieties to describe a set of rules for these flies. Follow your pattern instructions for these. 4) One Final Tip- DON T CROWD THE HOOK EYE. There is a tendency to bind down materials right at the hook eye thus making whip finishing and thread heads very difficult. Back off a little, you ll be glad you did. Tools and Techniques The Matarelli Whip Finisher You ve tied the perfect fly. Your bobbin is hanging there and you are ready to lock down your beauty before applying the head cement. If you are a veteran, you can grab the thread with your fingers, make three or four loops and cinch down in a couple of seconds. For the beginner, mastering the whip finish may take a little practice. Fortunately there are a couple of tools that can help with the task of whip finishing. This month I will cover the Matarelli since it seems to be the most popular choice among tyers and is typically included in most tying kits. 1) Holding the tool in your tying hand, grab the shaft so that the tool doesn t rotate. Place the thread in the small hook at the end of the tool. Refer to figure 1 for proper orientation 2) Bring the bobbin up as in figure 2 passing the thread across the indent in the bottom of the tool and upward toward the middle of the hook shank
3) Release the tool and allow the shaft to spin to position as shown in figure 3. 4) Lifting the tool up allow the shaft to spin and form a triangle as shown in figure 4. Keep the bobbin thread horizontal. Rotate the tool 3-5 times around the hook shank. The small hook on the tool should be perpendicular to the shank of the hook as the tool is rotated. 5) Now you are ready to release the tool from the thread. Rock the tool back as shown in figure 5. The thread notch of the tool should remain close to the hook shank. When the notch releases the thread it will usually sound with a little tink. 6) All that is left now is to rock the tool forward as shown in figure 6 and pull on the thread to tighten it to the shaft. Once the tool hook is pulled to the shank remove the hook and finish tightening the thread. 7) Now-practice-practice-practice- on a plain hook (larger is better) for about half an hour till you get the feel of the mechanics. You won t regret it. Next Month s Tools and Techniques- The Thompson Whip Finisher. Materials, Hooks, Threads and Cements 6/0, 8/0, 70 Denier, GSP, What does all this thread jargon mean? To decode this mystery I did a little search on the internet and found a table on the Wapsi website. It provides a comparison of the various types of materials used in fly tying and gives equivalent sizes in deniers and x/0 thread sizes. I hope you find it informative.
" Flies of the Month - January 2011 Flies by Featured Tyer Joe Kahler - Cabela s, Monday, January 24. Time 7:00pm. Whether it's out west in Yellowstone, on the Little Missouri in Arkansas, or on the BREC ponds (I saw him recently at Perkins Park with his trademark stogie), Joe loves fishing sweetwater trout. Our past president tied two classic coldwater patterns, the Parachute Adams and another older pattern called the Light Spruce. 1) Parachute Adams Hook Standard dry fly hook in sizes #14-18 Thread Black nylon thread in 6/0 or 8/0
Wingpost White calf body hair or calf (kip) tail Tails Moose body hair Body Muskrat fur dubbing (or synthetic dubbing) Hackle Brown and grizzly, mixed 1. Lay thread over the first half of the hook, leaving a long tail that you DON'T cut off, then bring the thread back to one-fourth of the hook length from the eye of the hook. 2. Clip a clump of calf body hair from the hide. Clean the short hairs from the base. Stack or cut square. Tie in at one-fourth of the hook from the eye - a length of hair about the length of the hook shaft. Tips toward the eye. Cut the butt section at an angle. 3. Bring the thread in front of the clump and build it up so the post sits up at a 90 degree angle, about 10 wraps. 4. Wrap around the base of the post in a COUNTERCLOCKWISE direction, wrap up 10 wraps, then down 10 wraps. 5. Bring the thread back toward the bend of the hook. Tie in about 5 moose body hairs (length of the shaft of the hook). 6. Wax the thread. Put a bit of dubbing on the thread, spinning it just enough to get it to stay on thread. Don't spin it tight yet. Put a bit of floatant on your index finger and thumb, then spin the dubbing tightly onto the thread. Remember to spin in only one direction. 7. Wind the dubbed thread onto the hook, ending ideally with one wrap of dubbing in front of the post. Now bring the long tail of thread from the bend to the eye, wrapping in even spaces to give a segmented appearance. This binds the dubbing in and increases the life of the fly. 8. Tie one grizzly and one brown hackle feather onto the hook just in front of the eye. Length of hackle fibers is one to two times the gap of the hook. Butt section 1", shiny side up, brown on top of grizzly. 9. Wrap brown hackle COUNTERCLOCKWISE, and tie down with 3 or 4 wraps, and cut excess; then wrap the grizzly hackle through the brown hackle, and tie in the same way. Ideally, each wrap goes below the one before it. 10. Lift the forward hackles back away from the eye of the hook, form a tapered head, tie off, and seal. 1) Light Spruce Hook Standard Streamer hook 3X or 4X in sizes #4-12 Thread Black nylon thread in 6/0 or 8/0 Tail Peacock Sword Herls Body Half Red yarn and half peacock herl Hackle Badger
Wing Two Badger hackles, flared 1. Lay thread over the hook shank. Measure three or four peacock sword fibers and tie in at hook bend. 2. Tie in red yarn at hook bend and wrap forward halfway up the shank 3. Tie in peacock herls in front of yarn and wrap forward towards eye, stop about two hook eye widths in front of the eye. 4. Select two badger feathers that are matched in size and are from the same part of the neck. They should be just a little longer than the tail fibers when tied in. Pair them back to back (outward flare) and slightly upward. Bend the excess stems back before tying in and then apply wrap. This locks in wings. 5. Take a well marked hackle feather, tie it in in front of the wings, make six to eight wraps and trim excess, sweep fibers back, make small thread head, whip finish and apply head cement. February 2011 Featured Tyer - John Ryan Denig - Bass Pro, Monday February 28, 7:00PM, One of our youngest members, John Ryan has been a regular at the fly tying meetings over the past couple of years. He is a 5th grade student at Prairieville Primary school. John Ryan and his dad, Jeff Denig, are RSFF and BCKFC kayak fly fishing enthusiasts. John Ryan s fly tying talent is evident and it is time we showcased his handiwork. In February, John Ryan will be tying two Saltwater patterns the _Floating Minnow and a Surprise Suspending Shrimp. Join me in extending a hearty welcome to our February 2011 featured tyer. March 2011 Featured Tyer - Emmitt Simmons - Orvis Store, Monday March 28, 7:00PM, I thought it was about time to tie some flies as the teacher and not the student. Since we have sort of been rotating between coldwater, saltwater and warm water patterns I thought we ought to tie some flies in preparation for our Concordia Trip. The two patterns that I will be tying in March are the Briminator and the Red Rump. I hope you will join me in tying these patterns as we prepare to take on the Concordia Stumpknockers in April.