Southern Oregon Fly Tyers
Meeting on Tuesday, January 9, 2018
6:00 PM
8401 Old Stage Road, Gold Hill
The January SOFT meeting will feature a demonstration by Cathy Hamilton. Rather than tying flies that she's tied many times before, Cathy will pay tribute to Dave by doing her best to tie three of the flies that he most enjoyed tying at the shows they attended together. Cathy will have some stories to share about how Dave came to tie these flies. If you wish to tie along, bring some tying thread -- black 8/0 and red UTC 70 (or any red 8/0, if you don't have UTC), along with any of the materials you may have from the recipes. Cathy will bring some of the hooks and beads, as well as some of the more "exotic" materials used in the flies she'll be tying.
BLOOD WORM
HOOK: 2X heavy wire, 2X short, 2X wide
gap – TMC 2457, Dai-Riki 135, Daiichi 1120; size 12
BEAD: 8/0 seed bead – transparent red,
silver-lined
THREAD: 8/0 red
BODY: Spanflex – red – Medium, cut 2
¼ inches long
COLLAR: Rhea – dyed red
Smash the barb and place the seed bead on the hook. Lay in a thread base right behind the bead,
going back 1/16”. Tie in one strand of
Spanflex right behind the bead on top of the thread base on the top of the
hook. Attach a hackle plier to the other
end of the Spanflex. Attach a dubbing
twister to the hackle plier and give two good spins, creating a tight
twist. Grab the twisted Spanflex,
leaving 1/8” of the tag end. Tie in the
tag end right behind the bead, keeping a finger inside the loop of twisted Spanflex. Replace your finger with a bodkin, pull it
back to straighten out the loop, grab the end of the loop between your thumb
and index finger, and pull out the bodkin.
Release the loop, allowing the Spanflex to twist on itself, thus
creating a furled body. If it turns into
an ugly knot, re-insert a bodkin in the twisted loop right behind the tie-in
point and slide it back to the end of the loop to straighten it out, and try it
again. Position the thread 1/16” behind
the head and tie in one “herl” of Rhea by the butt on top of the hook, and take
one half turn over the top of the hook.
Wrap 3 turns of the Rhea clockwise round the thread, creating a
rope. Wrap the rope forward to the bead
and tie off. Whip finish behind the bead
and apply head cement.
A note about the materials: Transparent silver-lined seed beads can be
found in bead shops and some craft stores.
Spanflex is a rubber-leg- like material.
Rhea is like a very fine ostrich plume.
Spanflex and Rhea are available from fly shops or through mail order.
DAVE’S
REAL SKUNK
Bead
Head: 1/8” black metal bead or 8/0 glass seed bead – translucent green with
red center
Hook: Daiichi
1560, Mustad 3906B, TMC 3761; Size 8-12.
Lead: .015 Lead
Wire for size 12 hook
Thread: Black
8/0.
Tail: Black
Guard Hairs from a Skunk skin.
Rib: Fine
Copper Wire.
Body: Black Fur
(Guard Hairs and Undercoat) from Skunk skin, Dubbed.
Hackle: Black CDC
(Optional).
Collar: Black Ostrich Hurl.
Smash hook
barb and put bead on hook. Wrap 8 wraps
of lead on hook for metal bead, or 4 wraps for glass bead, and slide into the
bead. Cover the lead with wraps of
thread and wrap back to the bend of the hook.
Cut a clump of black fur off the skunk skin (about the size of a wood
pencil), cutting as close to the skin as possible, and remove the undercoat
from the guard hairs. (Save the
undercoat for dubbing the body). Stack
the guard hairs and tie in for the tail.
The length of the tail should be equal to the length of the shank of the
hook. Add the trimmed (waste) guard
hairs from the tail to the undercoat for dubbing the body. Tie in the wire rib on the bottom of the
hook. Dub the undercoat (and trimmings
from tail) for the body from the tail toward the beadhead, leaving room for the
hackle and collar. Counterwrap the rib
and tie off. If used, wrap the CDC
hackle 1 - 1 1/2 turns. Wrap the ostrich
herl collar (1 strand) 2 - 3 wraps and tie off.
Whip finish, tying off on the bottom of the hook. Apply a small dab of head cement on the
bottom of the hook at the bead.
CRAFT STORE CHIRONOMID
HOOK: Scud; Daiichi 1120, Dai-Riki 135, TMC 2457 – size
12
HEAD: 8/0 seed bead -- red stripes on white
THREAD: UTC 70 red
BODY: Stretch Magic – size .5 mm
GILL: White Antron
Smash the barb, slide the bead onto the hook, and place hook in
vise. Attach tying thread to hook and
bind down a wisp of Antron, so most of the material protrudes over the hook
eye. Wrap it down, whip finish and remove
bobbin. Trim off the excess Antron,
leaving just a small tuft above the eye of the hook. Then slide the bead into position and
reattach the tying thread right behind it.
Tie on a piece of Stretch Magic right behind the bead, and lash it down
the length of the hook, stretching it as you wrap your thread, and ending at
the midpoint of the bend of the hook.
Wrap the tying thread back forward, in touching wraps, so that the
Stretch Magic and the hook will be completely covered with the thread. Then wrap the Stretch Magic forward, placing
each wrap next to the previous one. Stretch
the Stretch Magic firmly as you start, and gradually reduce the stretch, to
create a bit of a taper in the body of the fly.
When you reach the bead, tie off the Stretch Magic with 2 - 3 tight
wraps, and cut it as close as possible.
Whip finish and apply head cement to your thread wraps.
