Well first crack with woven flies...

[mike_richardson]

Well I gave it an honest effort this morning with woven stone flies. I am not sure if this is a standard pattern or not but this is what i came up with for an anchor fly with my new found love of Euro nymphing. I used the whole embroidery thread for the first runs without separating. I don't have any empty spools to rethread so i was working with just my hands to keep tension. Doing this without bobbins and a 1960's vice is not fun, but i think adds "character" to the flies......I guess

I love these new style of tying I am digging into. I learned a lot about my self with weaving these flies, and playing with deer hair spinning. Don't put off trying something new. You may be amazed with your results. I know there is great room to improve on these but I am happy with my first try. Especially with the first fly going on the vice at 5:00 a.m.

Let me know what you guys think. I am really trying to get my proportions down as i feel the heads are a little large. Also i cant WAIT to free up some spools so I don't have to keep tension on the thread myself.

Any tips and tricks are appreciated. THanks for looking, and thanks in advance for advice.

 

[McSneek]

Its hard to see the weave in your photos so tough to comment on them. I do the simple overhand weave for stonefly nymphs. That leave a light underside and dark back with pretty obvious segmentation. I don't think you need the wire rib. And yes, weave aside, the heads on most of the flies are too big. I would shorten the legs and antenna too.

For my woven stoneflies I tie a lead strip on each side of the hook. Weave the thread abdomen over that and you get a nice flat appearance. Yours looks kind of round but again, maybe its just the pictures.

 

[Tiogadog]

They look good. Couple of things to try, which you may already be doing:

1. Use white thread for the underbody

2. Wrap as smooth of an underbody as you can and use the underbody to taper the fly body

3. I use spooled uni- floss or four strand Danville floss of which I only use two strands. These materials are pre spooled, lending themselves to bobbins--pretty sure you can buy empty spools at a craft store

4. Also Polish woven flies, tied on grub or scud hooks, are great to start out with because there are no tails or legs- just a woven body and a short dubbing collar...

Hope this helps ... keep at it

 

[mike_richardson]

Thanks guys. This is the replies i was looking for. I was mainly trying to get the weave down. I think i will be crushing down my non-lead wire to give it a flatter look. I believe if forgot that step and is y they appear round. I am going to purchase some smaller diameter rubber legs as well to try. I hope to fine tune these. I feel they could catch fish and work as anchor fly but i really want to create art with these paterns not just catch fish. Once i get these down i guess the next stop will be..... Salmon flies?

 

[gaeronf]

Alright, I kinda skipped reading everyone's comments because I'm lazy but here are really the only things you need to do to get the weave pretty much perfect (they may have been said):

Smooooooth underbody *This is Key*
On stones I flatten the underbody with smooth nose pliers before weaving
Weave taking your time *This is Key*
Take your nail, and push back closing the gaps.
Take needle nose pliers, pinchpinchpinch and most joints are aligned, adjust any crazy ones. *This is Key*

I sharpie any cracks or crevices that I don't like.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Lots of good tips so far...

Sometimes it helps to have a good visual. Here's a really good tutorial on doing the shuttle weave:

http://www.lorenwflyfishes.com/tutorials/nymphs/woven-polish-nymph

 

[Volksnurse]

Sigh...I think I need to see this one live a few times. The videos help, but I think I'm missing something. Mine still look krappy.

 

[pro4mance]

Mine too V.

 

[blueheron]

Mike,
your flies are fine and fishable. Next summer pick up a few empty husks if you see them and take a long look. I take some home from the different waters I fish and make subtle changes for my stones to match the species. I stopped tying woven bodies because they didn't catch any more fish and take a relatively long time to tie and a short time to lose, if you fish them on the bottom where they belong. They do have long antennae but I think they bend back when they're in the water.

 

[Chooch]

Those flies will catch fish. But the weaving seems off. I like to use and overhand weave for woven body stonflies. It gives a nice flattened profile. The nicest thing about the over hand weave is since you are essentially tying knots along the length of the shank you do not need to keep tension on the weaving material to keep it in place or symmetrical. I remember seeing a picture years back that illustrated this method. The link below has that drawing though it is not from the original site I saw it on. It only takes a little practice but it really makes it easier.

http://renegadefishers.com/techniques/weave/weave.html

 

[McSneek]

Chooch wrote:
I like to use and overhand weave for woven body stonflies. It gives a nice flattened profile. The nicest thing about the over hand weave is since you are essentially tying knots along the length of the shank you do not need to keep tension on the weaving material to keep it in place or symmetrical.

+1

 

[Chooch]

blueheron wrote:
Mike,
your flies are fine and fishable. Next summer pick up a few empty husks if you see them and take a long look. I take some home from the different waters I fish and make subtle changes for my stones to match the species. [color=CC0000]I stopped tying woven bodies because they didn't catch any more fish and take a relatively long time to tie [/color]and a short time to lose, if you fish them on the bottom where they belong. They do have long antennae but I think they bend back when they're in the water.

I disagree, blueheron. When you become proficient, you can weave a big stonefly nymph just as fast if not faster than dubbing one. Especially if you are going to try to get a two tone look with a thin skin, turkey quill, etc. By the time you tie the material in tie the rib in dub the body, fold it over, rib it and trim you can be done weaving.

 

[sandfly]

I stopped useing the weave and dubbing bodies. went with this style.

 

[mike_richardson]

Nice ties sand fly. I tried with bobbin today and was worse off. Might look up the overhand knot method tonight.

Tying "hung over" pheasant tails today at lunch.

Typical pheasant tail with red bead head. They just look like they had a bad night

Going to tie some with a red wire rib as well. I had luck with the color red in recent springs. Hope this may add little more luck.