For the Tenth Anniversary IBF Swap, I've decided to tie Leisenring's Tups Flymph. I figured I'd start up a thread to follow along my thought and decision-making process, partially because I was hoping for some advice, and partially because I want to play with a new tripod I've just bought
I'm a bit hamstrung, as (although I've read and returned a borrowed copy) I don't own a copy of The Art of Tying The Wet-Fly and Fishing The Flymph. In this day of the interwebs, however, that is little bar.
I have found the following directions:
HOOK 13,14.
SILK Primrose yellow.
HACKLE Very small light-blue hen hackle or medium-dark honey dun hen hackle
BODY Halved: rear half of primrose yellow buttonhole twist; thorax or shoulder of yellow and claret seals' fur mixed dubbing spun on primrose yellow silk.
TAIL Two honey dun hackle points.
and found the following two pictures:
The first purports to have come from the hand of Leisenring himself, while the second comes from our own Mark Libertone.
So, the need for decisions begin.
First off, body thread. What, exactly, is primrose? Being a guy with a somewhat limited color vocabulary, I would have guessed it to be pink. That'd be wrong, of course. It's some form of yellow. But what yellow? Although I have Pearsall's primrose, the recipe clearly calls for buttonhole silk, and some further research suggests that Coats and Clark primrose buttonhole silk was preferred by Leisenring. A quick trip to the auction site, and a look at my bank account, suggested that this might not be the best option, however. So some internet research and a trip to JoAnn's Fabric ensued.
I found that Guetermann's machine embroidery thread seems to be what passes for buttonhole twist these days. However, the color question arose again... what color is the closest one to Leisenring's primrose? (And perhaps the equally important question, which one would work best?)
Here are pictures of the two colors I picked up, dry and wet. Both are Guetermann's silk machine embroidery thread.
Guetermann Col 580
Guetermann Col 325
All the pictures were minimally processed -- just cropped and minimally sharpened when they were converted from RAW to JPG. They were shot at an unnecessarily high ISO for tripod work, and the top color is totally blown out, especially in the wet shots, but like I said earlier, I'm working on it.
So that leaves the first question I have to ask of you all: Which color? I kinda prefer the second, less vibrant, color (380), which also seems closer to what seems to be what people mean by primrose. However, the first (580), more vibrant yellow, seems closer to what Leisenring used (and Mark Libertone as well).
Thoughts?
Question number two: Tail or no tail? The recipe clearly calls for one -- but as some internet research, and indeed the evidence of the Leisenring-tied fly above, suggests that tailless is at least an option. I realize it probably doesn't make a huge amount of difference for the fish, but this is for a swap, so I turn to you all: tail or not?
Many thanks. If people are interested, I'll continue this as the process continues.
c
or send me a PM with your email and I'll email you a copy of 
X2!
