FLYMPH FORUM

Isonychia Beaver
Hook - Daiichi Model 1710/Size 12
Thread - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold/6A)
Hackle - Indian Hen Saddle (Ginger Speckled Brown)
Tag - Three Wraps of Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold/6A)
Abdomen - Beaver Dubbing (Isonychia)
Thorax - Peacock Sword Fibers (Natural Metallic Blue)
Head - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold/6A) coated with Sally Hansen's "Dries Instantly" clear nail polish I bought this dubbing at a small shop in the Adirondacks last week. It has a wonderful blend of dark red/claret/brown. The dubbing is made by a company called Mad River Dubbing Company (http://madriverflytyingmaterials.com/Home_Page.html) located in Verona Beach, NY. I have no affiliation with this company, so don't look at this as an advertisement. It was just such a great dubbing color, I wanted to share the source with you guys. The dubbing is very nice material to work with.

Nice looking fly--I especially like the "accents" of the silk tag and head. A question for you: how are you using your peacock swords, one at a time wrapped perpendicular to the shank like hackle, or a few captured in a dubbing loop and wrapped on? Otherwise, an excellent "get" on that dubbing...I've been looking for a "mahogany" mix for a while.

I used five long (~ 1.5" to 2")peacock sword fibers tyed in by the tip. I then grasp all of the sword fibers, by the base of the stem, in a hackle pliers. Then twist the sword fibers together and wrap them forward, forming the thorax of the fly. The sword fibers seem to be a bit tougher than peacock herl, so I decided to skip the dubbing loop. If I wanted to reinforce the thorax a bit more, I would probably add a drop of cement to the hook shank before wrapping the sword fiber over it.

There are two main reasons I did not use the dubbing loop method:
1) Cosmetics - I did not want the light color silk showing thru in the thorax area
2) Mechanics - Sword fibers are fairly short, so it is harder to neatly form the dubbing loop and still have enough material left to wrap the thorax. I find that the material gets somewhat shorter when you twist it in a thread dubbing loop. This is not a problem with peacock herl, due to the longer length. Peacock sword stems just tend to be shorter and thus a little different to work with.

EDIT - Adding new photo taken in natural sunlight to better capture the color of the flies

Nice flies Ray. Do you have also a picture of the real fly??

Greeting

yeah! nice pattern! One of my favorite type of patterns.

Absolutely first rate fly dressing, Ray. I may have to check out Mad River Dubbing. I need more tying stuff. No Really, I do.

REE

Gentlemen,
(This is not a plug for them either) I have some dubbings of various colors from Mad River Dubbings. They are quite good! Ray, I am liking this pattern you have posted. It's "electric" and that's pretty cool!
Keeping an eye out for your posted patterns,
Dougsden

Absolutely lovely fly - both color and construction.
Thanks for revealing your dubbing source.

That dubbing looks very similar to the Conover dubbing that Joe Fox at Dette Flies sells. His is muskrat and red wool.

Oh, I said oh wow when I saw that tie..

Excellent...thanks for elaborating.