Materials Used; Hook, Fulling Mill All-Purpose Medium size 12s and 14s Thread, Yli 214 Yellow Silk Body, Rodent/Moose or Natural Grey Dubbing Wing, Waterhen or something Similar Hackle, Waterhen Feather from the back of the wing..
Such a subtle and beautiful fly. I tie and fish traditional wet flies most of the time. I love their aesthetics and they work. The are the flies that drew me into fly fishing in the beginning. :-)
I used to tie my wet flies, Greenwells, Blae and Black, and suchlike with outward curving wings like that. I reckoned it made the fly more interesting and lively looking. Also I reasoned that owing to the way the wings lie, when drawn through the water they should tend to cause the fly to dive, rather than skate. This may all have been in my imagination, but one thing’s for sure : they’re way easier to set nicely when tied that way. The humble Blae & Black might be worth a video. I used to find the same dressing, tippet tail and floss body, no rib, worked great in both wet and dry versions.
Hi davie great idea adding wings to the water hen bloa , do you think this would work on other spider patterns, i was thinking about tying a winged partridge and orange what wing do you think would best suit it ? Thanks again davie.
Hi George, Yes adding a wing to the partridge and orange would certainly be worth doing and one that I would recommend would be hen pheasant though you could try a few others like grouse, woodcock and even partridge itself as it makes a great wing as I have messed about with them many times over the years..I'm glad you liked the fly... All the very best Davie
Great technique for spinning on the rodent hair dubbing. I definitely need to try that! What kind of wax do you use to wax your thread? I've tried bees wax, and bees wax based lip balm. Neither seem to give performance like you show in this video.
Hi @moosibou , As Rob mentioned I did a video on the wax I used so I have attached a link below for you to see...I'm glad you liked the technique I used it's an old one which has been around for many years and it works really well on patterns like this... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IN4N92G14Xg.html All the very best Davie
Do have mole and primrose silk but no water rat and no waterhen….what can I use as a sub for waterhen? Want to tie a few over the winter! Any thoughts about using moose hair as a wing?
Hi Mike, When I didn't have any waterhen I used duck like Mallard and Teal and they caught me fish so I still use them today...I've not used much Moose hair as you don't see much of it on the shelves.. All the very best Davie
@@DavieMcPhail I am across the pond in Newfoundland. Moose are common here so Moose hair is quite easy to get plus I hunt em if I am lucky enough to get a tag! I have enough to last my lifetime and beyond! I can send you some if you want! Here, the majority of Atlantic Salmon flys are made with a Moose hair wing! I have even used the finer hair from inside the ear which is a cream color with a sheen to it. The most popular Salmon fly here is the Blue Charm with a black moose hair wing and the same fly with a white deer hair wing! These have a typical gold PT crest tail, a silver tag, a yellow or chartreuse butt, black floss body with silver rib and a silver Dr. blue collar or throat depending on who made it. Hair wing Salmon flys are way more popular here than feather wing versions. I have lots of Mallard as I often find it by an estuary close to my house as I walk my dog! Thanks!
Have read “water rat” so many times in these old patterns good to finally see it. Still YLI 214 and mole are my magic materials. I’ve got to tie more winged wets. Lovely tie. Now how bad do I want that rat?
