Work in Progress

[shuck raider]

Somebody told me that the Connemara seatrout are eating The Raymond this season. Not a pattern I've tied before - anyone had success with it? The wing and hackle ain't right yet.



Tail - GP tippet
Rib - Oval Gold
Body - Golden Olive S/F
Hackle - Palmered scarlet cock with blue jay tied false
Wing - Hen Pheasant secondary, with married slips of red and yellow swan between them

[dabhoy]

Not a fly i have ever tried or seen apart from the bumble version.
I know marrying wings can be a pain especially on trout flies.
As you know from your comments the wings looks like it needs to be a little shorter and the beard hackle has been tied a bit far back so it tucks up a bit much.Overall though a pretty good effort and look forward to seeing them as they progress

[shuck raider]

Getting there. That wing's tricky, the married slips keep throwing the pheasant off

[weight_forward]

That ones better, the shape of the wing is nicer and the beard is at a better angle.

There's a lot of thread behind the wing tie in point, you could get the body a little closer to the eye which will close that up or move the wing back a fraction, that may help it sit lower B175's have quite a radius just behind the eye which can kick a wing up. Everything is nice and neat though.

Isn't there another shoulder hackle on the Raymond (something grey) - or is that a variant?

[dabhoy]

Do you tie the tie all the wing slips in at the same time?
You are certainly getting there and I have no doubt that this would catch fish.
The one query I had with people telling you that you that the Raymond was catching was it this version or the bumble as bumbles are very good at this time of year.

[shuck raider]

I tied the married slips first, then the pheasant separately, which accounts for the thread behind the tie-in point. Tying the lot in at one go make a bulky head.
Vey tempting to omit the married slips

WF, Murt Folan's variant is a nightmare to tie. Same body and palmer, then requires one turn of dyed green short French partridge followed by a turn of silver mallard and blue jay at the throat. Wings, then one and a half turns of grey partridge dyed lemon yellow

No variety of bumble worked last week, although we got a dozen seatrout for a couple of days, other boats were getting them on the Raymond.

[dabhoy]

If you have to persist I would try tying in all the slips at the same time as when you tie in the married one 1st you then have to tie the pheasant further forward which makes it look like the head is very long.
I did watch McPails video of his Raymond bumble variant and there is a hell of a lot of tying in it for one fly.

[weight_forward]

Originally Posted by shuck raider

Murt Folan's variant is a nightmare to tie. Same body and palmer, then requires one turn of dyed green short French partridge followed by a turn of silver mallard and blue jay at the throat. Wings, then one and a half turns of grey partridge dyed lemon yellow

That's the one I was thinking of, I tied one up a while ago, never again!!