Isonychia Beaver (Tutorial)

[letumgo]

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Isonychia Beaver
Hook - Daiichi Model 1710/Size 12
Thread - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold/6A)
Hackle - Indian Hen Saddle (Ginger Speckled Brown)
Tag - Three Wraps of Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold/6A)
Abdomen - Beaver Dubbing (Isonychia)
Thorax - Peacock Sword Fibers (Natural Metallic Blue)
Head - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Gold/6A) coated with Sally Hansen's "Dries Instantly" clear nail polish

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I bought this dubbing at a small shop in the Adirondacks last week. It has a wonderful blend of dark red/claret/brown. The dubbing is made by a company called Mad River Dubbing Company (http://madriverflytyingmaterials.com/Home_Page.html) located in Verona Beach, NY. I have no affiliation with this company, so don't look at this as an advertisement. It was just such a great dubbing color, I wanted to share the source with you guys. The dubbing is very nice material to work with.

[CreationBear]

Nice looking fly--I especially like the "accents" of the silk tag and head. A question for you: how are you using your peacock swords, one at a time wrapped perpendicular to the shank like hackle, or a few captured in a dubbing loop and wrapped on? Otherwise, an excellent "get" on that dubbing...I've been looking for a "mahogany" mix for a while.

[letumgo]

I used five long (~ 1.5" to 2")peacock sword fibers tyed in by the tip. I then grasp all of the sword fibers, by the base of the stem, in a hackle pliers. Then twist the sword fibers together and wrap them forward, forming the thorax of the fly. The sword fibers seem to be a bit tougher than peacock herl, so I decided to skip the dubbing loop. If I wanted to reinforce the thorax a bit more, I would probably add a drop of cement to the hook shank before wrapping the sword fiber over it.

There are two main reasons I did not use the dubbing loop method:
1) Cosmetics - I did not want the light color silk showing thru in the thorax area
2) Mechanics - Sword fibers are fairly short, so it is harder to neatly form the dubbing loop and still have enough material left to wrap the thorax. I find that the material gets somewhat shorter when you twist it in a thread dubbing loop. This is not a problem with peacock herl, due to the longer length. Peacock sword stems just tend to be shorter and thus a little different to work with.

EDIT - Adding new photo taken in natural sunlight to better capture the color of the flies

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[Ruard]

Nice flies Ray. Do you have also a picture of the real fly??

Greeting

[michaelgmcgraw]

yeah! nice pattern! One of my favorite type of patterns.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Absolutely first rate fly dressing, Ray. I may have to check out Mad River Dubbing. I need more tying stuff. No Really, I do.

REE

[DOUGSDEN]

Gentlemen,
(This is not a plug for them either) I have some dubbings of various colors from Mad River Dubbings. They are quite good! Ray, I am liking this pattern you have posted. It's "electric" and that's pretty cool!
Keeping an eye out for your posted patterns,
Dougsden

[chase creek]

Absolutely lovely fly - both color and construction.
Thanks for revealing your dubbing source.

[narcodog]

That dubbing looks very similar to the Conover dubbing that Joe Fox at Dette Flies sells. His is muskrat and red wool.

Oh, I said oh wow when I saw that tie..

[CreationBear]

Excellent...thanks for elaborating.