FLYMPH FORUM

Tart and Tangy Dun (Steelhead Flymph)
Hook - Alec Jackson Model 2051 Spey Hook / Size 7 (Black)
Thread - 8/0 UNI-Thread (Black)
Tag/Rib - Small Copper Wire
Rear body - Lemon-Yellow Yarn (Thanks Christopher Lee)
Front Body - "Grapefruit" Steelhead Dubbing Blend (50/50 blend of hot pink and hot yellow yarn - created by Nick Pionessa)
Body Hackle - Webby Furnace Feather
Collar - Seven Strands of Ostrich Herl (Slate Grey)
Head - Tying thread coated with Sally Hanson's "Dries Instantly" clear nail polish
* my wife is going to be so pissed when she sees what I did to her feather duster... So worth it!!! *

The yarn for the rear body was given to me by Christopher Lee (cassady). It is some sort of fuzzy fine-diameter yarn. The yarn has is quite glossy/sparkly, which makes me think it is some sort of synthetic blend. The yarn is ultra soft, which should give a lot of movement in the water. The fibers create a sort of halo effect around the rear body. Thanks Chris, I really like working with this yarn.

The front section of the body is dubbed with a special dubbing blend that was created by a Nick Pionessa, owner of the Oak Orchard Fly shop. The bend is a fifty-fifty mixture of hot pink and hot yellow yarn, which has been chopped up and blended together. It looks like an intense grapefruit colored tups blend. Really nice stuff.

The fly itself is tyed like a large flymph. Once I tyed and ribbed the rear body, I tyed in a prepared hackle, dubbed the front body and then folded the hackle and wound it forward over the dubbed body. The ostrich herl was tyed in after the body was finished.

In hind sight, I should have used my thumb nail to strip off the fibers at the base of the herl, before tying them in. The fibers made it difficult to create a tidy head on the fly. If you look closely at the head of the fly, you can see some fiber protruding from the head. Frustrating to photograph, but perfectly fishable.

Overall, I like this color scheme very much. The fly looks like is will swim nicely. We will see, come fall.

*chuckle*

Ray,

For this one you can put: Hackle - ostrich herl, dun

Nice bug - will move....

Cheers,
Hans W

Hans - wink

Amazing! You are my hero Ray!

Love the looks of this one... I was wondering if you might run me through how you handle tying on the herl, though...a "semi-stack" of feather fibers, letting thread tension distribute them around the shank?

Otherwise, I just re-read through your materials list...just where does one find such feather dusters?

Beautiful fly!!

Jon (CreationBear) - The ostrich herl fibers were prepared by clipping them off the stem and evening the tips. For some reason, the individual fibers are slightly different lengths, so they needed to be "evened" by hand. I then laid the herl strands over the top of the fly and made one very loose wrap around the hook, trapping the herl. I then used my thumbnail to distribute them as evenly as I could. The final placement can still be adjusted by grasping the tip and butt of the individual strands and gently tugging them into position. I then made three of four tight thread wraps to lock in the final placement. Clipping off the butt ends of the herl, and then forming the head of the fly. Unfortunately the fuzzy fibers tend to make it difficult to form a smooth head. The fuzzy fibers make themselves obvious, once they are coated with head cement.

The ostrich herl was clipped from my wife's feather duster (shhh...). The herl fibers are beautiful. Much better than I have been able to find in the local fly shops. I don't want to risk asking my wife about the duster. I am sure it would not end well for me...

* my wife is going to be so pissed when she sees what I did to her feather duster... So worth it!!! *

Sorry, I thought I'd strayed upon a Weiner/Huma quote there for a second...

At any rate, thanks for elaborating...a great looking design all around.

* HOWLING LAUGHTER *

Good one Jon.

I'm still laughing...

Awesome fly, very cool photographs.
Thanks for the explanation of how you tie in the herl.