What flies have you tied today? Post pics here.

Doc Farrell

hi, been away.

fantastic flies, and that macro lens is exceptional.

i sent a little donation to this site below because I think its fantastic and the older man, Dave Cammiss, who ties the flies is a pleasure to watch and listen to.

http://learnflytying.co.uk/

jack01986

Doc Farrell wrote: »

hi, been away.

fantastic flies, and that macro lens is exceptional.

i sent a little donation to this site below because I think its fantastic and the older man, Dave Cammiss, who ties the flies is a pleasure to watch and listen to.

http://learnflytying.co.uk/

Thats a really handy site, have been struggling with kilnkhammers and thats pretty much sorted it out for me. I got the camera for free was suprised at the quality thanks for the compliments.

cj salmon

here is my first flies i have attempted,pics arnt great,think im hooked already!! first is a posh tosh ,then two seatrout flies i hope will work!!!
any comments taken on board :cool:,alot to learn but determined to teach myself,,have tried a couple trout flies mainly nymphs havnt quite got the hang of the proportions and such,and still just getting a feel for it.
cheers

ironbluedun

cj salmon wrote: »

here is my first flies i have attempted,pics arnt great,think im hooked already!! first is a posh tosh ,then two seatrout flies i hope will work!!!
any comments taken on board :cool:,alot to learn but determined to teach myself,,have tried a couple trout flies mainly nymphs havnt quite got the hang of the proportions and such,and still just getting a feel for it.
cheers

they don't look too bad at all, they will work for the seatrout....

coolwings

They're nice. Should work well for both sea trout and grilse in a fresh.

Comments: Only one, not about your tying, but the streamer design of the middle one.
The black/red one has an underwing of red cock hackle tied streamer style. Well if you retrieve and see your fly at the end of most casts that's ok. But if the streamer flicks around under the hook bend, and you are fishing at night, or daytime salmon fishing down and across, and you are re-casting the full line without retrieve, then you won't spot a "caught up" streamer fly swimming badly with a corkscrew action.
It's a variation of the problem of knowing that a strand of silkweed is on your hook ruining the presentation.
So with the streamer type, either look up a matuka fly tying style and do it that way, but matukas are fiddly and there is less play or movement in the streamer hackle due to it's being tethered at top and middle, so it's a poor fix - or - make a point of actually observing the fly every so often at the end of a cast, just to be sure all is fine, and it's swimming right.

cj salmon

thanks,thats food for thought,i will check it regularly whn i fish it tonight,i tied the posh tosh quit bulky to fish on a falling flood with a deep sinker,it is a size 6 hook,do you think it is a little sparse for salmon in these conditions??
i have taken fish on black and yellow tubes,and have confidnce in the pattern,but only gtting used to using the right amount of winging and such.


on a different matter,anyone know if its possile to make a homemade tool for holding plastic tubes fo tying??

coolwings

For perfect water ,for salmon, at this time of year, I'd use 10s as the standard size.
For coloured or high water I would go up to 8s for my basic size for the day.
For low water I'd be going down to 12s for my basic size for the day.
High or low water temperature would make me go up or down 2 sizes as a test, but also try the basic size for the day.
A 6 is a very big fly this time of year, for salmon.

ironbluedun

in very low water conditions, like we had before the rain in june, size 14 is your only man....its amazing how salmon will refuse a 12 and go for a 14 in very low water...now with a fresh in the rivers size 12 would be most common, but 10 can be used too if the water is high 8-6 are too big for this time of year.....without any doubt in salmon fishing the size of fly is more important than the pattern.

cj salmon

i am going to tie some small plastic tubes with the posh tosh ,il have to get some doubles in 10s and 12s ,, is the dressing on the size 6 hook to sparse for the hook size?? ,

fontanalis

ironbluedun wrote: »

in very low water conditions, like we had before the rain in june, size 14 is your only man....its amazing how salmon will refuse a 12 and go for a 14 in very low water...now with a fresh in the rivers size 12 would be most common, but 10 can be used too if the water is high 8-6 are too big for this time of year.....without any doubt in salmon fishing the size of fly is more important than the pattern.

Even a 16, kamasan used to have good size 16 trebles. What about trout bouble hooks in size 12 for low water?

coolwings

If you fish in rivers where spring and summer salmon are resting in the same pools as grilse, I will tell you what will happen.
You get in the habit of using those titchy teeny doubles, you get to like them at catching grilse weighing 2-4lbs. Then some day, eventually, you get a take and you tighten into something that feels like the bottom, but it swims away. A certain duration later the hooks pull out, and you get your fly back with no fish attached to it.
Check out short shank, forged, carp hooks. The Kamasan B980 have a kirb, which means a twist in the wire at the bend, and the hook will not lay flat on it's side on a salmon's tongue. That and the wider gape means it's a prickly thing and it hooks as well as a double. A B980 size 10 has a short shank and will be the same length as a 12, but have immensely greater holding power useful after the fight gets under way. Sooner or later you will be glad of it.
Next, the salmon are not so single minded into size as everybody says. Watch how one angler get his fish on a long tail 10, which is the same length as a standard tied 4. Another angler the same day gets one on a lightly tied 8. People fishing other stuff like 4s blank. So size seems to be at the heart of their choices, but there is undoubtedly fly tying style (or design of the pattern) involved too.

ironbluedun

fontanalis wrote: »

Even a 16, kamasan used to have good size 16 trebles. What about trout bouble hooks in size 12 for low water?

why not? salmon will take size 10/12 single trout flies on a lough.

fontanalis

Isn't there a big difference in the scale for salmon flies and trout flies? Say a size 12 kamasan b175 will be smaller than a partridge salmon hook in size 12.
The reason I mention small flies is that someone started using size 16 flies (that no-one used before) when the water got very low and he cleaned up evening fishing during the summer when the flood was almost gone.
Just wondering if anyone used trout flies in low water as my first salmon on the fly was on a size 12 bog fly.

dody

Being snowed in for the last week made me take out the flytying gear and tie a few for the coming season.
top row; leaded scud, klink with pink post , klinkhamer.
on left; three tungsten bead pheasant tail nymphs
middle; green caddis pupa and caseless caddis
bottom; soft hackled woolly worm with + without bead.

Has anyone used the woolly worm much? . I'm giving it a go next season after reading 'active nymphing' by Rich Osthoff. All fired up i am!
2 of the pheasant tails are tied up on tiemco 2499 barbless hooks. I find them great for holding decent trout on small nymphs compared to knapek nymph hooks.

jack01986

Gonna start breaking out the fly tying stuff soon enough. I'm looking into doing some salmon fishing next year what sort of materials will I need to get as Ive only really got trout materials. Also what would be two good all round hook sizes?

jack01986

Oh nice flies dody, impressive klinkhamers I always struggle with them.

dody

Thanks Jack01986, i found them fiddly until i got a genetic saddle and the hackles wound on lovely. And they,re tougher.

ironbluedun

jack01986 wrote: »

Also what would be two good all round hook sizes?

for summer grilse size 10 and 12 doubles or trebles.

TimMac

What about springers IBD?

ironbluedun wrote: »

for summer grilse size 10 and 12 doubles or trebles.

okedoke

making a determined effort to catch more bass this year so I've been tying up bass flies for the last few days - here's a couple:

Gurglers


Clousers


Surf candy type flies


Ray's Flies


steve

jack01986

Some very nice flies there.

TimMac

Just bought a fly tying kit any suggestions for a few easy flies for a beginner?

okedoke

What materials have you got in your kit?

coolwings

TimMac wrote: »

Just bought a fly tying kit any suggestions for a few easy flies for a beginner?

Here are some simple but very effective patterns.

Dry - White Midge:
white cock hackle, white body (either silk or floss), white tail.

Dry - Ginger Quill:
ginger cock hackle, peacock quill body, ginger tail

Wet - Black Pennell Spider:
black hen hackle, black silk or floss body, silver wire rib, no tail

Wet - Hare's Ear Nymph:
Hare's ear clippings dubbed on silk and wound onto the hook thinnest near tail with a swelling behind the head.

Wet - Silver Spider:
Black hen hackle, flat silver body, silverwire rib, no tail

Wet - Black & Peacock Spider:
Black hen hackle, peacock herl body, invisible black silk rib, no tail

You can catch anywhere with those, any day of the season, rainbow, brown, perch or rudd. Tie them on 12s and 14s for the lakes, and 14s to 18s for the river, with the larger size for the first 1/3rd of the season.

G'luck with the fly tying!

experimenter

TimMac wrote: »

Just bought a fly tying kit any suggestions for a few easy flies for a beginner?

Tim,

Youtube seems the way to go...

There are some good tutorials on there that will get you started..

aidanf

TimMac wrote: »

Just bought a fly tying kit any suggestions for a few easy flies for a beginner?

Tim, check this site out: Go to the beginners lessons section and start at the beginning. Lessons are in reverse order so start with the buzzer at the bottom.

I've just recently started fly-tying myself. The only ones I've done so far were some buzzers, pheasant tail nymph and wolly booger. I found these all fairly easy from working through videos of them.

I've also found this book to be very good.

experimenter

Aidan,

have you caught fish with your flies?

I am actually in the same boat (excuse the pun)...

I got a tying kit from herself at Xmas, and I actually won this vice in a competition last August...



Included is DVD etc..so I'll start sometime when I get the chance.

aidanf

experimenter wrote: »

Aidan,

have you caught fish with your flies?

I am actually in the same boat (excuse the pun)...

I got a tying kit from herself at Xmas, and I actually won this vice in a competition last August...

Included is DVD etc..so I'll start sometime when I get the chance.

No, I haven't caught anything with my own flies yet - I haven't fished with any of my own yet as I've only really started tying them in the last few weeks. I'm hoping to get some tied up that I can use for the start of the season. It would be start the season with some flies I've tied myself:)

coolwings

Lads: look up Davie McPhail on youtube.
he has put up lots of clear videos showing how to tie the kind of flies we use in this part of the world.

TimMac

This is the kit I have bought I havent received it yet so I dont know what material is included.

http://www.carrilon.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=544&products_id=572&osCsid=ee71df9a24d6da965cf2b3ba918b5fad

Thanks for all the replies gentlemen, some very helpful posts!