Pheasant Ostrich and Quail ("Hunting Dog")

[ScottP]

Ray,

Neat fly, cool pics. Thanks for posting.

Regards,
Scott

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

Thanks for the tanked pix. The first one is the BOMB! (NSA will now probably be on to us )
Don't think that the fly will get a chance to hang around for 40 min. in a stream, it'll get ate ... .

hank

[Smuggler]

Never would have thought using a plastic card holding case for this.. damn. Those are some absolute stunning photos! Man... that fly suspended in the water has the look of a drifting nymph. Not to mention the film pics.

Top notch sir.

[daringduffer]

This was really cool. Now you have to get some "dirty" water from a stream to check whether this would change the floatability. Hopefully there is a difference between your tap water and fishing water. I will try this pattern on a 38972 Mustad-Sproat Keel Hook No 14 that I bought from Kenhook a few years ago. I tried to order some more that same week but they were all gone.

dd

[letumgo]

Stefan,

Yes, it would be interesting to see if the fly behaves differently in tap water and stream water. Differences might occur if dissolved materials, or suspended solids alter the surface tension, adhesion and cohesive forces in the water. It all comes down to a delicate balancing act (i.e. - creating a fly light enough, and with the right outer surface properties, to allow the waters surface tension and adhesive properties to balance the pull of gravity). You can see a lot of fine science in this little experiment. Again, all part of the fun.

Interesting link about water properties:
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/surface-tension.html

[swellcat]

My smooth casting could sink it.

[letumgo]

Mine too!

[William Anderson]

This is freaking awesome. I wouldn't have expected the ostrich to hold the hydrofuge so well. These images are very helpful. I know this took some time to put together and it was worth every minute. This is a fantastic series.

I especially liked seeing the orientation of the fly on and in the water. When it flips over like that it has a very buglike-emergent look about it. Fantastic.

Were you using tap or distilled water? Or did you leave the water sitting out a while. I think I need to collect some stream water for this purpose, although it would change somewhat, the composition would be at least a closer comparison to what we might see on the water.

Love it.

w

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I couldn't have picked a better name for that fly, because that dog will hunt. I just can't imagine a fish refusing that fly, though they probably will at some point. Beautifully dressed offering and in a size I can still see to tie. Well done!!

[letumgo]

Me too. I'm interested to see if it fishes differently on a regular fly rod, versus a Tenkara rig. I think the Tenkara method would likely to be closer to the dip tank, since your line stays off the water most of the time. I'm not sure about the false hook-ups bit. If a fish takes the fly, I think it will hook them just fine. After I saw the dip tank results, it gave me confidence in the fly's emergent insect-like impression at/on/in/and below the water's surface.

We'll see how it works, come spring. If anyone else ties and fishes these, I'd love to hear the results.