Couple of new tyings

[denzil3009]

My first time tying a couple of these flies.

Looking for some advice/thoughts please

Thanks


Adams Dry Fly


Black pennel


Cruncher


Teal, Blue & Silver



PS.Sorry about the terrible quality of photos

[jeb123456789]

Not a ba job... I'd b happy to have them in my box, just one thing I would do differently, I like a smaller hackle on my flys and nymphs measure from the shank of the hook to the point normally gives you a really neat looking fly...

[denzil3009]

Thanks, i did try to match the length of the hackles with the hook length. But failed miserably

I had problems with the really smaller hackles always breaking when i had them in the hackle pliers.

[dabhoy]

Hi Denzil as has been said the hackle lengths are a little long but as for that not too bad.
The teal blue and silver I would just tie the blue hackle as a throat hackle so it is just on the bottom and with the black pennell I prefer to use hen for the movement but that my own preference.

[flytyingguy]

Not bad at all mate, hackles are a bit long, but nothing wrong with your heads so well done for a first effort

[shpeil]

Wot they said ^^^.

Looking at the Teal Blue & Silver, the body is a bit thicker than usual. Nothing necessarily wrong with being non-traditional. I notice though, that the body on the cruncher is a bit uneven. So I wonder if there's maybe a lack of control influencing body thickness rather than a deliberate choice. If that's the case, the trick for an even body is:

- start thread near the eye and wind in touching turns down towards the bend
- stop winding a turn or two short of where the hook starts to turn then tie in the tail onto the bare hook in the space you've left before the bend with just a turn or two lying next to each other progressing towards the tail - these turns just hold the tail - don't trim the waste ends;
- tie the rib on top of the last turn of thread, at the very end of the hook, with just a single turn;
- tie in the body material with a touching turn or two on the "eye side" of the turn that holds in the rib - your turns of thread are now progressing back towards the eye
- the waste ends of the tail, rib and body material should all be progressing up towards the eye - trim them so they'll all lie under the full length of the body
- you can now take the thread up to the eye in touching turns to tie down the waste ends and fix the materials properly
- you'll be left with a flat layer of thread over which to wind your body and rib.
- you'll also have a single turn between the body and material and the tail (the turn you used to tie in the rib) but most body materials will cover that naturally once you start to wind the body.

That would give you a slimmer/flatter body on the TB&S and also avoid the lump at the tail of the cruncher.

If you can create a flat body, it's easy to create a tapered body if you want to by adding turns of thread.

Neil

[captainpurple]

If you always problems with the smaller hackles breaking, try winding the hackle with your hands.

I rarely use pliers these days, but when I do, I typically use a good brand with rubber at the end to help hold it (Dr Slick, Griffin or other good brand).

I think you do get better control with winding the hackle with your fingers at times...

Like I say, there is a time and a place for hackle pliers....just as there is a time and a place for other fly tying tools.

[denzil3009]

Originally Posted by dabhoy

Hi Denzil as has been said the hackle lengths are a little long but as for that not too bad.
The teal blue and silver I would just tie the blue hackle as a throat hackle so it is just on the bottom and with the black pennell I prefer to use hen for the movement but that my own preference.

I completely forgot only to tie in the blue beard instead of a full hackle
I would have used hen if i had it, but i only had cock hackles.

Originally Posted by flytyingguy

Not bad at all mate, hackles are a bit long, but nothing wrong with your heads so well done for a first effort

Thanks

Originally Posted by shpeil

Wot they said ^^^.

Looking at the Teal Blue & Silver, the body is a bit thicker than usual. Nothing necessarily wrong with being non-traditional. I notice though, that the body on the cruncher is a bit uneven. So I wonder if there's maybe a lack of control influencing body thickness rather than a deliberate choice. If that's the case, the trick for an even body is:

- start thread near the eye and wind in touching turns down towards the bend
- stop winding a turn or two short of where the hook starts to turn then tie in the tail onto the bare hook in the space you've left before the bend with just a turn or two lying next to each other progressing towards the tail - these turns just hold the tail - don't trim the waste ends;
- tie the rib on top of the last turn of thread, at the very end of the hook, with just a single turn;
- tie in the body material with a touching turn or two on the "eye side" of the turn that holds in the rib - your turns of thread are now progressing back towards the eye
- the waste ends of the tail, rib and body material should all be progressing up towards the eye - trim them so they'll all lie under the full length of the body
- you can now take the thread up to the eye in touching turns to tie down the waste ends and fix the materials properly
- you'll be left with a flat layer of thread over which to wind your body and rib.
- you'll also have a single turn between the body and material and the tail (the turn you used to tie in the rib) but most body materials will cover that naturally once you start to wind the body.

That would give you a slimmer/flatter body on the TB&S and also avoid the lump at the tail of the cruncher.

If you can create a flat body, it's easy to create a tapered body if you want to by adding turns of thread.

Neil

The teal,blue has a massive body because the wire i was using was way to thick.
The cruncher was just me not being careful enough with laying the body. Ill defo try what you said though. Thank you for the tips.

Originally Posted by captainpurple

If you always problems with the smaller hackles breaking, try winding the hackle with your hands.

I rarely use pliers these days, but when I do, I typically use a good brand with rubber at the end to help hold it (Dr Slick, Griffin or other good brand).

I think you do get better control with winding the hackle with your fingers at times...

Like I say, there is a time and a place for hackle pliers....just as there is a time and a place for other fly tying tools.

I did try this but the hackle kept slipping out my hand and completely unwinding (fat thumbs didnt help)
I think ill need to buy a decent pair, because atm i just have the cheapest of the cheap