Spymph

[tie2fish]

After an all too brief tying session with William the other day, I have taken to fooling around with his twisted materials technique for fly bodies. Here is a hybrid pattern that combines a spider-like body with flymph-style hackle and a small Leisenring head:

Hook: Daiichi 1530, Size #14
Thread: Pearsall's Gossamer #19 hot orange
Hackle: Golden plover from neck area, wrapped rearward in tight flymph style
Body: Long tag of tying thread twisted with turkey herl wrapped forward in closely spaced palmer
Head: Thread wraps in conical shape

Plover, Turkey and #19 Silk Spymph.jpg (86.66 KiB) Viewed 9350 times

[Premerger]

Intriguing body Bill and I like the overall form.
Have you taken it for a swim yet to observe how it behaves under water?

I hope pronouncing it correctly isn't a prerequisite for using the fly!

[Ruard]

Hi Bill,

I like the fly and I missed the way William is tying a body with twisted herl end tying thread. well done .

I can see the smile on your face when you "invented " the word Spymph

greeting


Ruard

[William Anderson]

Brah..voh! It's a very quick and effective technique, but I have never seen it done so well. What a beautiful compliment of materials to create a richly textured spider. I do hope you make this part of your newly concentrated number of patterns.

[tie2fish]

Thanks, guys. BTW, I have made a slight change to the name, and will be calling this hybrid pattern a "splymph".

[Old Hat]

Great looking fly Bill. I love the new name. "splymph"

The original "splymph" from T.E. Pritt's Yorkshire Trout Flies. 1885.

Old Master
Wings: Hackled with a feather from the inside of a Woodcock's wing
Body: Ash-colored silk, wrapped over with Heron's herl.

I have done quite well over the years with this pattern. I use pheasant tail dyed dun instead of the heron.

[tie2fish]

The "Old Master" is a great pattern, Carl, and it has appeared on this Forum a couple of times if I recall correctly, including one tied by you. However, it has neither spaced rearward hackle wraps nor a conical head, and thus, sadly, does qualify as a "splymph" .

[NJpatbee]

Great looking fly and I like the consistent body. I am going to have to give the Splymph a try again using turkey since my goose quill attempts have not produced the results I wanted. Just to make certain, by turkey herl do you mean the individual quill from the flank feather? Thanks!

[tie2fish]

... by turkey herl do you mean the individual quill from the flank feather? Thanks!

"Herl" is probably not the proper word. For turkey it would be is a single barb (or two if you wish) from either a tail feather or a wing feather; flank feathers ("flats") are fairly short, but they might work. For goose I would use a barb or two from a wing feather, and for pheasant, barb(s) from the tail.

Here's a "splymph" using snipe hackle (from neck) and barbs from a goose primary twisted with claret silk:

Snipe, Goose and #14 Splymph.jpg (93.24 KiB) Viewed 9203 times

[Mataura mayfly]

Exemplary, as we have come to expect from your vice.
I have used duck flank in a similar style. Perhaps more suited to smaller sizes and perhaps a weaker "fluming" of the fibres at right angles to the individual stem, but it is yet another variation.