Starling & Moose

[Hankinsfly]

Ronr- I tied in three strands- white, black, and brown. Moistened then as I’ve had this same pack of moose mane for long as I can remember. Small bead of super glue on the thread base to be safe.

Where is your neck of the woods?

[ronr]

Hank... Central Oregon I did tie a few of these and did add a little super glue as I wound the mane. On some, I also coated them lightly with UV resin after. I will be fishing these tomorrow and will try and give you some feedback... I tied mine in 16's and 18's...I hackled a couple with a beautiful fiery brown dyed starling (thanks Variant) the others with a natural starling... . but the moose mane, does make a really nice body...I also moistened mine a bit before tying them in... but didn't have any trouble with them breaking...thanks for the inspiration..

the guy on the left is with UV and the brown starling.. the right is no uv and natural..

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[letumgo]

Very nice. I’m looking forward to hearing how you do tomorrow Ron. Have fun!

[Hankinsfly]

Ronr- those look good. Have thought about some UV stuff but haven’t gotten around to it. Have used the UV stuff on some Copper Johns and Jujubaetis.

[ronr]

Finally got to fish those moose body flies... they were productive on both the Crooked and the Deschutes. Fished them as a dropper along with a Slattery's triple threat on point. When they didn't eat the caddis they ate the dropper. There was a nice caddis hatch this morning... Yesterday on the Deschutes I fished the moose body on point size 16 with a smaller dropper of one of Variant's secret material flies... It looks like a hook with a hackle after someone stuck it in an electric outlet...I know what the hackle material was, but I'm sworn to secrecy...all I can say is, its a thread body, and the hackle is not a feather. Size 18 was a killer along with the moose body. You won't find either of these flies in a fly shop...this forum is a never ending source of inspiration.

[letumgo]

You may be swarm to secrecy, but can you be bribed?

Great field report. I’m happy to hear these worked for you (no surprise), and that you are getting stream time (something I’ve been lacking lately).

[ronr]

My friend Variant is pretty low key... he doesn't post much, doesn't do social media, won't reveal much about his mysterious past, but this dude can tie some exquisite flies and can catch fish. He also shares his knowledge which is extensive but we can't reveal secrets now can we....

[letumgo]