CDC & ELK

[gfen]

Alpabuck wrote:
I glad he's there as well and tuffing it out. It would be nice to have a real fly shop in LV though. Instead I guess we'll all have to deal with cranky old man and a overpriced clothing store!

Oh, I'm so printing out this message and giving it to Charlie...

 

[Heritage-Angler]

gfen wrote:

Alpabuck wrote:
I glad he's there as well and tuffing it out. It would be nice to have a real fly shop in LV though. Instead I guess we'll all have to deal with cranky old man and a overpriced clothing store!

Oh, I'm so printing out this message and giving it to Charlie...

Narc. How do you know he isn't referring to da Bean? That Alpy character is pretty smooth.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

jaybo41 wrote:
HA,

Man you are lucky! Learned it from the master huh? I had tried to tie this pattern several times before the light went on. The one step that kept throwing me was the technique to tie in the Elk Hair. The 1 1/2-2nd wrap where he pulls the deer hair and spins it is like magic! This spreads the wing out perfect from my experiences.

Also curious as to which hatches other than Caddis you've had success with this pattern. I have been tying most of mine in the Natural Dun color and the trout seem to like it!

Hans used to tie at the Somerset show years ago. He's got a really great sense of humor. I consider him one of the best tyers in the world, and he's always willing to help other tyers out. He actually fished the Little Lehigh here in Allentown, and used to have pictures of it on his website. His photography work of flies is second to none! His mastery of the English language is also impressive.

BTW - the tying of the deer hair wing is actually "flaring", not spinning. When you spin deer hair, it goes all the way around the hook shank. Hans holds the hair on top of the shank so it doesn't do that. I used to hate tying elk hair caddis, but that all changed when I watched Hans tie his cdc/elk. By far the best method for tying that style wing.

As far as what hatches other than caddis the cdc/elk works for - I've had great success with it for the little black stoneflies, and also yellow sallies and bright green little stoneflies. I have yellow and bright green cdc feathers, and a yellow cdc/elk works pretty good for sulphurs. Very versatile pattern.

 

[gfen]

Heritage-Angler wrote:

gfen wrote:
Narc. How do you know he isn't referring to da Bean? That Alpy character is pretty smooth.

I'm not sure how I can bribe him, but I'm sure he can make me some offers.

Hooks, Alpy, just sayin' that outloud. Doesn't mean anything...

I wasn't sure which one he was referring to, but I figured Bean's tying stuff is so spartan its easy to miss if you blink while you walk past the quarter shelf that he just forgot about it.

 

[jayL]

I agree Ed. I also absolutely despised tying hairwings until I watched the video that fred posted a year or two ago. It's the only method I use now, and my flies are vastly more durable than they used to be.

 

[jaybo41]

Thanks for the response HA. I get it, flaring, not spinning. Makes sense to me, although Hans mentioned in the video that the hair is "spun". Whichever is the right term, this is by far the most helpful piece of tying the pattern his way. That technique has helped me immensly improve the quality of flies tied with hair wings.

I'll have to give some pale yellow a try for sulfers. I kind of expected that you may mention Yellow Sallies and Little Black Stones.

I was checking out trouthunter's website, have you tried the CDC dubbing? If so, are there any certain patterns that you'd recommend it for?

Thanks again.