Tied a couple this weekend

[djs12354]

Just toyed with a couple this weekend.

CDC & Elk is tied with Black CDC and darkest hair I had. Size 14 hooks. I need a lot of work on this fly. Keep crowding the head and have trouble keeping the hair from spinning over to the side.

Hot head buggers are tied on size 10 jig hooks. I wanted to see if they would hank up less the the ones I have tied in the past. They are weighted on the down side, so should run barb up, I hope.

Same with the Green Weenie.

Size 20 nymphs are bead heads, thread bodies, and ice-dub in place of peacock herl, which frustrates the crap out of me.

Little black stones are size 16, tied with crazy leg material, some balck tubing that Volksnurse gave me, pheasant tail for the wing case and black dubbing.

Still struggling to control the materials, but I still seem to catch fish.......

 

[Volksnurse]

Like those GW's and the CDC and Elk... Nice job Dave!

 

[David]

I'd fish any of those ('cept maybe for the green weenies!)
Great job... those'll all catch fish!

 

[RCFetter]

They are all nice especially the sz 20 nymphs.

 

[lv2nymph]

Oh yea, you'll take fish with those flies. Nice. I like the black cdc & elk.

 

[dc410]

Nice Dave. Those black CDC & Elk would be perfect for the top end of a dry/dropper rig during the Grannom hatch if you have any grannom hatches in your area. Drop a Grannom Emerger or dark colored soft hackle off the bend of one of your CDC & elks and use the dry as an indicator. Grannoms are generally an early season, early morning hatch.

 

[jeremymcon]

I like the jigged wooly buggers. Another thing you can do to keep your wooly buggers riding hook up is to tie in some lead eyes on the top of the hook shank. That's a trick I learned from dc410 here in the forum, actually.

Those weenies with the bright orange bead will definitely catch some stockers! I never thought about making an even brighter green weenie. Btw if you twist the chinelle a little more before tying in the tail on those green weenies the chinelle will twist around itself and not be an open loop.

 

[GenCon]

djs, flies look good. If you are having trouble with the deer hair on your caddis. Try try this. First measure the length of your wing against your fly. Cut the deer hair butts off square. Place on top of the hook. Do 2-soft turns around then pull tight. Continue to hold hair fairly tight. do 2- more tight wraps in the same place. Then do one turn and actually pull the tread through the butts, then the next turn go completely under the butts pulling back against the tie in point of the butts. This will help stop the hair from wanting to roll around. Locks them in well. It is easier than it sounds.

GC

 

[afishinado]

GenCon wrote:
djs, flies look good. If you are having trouble with the deer hair on your caddis. Try try this. First measure the length of your wing against your fly. Cut the deer hair butts off square. Place on top of the hook. Do 2-soft turns around then pull tight. Continue to hold hair fairly tight. do 2- more tight wraps in the same place. Then do one turn and actually pull the tread through the butts, then the next turn go completely under the butts pulling back against the tie in point of the butts. This will help stop the hair from wanting to roll around. Locks them in well. It is easier than it sounds.

GC

Here's a video showing what GC posted above:

 

[GenCon]

afish, I had learned that technique from my Dad. This vid is probably where he learned it from. He was a big fan of Hans. Thanks for posting it.

GC

 

[djs12354]

GenCon and Afish -

That's the video that Heritage Angler sent me for "homework" some time ago. I keep it handy when trying to tie these. After reading Gencon's post, I think I was only doing the one soft wrap before putting pressure on the thread. Will be heading to the bench to try this again.

Thanks!

 

[djs12354]

Got time to sit and try a half-dozen of the CDC and Elk. Much better with the two+ loose wraps. (insert head slap here). Not that I don't have a lot of work to do, but it is a improvement. Thanks for the clarification! And for taking the time to look my attempts over.

Here's another question regarding the CDC. I seem to have a problem with the feather splitting as I near completion of the wraps. Too much tension? Or could it be caused by nicking from the hook point? Note: the split seems to occur about the two-thirds mark of the wind rather than earlier. My thought is, if the nick was the cause it should happen about the half way point or slightly before. Thoughts?

Stay warm!

 

[GenCon]

djs, it is possible you may have hit the hook point. But most likely it's just the quills on the feathers you have are just dried out. Does not work well on cdc to soak them. Try this lay feather convex side down. Hold in place with one hand take other hand and lightly crease the stem with your finger nail. Do it every 1/8 inch or so. it's an old wet fly trick. It was used for tying very fragile feathers such as partridge and starling. By ading small creases in stem it softens it a bit and helps it bend around the hook while you wrap. I am guessing your feathers are fairly short. By picking through them you can often find longer feathers. By using longer feathers the quill will not be so thick and will wind on a bit easier. Hope this helps.

GC

 

[djs12354]

Haven't played with the eyes yet, but will give that a try in the future.

As to the open loop on the GW's, I just copied the samples I was given. They were effective fish-catchers, BTW.

jeremymcon wrote:
I like the jigged wooly buggers. Another thing you can do to keep your wooly buggers riding hook up is to tie in some lead eyes on the top of the hook shank. That's a trick I learned from dc410 here in the forum, actually.

Those weenies with the bright orange bead will definitely catch some stockers! I never thought about making an even brighter green weenie. Btw if you twist the chinelle a little more before tying in the tail on those green weenies the chinelle will twist around itself and not be an open loop.

 

[djs12354]

Gencon

I wass wondering if the drying out was a possibility and headed to the local fly shop and bought another package of CDC. Same problem, on and off. I was trying to size the feather to the hook, and was using what I thought were longer feathers, but will certainly try both of your suggestions.

Thanks for the guidance.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Dave - Just an FYI...

Dyed cdc tends to be more fragile, due to the dyeing process. It also can lose some of the preen oil inherent in those feathers.

Try some natural dun feathers, and see if it doesn't help with the brittleness issue.

As far as sizing the feather to the hook - no big deal. Just wrap as in the video, and when you get to the hook eye, tie it off and cut off the remaining feather. Finish the fly, and when done, just pinch the cdc at the length you want, and pinch the excess with the fingers of your other hand. Pull, and rip the cdc fibers to length.

This gives a more "random" look to the remaining fibers - much better looking than cutting them.

Do the fish care? Hell no. :lol:

 

[djs12354]

I did notice that it happens more with the black cdc than the natural dun. I was focused on the black with the thought that they would imitate the stone flies seen early in the year.

Which causes me to pose the question - Am I off base with that thought?

Thanks!

 

[Heritage-Angler]

The ones you'll see shortly are the early brown stoneflies.

The wrapped natural dun cdc works great for those. The deer hair I picked out for you is fine as well. The wings look light when they're fluttering on the water - right before the big splash. ;-)

Tie some 12's and some 14's.

 

[jeremymcon]

djs12354 wrote:
Haven't played with the eyes yet, but will give that a try in the future.

As to the open loop on the GW's, I just copied the samples I was given. They were effective fish-catchers, BTW.

jeremymcon wrote:
I like the jigged wooly buggers. Another thing you can do to keep your wooly buggers riding hook up is to tie in some lead eyes on the top of the hook shank. That's a trick I learned from dc410 here in the forum, actually.

Those weenies with the bright orange bead will definitely catch some stockers! I never thought about making an even brighter green weenie. Btw if you twist the chinelle a little more before tying in the tail on those green weenies the chinelle will twist around itself and not be an open loop.

Yea I'm sure they would catch fish. The green weenie always seems to. The shape of the tail is probably just a personal preference thing.