woodcock & Hares Lug

[letumgo]

"lop sided spiders"

I like that.

[Otter]

Being a wingless wet fly forum the softwings probably straddle the fence of acceptability. I think however that though designed to represent a wing , the mobility properties of the materials used create the allusion of a wing and an allusion of life, same as many wingless wets.

I have a sneaking suspicion ( Mark, this is ultimate conjecture, and maybe wishful thinking ) that this design comes very close to being a master jack of all trades . It is high up on the imitative scale, it carries a subtle illusion of life, it could be an emerger, a spent, a cripple, a drowned - and allied to all this the design has no negative triggers.

Whatever they are , whenever the trout are on or near the surface this season feasting on upwings I will be offering these humble patterns and hopefully will develop the skills to present them to their best advantage.

[tie2fish]

You've convinced me, Otter... I'm going to try this out. Those are exceptionally nice looking and undoubtedly effective flies.

[willowhead]

i'm with ya t2f........there's just smething REALLY cool ("jack of all trades"), bout the design AND style.....they look cool on both fronts.........pleasing, to both Trout and anglers............maybe not a show fly, but it aint bout that. i gotta tye some and fish some.......tkx. Otter. Maybe YOU should start doin' the homework for a book yourself. Why not?

[Otter]

i'm with ya t2f........there's just smething REALLY cool ("jack of all trades"), bout the design AND style.....they look cool on both fronts.........pleasing, to both Trout and anglers............maybe not a show fly, but it aint bout that. i gotta tye some and fish some.......tkx. Otter. Maybe YOU should start doin' the homework for a book yourself. Why not?

Bookcases are littered with books of little worth, written by half chancer's , I have no urge and am quite less than qualified to add to that morass. I'll wait for Philips , he probably spends more time on the water in a season that I can in 7 or 8 - and to have anything sensible to add to the plethora of angling books that sort of time actually fishing and observing is a must.

This design concept is Mikes , I am simply trying to make some sense out of it and hopefully inspire some others to enjoy their possibilities and have a little fun and catch a few trout along the way. I have no idea for example if the woodcock softwing will work on my river, or any river for that matter - but there is only one way to find out. These fly's will if they work as well as expected and based on initial use will be a welcome addition to my methods as I seek a keener understanding of fishing just subsurface.

[willowhead]

WELL.....i guess it's on hold for now.....

[daringduffer]

If I were up to fly swaps, and it was within the forum boundaries, I would love to see a fly swap with David Webster as a theme...

dd

[Ruard]

A very fine question willowhead.

The design of these , the tying of 2 patterns were given to me by Mike Connors. The Greenwell's version and a march brown version. Designed primarily for upstream dead drift work.

They have a lot of similarity to the Clyde and Tummel styles, the significant difference being the use of a bunch of soft covert fibres for a sparse wing as against the use of primaries.

Whether or not Mike was the first to seriously use the idea of soft fibres or not I do not know. He rates this style very highly for upwings, and rates waterhen coverts and undercoverts very highly in this regard.

.....

Hi Otter,

I did find something in the books: Edmonds and Lee: fly number 25B, 27, 32. Not flies without a hackle but with a wing from the soft fibers of a birds wing.

In the articles of David Westwood are also some flies with a soft wing.

In the book of Roger Woolley (very readable!!) are also some parts about a wing from soft fibers:






It starts with:...there is the upright wing for wet...

Greeting

[Otter]

Thanks Ruard, off course the big question is why this style did not become more widely used, much easier and economical to tie than some other styles I guess like many a fly if the presentation is not correct for the style and matches what the trout expects then it is no better or worse than any other.

[willowhead]

Lol....the tying for other tyers, or for just to see how "real" we could make a fly, or just for looks, or any host of reasons, as opposed to for the fish, has always been around it seems.................first commerical tyer who ever lived prolly hadda find ways to "sell" flies beyond just their effectiveness as well.........lol.