FLYMPH FORUM

Partridge & Tups (variation one)
Hook - Mustad Model R70/Size 12
Thread - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Primrose Yellow)
Hackle - Hungarian Partridge (body hackle)
Abdomen - Tups wool dubbing blend (wrapped backwards from the hackle tie in point)
Tag/Rib - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Primrose Yellow) - (wrapped forward to form tag and rib)




TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Mount your hook.
2) Attach your tying silk with five snug wraps.
3) Prepare a partridge feather by stripping off the small fibers at the base of the feather.
4) Tye in the partridge feather, with the tip facing out over the eye of the hook. Use only four or five wraps to secure the feather in place.
5) Dub the tying thread and wind it back towards the bend of the hook. Make sure that to taper the dubbing on the thread, so the as you get closer to the bend, the body becomes more slender.
6) Form a small tag with the tying silk and then wrap it forward over the body. By adjusting the pitch of your wraps, you can form the segmentation on the fly.
7) Wrap the partridge hackle back towards the tying silk. Use only one or two wraps of hackle.
8) Wind the silk forward though the hackle fibers, being careful to wiggle it back and forth. This prevents the silk from matting down the hackle fibers.
9) Whip finish with only three or four wraps.
10) Clip off the tying silk and add a small drop of head cement.

Partridge & Tups (variation two)
Hook - Daiichi Model 1510/Size 12
Thread - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold)
Hackle - Hungarian Partridge (coverlet feather from wing - the kind with the fine white line down the center and subtle markings)
Abdomen - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold)
Thorax - Tups wool dubbing blend

Partridge & Tups (variation three)
Hook - Daiichi Model 1510/Size 12
Thread - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold)
Hackle - Hungarian Partridge (body hackle)
Abdomen - Tups wool dubbing blend (simply twisted around the tying silk and then wrapped forward)

I recently bought a book titled "Tying Catskill Style Dry Flies", by Mike Valla. In his chapter on the famous "Tups Indispensable" dry fly, he list a recipe for tups dubbing blend made from wool yarn. I just had to give it a try, so last week I went out and bought the material he listed in the book. I just love the look of this blend.

On page 186, Mr. Valla gives the following instructions for making this tups dubbing blend:

To prepare the dubbing, cut off approximately 25 inches of natural-shade (#098) "Fisherman's Wool". This is available from Lion Brand Yarn Company (http://www.LionBrand.com). Next, cut off 3 inches of True Red (#114) yarn, also available from Lion Brand. The dull orange (needle felting) wool comes from Felt Works Dimensions and is available from many craft stores. Take the lengths of Fisherman's Wool and red yarn and cut into half-inch pieces. First blend the Fisherman's Wool, then the red wool, then combine the two and mix again in a blender. Once these are blended, tease out approximately 1 inch of cheddar-shade needle felting wool and cut into quarter-inch pieces. Blend with the previous two. This results in a creamy pink dubbing with just a hint of dull orange scattered faintly throughout the wad."

One of the things I liked about this method is how reproducible it is. By giving the lengths of the wool yarn that was used, it is very easy to produce the same blend of dubbing time-after-time. It also makes it easy to tweak the mixture to form other variations. The flies I tyed (above) are all made with this dubbing blend.

EDIT - If you can not find the Lion Brand "True Red" wool yarn, you can substitute Patons Classic Wool Yarn ("Bright Red" color). The Patons Classic Wool is also a 100% wool yarn.

I LOVE that first fly, that's a gorgeous pattern and very well tied. (they are all great though), great ties Ray.

Thanks Scott.

Beautiful tying Ray and thank you for sharing the reciepe of the tups.

Greeting

Yes, thanks for the recipe. I like all the variations but I am particularly fond of the Variation #1. Very nicely done Ray.

Ray,
You are making my mouth water....You know what a Tups fan I am. And everyone else too for sure! They are all just spectacular but I have to agree with everyone else that variation #1 is the greatest looking one of the bunch. Your tying is clean and tight and it really makes for some great patterns. Keep'm coming Ray!
Dougsden

Hi Ray,
When someone says TUPS, I look. Mike is an excellent tier of Catskill dries and most of us, here, know that the pattern started out as a dry fly, not a Catskill dry, but-----. Over the years, there have been a myriad of Tups dubbings. This one isn't bad at all. There is, however something really special about using translucent seal fur, which is hard to come by. We can't all can't get real Tup's hair as well, so we do the next best thing.

I find it interesting because of the many mixes that have been formulated over the years. Nemes even suggest a certain dye from Veniard to create the correct color for the dubbing. The result is rather one dimensional, however, and not as nice as mixing different colors together to get that pinky-orange hue.

As usual, the tying is superb, and both patterns should work very well. Keep us posted as to how they fish.

Mark