Tying up the partridge and biot tutorial.

I twist up these little softies for the winter months, they produce well. I like to fish them behind the golden oldie.  In the tutorial i will show you a way to use up those big partridge feathers you have. The fly i tie is a size 16, and the hackle i use is about an 8. 

The biots I use for them can be acquired from a craft store or from where i get them, Wal-mart.  They are very cheap and you get tons of biots.  The colors are very dark and vibrant. You get 5 different colors, red, blue/violet, green, orange, and yellow.  I believe the feathers are from ducks, what ever they are they are point feathers with biots.  The biots are rather small and short, so small flies is where these guys shine.

Lets get started tying one. For this one I will tie up a yellow.

Hook in vise, Start your thread, lay down a nice thread base back to just beyond the point

Get yourself your biot. With the feathers the longest biot are located roughly in the middle. Take a look at the none biot side. It is almost a mirror image of the biots. Where this side is longest, the biots will be as well.

Tie your biot on the top of the hook shank, with the concave side up. Biot tips are brittle if they are died to this degree,(you can soften them by soaking them in water before you tie, A good 15min soak will make them very pliable) So be sure, if tying dry to tie it in a little was up on the biot. Bring your tying thread forward to about a hook eye and half back from the eye

Wrap you biot, touching turns forward to your tying thread. If you wrap the same as your thread you will get the raised rib effect, the opposite way will result in the striped rib effect.  Play around see which you prefer.  Tie down the biot and trim the excess.

Dub a small thorax area.

Select a partridge feather, and strip off the fluff. Then pinch the tip and stroke the barbs back to expose the tip. Then snip it out.  Remove any extra hackle barbs you dont want on the fly. Your basically selecting how much hackle you would like the fly to have.

Measure your hackle length, You can make it as long or as short as you desire. 

Once you decide what length you want hold the middle over the top of the hook shank, and pinch the hackle barbs to each side. Take one loose turn over the partridge. Tighten the wrap, letting go of the partridge as you tighten.

The barbs will spin around the shank, you can work them into position with your finger nail as well.  Once your happy, you can then take a few tight wraps to secure the hackle.  I like to go three wraps on top of the hackle butt end, and then lift it up and do two wraps on the shank. Clip off the butt end of the hackle.

Whip yourself a nice head and snip your thread.

Give the head a good coating of cement if you desire. You now have a partridge and biot, which trout cant refuse.

Here are some other flies tied from using the package of feathers.

Captain America

Captain America Softy.

 This is a soft hackle I whipped up a while ago. It works well in the fall and winter.  Enjoy

Materials
Hook- Daiichi 1560
Thread- Pearsall gossamar silk thread- Red
Rib- Utc ultra wire, small, blue
Thorax- white super fine
Hackle- White hen neck.


Start your thread, Cut your tag end off.


Tie in your wire where you cut off your thread, and wrap back touching turns, tying in the wire. Stop either at the point or the barb.


Bring your thread back up. Touching turns. Stop about a hook eye and a half back from the eye


Rib, Bring your wire up, counter wrapping the thread. Nice open even turns. Tie of the wire and bend,and break it off.


Dub the thorax. Dont dub to much. Just enough to cause the hackles stand up against.


Once you have finished dubbin, Tie in your white hen naeck hackle by the butt.


Wrap your hackle. Tie it off, clip the excess and whip finish. Give the head a cementing . This one pictured has only one and half turns of hackle.

Let the Cap, save your next fishing adventure! lol.
I hope you all enjoyed.

Tight Ties
Johnny Utah.

Trout crack

The trout crack was devolved by John Wilson, A pretty famous guide on the White river in AR.  It is deadly fished as a dropper.  It works wonders on the limestone streams, just be sure to tie it small for those streams.  I have found that sizes 16-24 are very effective.   So here is a video, Enjoy.

Spectra Debora Aka the rainbow devil

This is my Spectra Debora.

The Atomic Rock Worm

I have had some great success  as of late on this pattern. I devised this fly one evening when i was playing around with my mp bobbin and mp magic tool. The hook is daiichi 1550. The body consist of mirage opal tinsel ribbed with chartreuse v rib.  The hackle collar is black cdc dun mp style.  The fly has also been getting attention on the web and i had an inquire about it so i made a video. Enjoy.

Partridge Skins and a fall secret weapon

I just want to let everyone in on this fellow i found. I have been buying skins off of him for over 4 years now and when i say Premo quality, the premo is platinum with diamonds. Feathers are in perfect condition and have excellent markings on them.    I have well over 10 partridge skins from him and everyone is beautiful. His duck skins are premo as well.

On the right is a 2duckchuck skin and on the left a hareline grade 1. In all fairness i have tied many flies off the hareline skin. But the size difference speaks for itself.  Plus with the 2duckchuck skins,  I have used almost 2 skins so far and i have found a mere 2 broken feathers. The hareline, i lost count.

Check him out here.
Premo Partridge.

 My secret fall weapon. A simple north country spider in pink.   The thread is pink silk, I really like the fishhawk pink silk which is used here.  The hook is a daiichi. The thorax dub is u.v. high test. And the hackle is 2duckchuck partridge.

I want to Thank everyone who follows my blog and takes the time to read it.  I hope you all enjoy my 100th post.

Twisting up some olive duns

I was twisting up some olive duns and I made a video.  I ran out of these the other day, i dont generally fish or tie this style fly so it was nice to tie some up again, I had a good time. The fly works great in the riffles and doesn't need floatant as it has a snowshoe body.  I don't go fancy with the wings, seeing the fish mess them up after you catch one lol. In the video i tie a size 18. The pic above is of a size 22 and it has a thread body, with a super fine thorax. 

I didnt do this for the fly in the video but heres a little secret to get really nice wings.

Get some cheap strong hairspray and spray your feathers. I give them two to three coats. It helps big time to keep all the fibers together. But it will easily come off, which is a good thing.

Enjoy

A deadly stockie fly. The infamous pink worm. tying video

Enjoy.

The simple nymph, simple, and effective.

Sometimes when it comes to an effective fly, simple is best.  I call these flies simple nymphs, because they are very simple to tie and they just work. No wing cases, no legs, no ribs. Just a tail, well ya gotta gussy them up just a bit, (not to mention i love wood duck) and some dubbing tapered to a nymph shape.  You can use any dubbin you wish.  I havent used one yet that didnt work.

I fish these flies in multiple ways, they are very versatile.  I fish one as a dropper. I have swung them, lifted them, I even grease the leader and fish these guys in the film. They make a great emerger that is well.... Just simple to tie.

Tutorail of the black october caddis pupa

This a little different version of the October caddis pupa. Its very effective and very durable.  Enjoy.

Hook in vice, start your thread.

Catching your antron yarn and tie it down as you advance your thread to the rear, Bring your thread back up

Catch in your silver wire and tied it down, wrapping the back, bring the thread back up.

counter wrap you antron, wrap up and back down to create a taper. Fat ones work quite well so dont be afraid to build it up. Tie down the antron and clip the excess, bring your thread on to the antron slightly

Bring your rib up the same way you wrap your thread, nice open wraps, be sure its nice and tight.  Tie off the wire and bend and break off the excess. Take the thread down to the eye and back up. Nice touching turns.

Select a black hen neck hackle.  Tie in by the butt. Take your thread down to the eye and back up. Make sure the thorax area is smooth. This will help tremendously with the next couple of steps.

Wrap your hackle.  Stroke the fibers back as you wind it on. One turn is plenty. Tie of the hackle feather and snip the excess.

Select two peacock hurls and tie them in by the tips.

Make a dubbin loop, Hold your loop open and put your hurls in the middle. Then twist. This will make you a nice peacock rope that is bomb proof.

Wrap your rope to make a nice peacock collar. Tie it off and trim the excess. Make yourself a nice fat black head, whip finish.

Add some varnish to the head to shine it up. You can skip this step. I often do.

RS-II

With fall bwos coming about, I tied up some rs-2s for my fly plate. I did a video in the process. Enjoy.

March brown wet fly

This is my pattern I use for march browns in the area I fish.  It has great action in the water, and it is deadly in the film.

I will do a tutorial and video soon. These guys are a must for the spring.