My first attempt at Dabblers

[mot]

Well, here goes, these are literally the first two dabblers I've attempted to tie. One Claret, one firey brown. Not sure I got the bronze mallard to cloak properly, but not bad for a first crack I dont think. Comments gratefully received







Sorry not sure why the pictures have come out so dark

Cheers
Tom

[g bigtrout]

Not bad...i found the one Gerry did a sbs off helpful to get the cloaking bit sorted.

SECTIONS - I @ 15mm and 2 @ 5mm


CUT AWAY LARGER PIECE


FOLD 5mm SECTION INWARDS


AND THEN FOLD THAT IN HALF


ALINE THIS SECTION ON TOP OF FLY


AND TIE IN WITH PINCH & LOOP METHOD

TIP: When using the pinch & loop method when tightening thread make sure you pull directly down below vice and not towards you, pulling it towards you will cause section to slip over the back.

TAKE A PIECE OF SMALLER SECTION


AND THEN FOLD THAT IN HALF AND ALINE AT THE SIDE


AGAIN USE PINCH & LOOP TO TIE IN


REPEAT ABOVE ON OTHER SIDE


TRIM AWAY WASTE


VARINISH & WHIP FINISH TO COMPLETE


Cheers
Gerry[/QUOTE]

[road king]

Go to Davie mc Phail on you tube he shows the wrap around tye for the bronze mallard, a very effective way for cloaking.But cracking looking dabblers. The lough sheelin lads tye the mallard wing by stripping one side of the feather but leaving the tip intact on both sides, then this is tied on top over the body with the rest of the feather wrapped like a normal hackle sweeping the fibres back, this is to stop the dabbler from spinning when stripped, a problem that can occur with small strips tied in at a time. But to be honest it to me years to perfect the dabbler a real hard fly to tye correctly.
cheers
RK

[Former member]

RK I have used the method you mentioned to tie a gosling with grey mallard flank but never a dabbler. A dabbler tied correctly should be cloaked 4/5ths of the way round the part not cloaked should be the section directly below the eye, this has been left so as to create an air bubble when pulled through the water, by tying a dabbler by the method you described would not create such an effect, also i disagree that by tying a dabbler 4/5th cloaked in 2-3 sections causes the fly to spin. I am not saying that the method you described would not work but it would give more a gosling type of fly as opposed to a dabbler.
Cheers
Gerry

[road king]

Gerry,
I can imagine the 4/5ths method being good in small sizes, the shellin dabbler would be fished short lining and dibbled very quickly dancing on top of the wave, so no air bubble needed, and believe it or not these are tied on a size 8 B830 huge flies, the most important part of a dabbler is to have light to penetrate the mallard to enhance the body colours. But i tie the both ways and all are good.
Cheers

[mot]

Thanks for the tips. I did watch the Davie McPhail video before tying these, but obviously his method didn't work too well in my hands. I'll try Gerrys method next time, rather fitting since I got some of the capes I'm using from him (the claret and fiery brown ones used in the above ), thanks Gerry

[road king]

Originally Posted by mot

Thanks for the tips. I did watch the Davie McPhail video before tying these, but obviously his method didn't work too well in my hands. I'll try Gerrys method next time, rather fitting since I got some of the capes I'm using from him (the claret and fiery brown ones used in the above ), thanks Gerry

Mot,
Keep practising as it dose take time, try it on the big hooks first, it broke my heart to master many years ago, with plenty of wasted feathers. Take time and you'll get there.
RK

[mot]

Thanks for the encouragement, I'll keep trying

[Old Jock]

Great first attempts. I'd be well pleased if they were mine. Well done!

[1973dereks]

Well done mot. excellent for your first attempts