Thursday 11 February 2010

Fly Candy

I've called this the clockwork orange. I started with tying on to the trailing hook some black Chinese cock neck hackles as well as some Orange shlappen. Then added grizzly microbarb saddles and a mix of brown/silver & gold fine tinsel then covered it with some orange bucktail. To finish of the tail I added a large grizzly saddle on either side of the hook shaft. whip finished and added head cement. Then attached it to a long shanked hook by way of 80 lb mono.

The main body is a mix of long orange shlappen feathers as well as black and Orange ostrich hurl feathers. A couple of thick gold xmas tinsel strands down its flank then Orange arctic fox Dubbing looped at the front. I just know this is going to have a lot of movement through the water and is extremely light.

5 comments:

Rich said...

That is stunning Simon!! I can imagine that having alot of movement in the water...

With it being mainly natural materials wont it get heavy when wet?

All about the grab said...

Cheers Rich,
I prefer natural products over synthetics mate,I just feel they have better movement under the water. They aren't everyone's cup of tea,and Yes they weigh a tad more when wet, but not much more, and As I've preached many times there's no need to cast long distances. Granted....It looks extremely bulky but its the way I tie the materials on especially the Ostrich hurl that gives the fly the volume it has. 20 ostrich hurl feathers weighs less than a gram

Also I dubbing loop all my fur on as well. Yes it takes a little more time but its well worth it in the long run.

To be honest I prefer using attractor flies and tying them to your typical fish shaped patterns. A synthetic baitfish tied with say slinky blend when being retrieved ...to me,just looks like a thin strip under the water.

With a multitude of different feathers attached to a hook or tube, the fly takes on a life of its own especially if you mix your retrieval up.

Rich said...

Lol.... 'thin strip under the water'. I like that...:o)

I am in complete agreement with you regarding attractor patterns tied with natural materials. They do impart wonderful movement underwater and are a pleasure to tie. The only problem I have personally is some of our hard pressued pike will sooner take a more realistic baitfish pattern that can only be tied up with synthetics!
I am currently experimenting with synthetic/natural combinations and more sparsely dressed flies to see what reaction I get from the Pike.

Once again,stunning pattern. It would look just as cool sat on my fireplace as in the water.....:o)

Nickolas Wright said...

Sending you some orange and silver stickleback eyes for that baby.

All about the grab said...

Cheers Nic