Tying

Tying flies is something that I really enjoy doing and I've been trying to do more of it here lately. I'm probably not that great at it but it's still fun. I spent most of last night doing some typical patterns and also doing some variations of typical recipes. All of these are in size 18 and today (because it's so friggin' windy) I'll do a batch of 20's (the flies get smaller and harder to tie as the number increases). Sometimes it's actually harder to get a decent picture with a cheaper point and shoot camera than it is to actually tie the pattern. These are the best pictures that I was able to get.

I started out by putting on a Tungsten bead. I wanted a black bead for this fly but the Tungsten is heavier and will allow me to not have to use as much weight in the rig and this is nice because big trout are big for a reason. They're smart. Many of them will simply slide out of the way when they see a weight so if you can use less you're sometimes ahead of the game. Sometimes not.

Then I just built up a decent thread base. I used black, 8 aught thread for this.

Then I tie in a piece of small copper wire and then a piece of extra small, pearl tinsel. By far, the most difficult part of this fly is getting the tinsel tied in nicely so that it lays flat and on the back of the hook shank. Then it gets folded over towards the head where it gets tied in right behind the bead. Then I wrap the copper wire forward to make it look like segmented sections of the body and, again, tie it in behind the bead. Then it's just a matter of building up a nice thread base to cover all that up and make a thorax for the bug and then finish it all off. Here's the final variation of a Black Beauty.

The ones with the clear bead are Mercury Black Beauties, the ones in the middle with no bead are Black Beauties (I used dubbing for the thorax on those and I'm least happy with them as dubbing is not a strength for me). Not sure what to call the Tungsten beaded ones. Blacker Beauties? The possibilities are endless with this fly but, basically, it represents the biggest source of food for the trout that we have in the South Platte Valley which is a midge (a two winged bug) and, specifically, it's meant to mimic the pupae stage of the lifespan.

I've been told that I need to find a better spot to tie than the kitchen table. It's quite messy and I don't like having the hooks around where, if they got dropped the dogs could get to them). So today I am going to have to set something up in the garage which means I've got to find a good light source (which I needed anyways) and a stool that's the right height (or else I've gotta modify the bench). So there you have it. Get out and do something fun today!