Monday 2 March 2015

South West Fly Fair

I went to the South West Fly Fair on Saturday. A very good event with great stalls selling tackle and fly tying materials. I managed to spend far too much money, on capes and various bits and pieces. A highlight was watching Charles Jardine tying flies. He demonstrated dubbing techniques and passed on some tips about how to maintain the qualities of dubbing materials when using them, basically by not being too rough with them and not using dubbing wax. He tied a fly that he did not give a name but I really liked the idea behind it, as he said it emphasized the importance of creating translucence in fly tying and the fact that scruffy flies catch more fish, which is just as well as all the flies I tie are scruffy (just like me). The photo is my attempt to recreate the fly he tied, not as good as his, but I quite like it. I tied this using my new HMH vice which I am very pleased with and really recommend. I suppose if it was called anything this fly would be an olive bumble type thing. The recipe is:

Hook - Kamasan B160 size 12
Thread - Olive Uni
Body - Olive seals fur with a bit of green ice dub mixed in
Rib - Olive holographic tinsel
Head hackle - Olive hen hackle
Palmered hackle - Olive cock hackle
Tail - Rolled orange ice dub

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jon - I was sorry not to make it up to Roadford, but it seems like you had an interesting time. The fly looks great and you are much too modest! Will you tie me one or two? In the picture the tail looks a sort of fluorescent yellow rather than orange as you state in the list of materials used. Is the just the effect of the camera flash?

    Additionally, I re-sized your pictures of the flies in both your recent posts because it shows up the details better.

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  2. Hi Peter

    I'll tie you a couple for opening day, the flash has changed the colour of the tail but it is a sort of yellowy orange

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