Hi Chaps,

Having experienced a rough patch with my dry fly fishing, I have changed my tippet arrangement and taken everything back to basics.

Today, I purchased a selection of dries and wets for my forthcoming trip to Scotland.

I tried my new (small) Griffith's Gnats this evening on my local stillwater and they worked a treat!

I was delighted to have finally caught on the dry, however, after I unhooked the trout, I noticed that my Gnat had come undone. I then replaced it with my other Gnat, and that too came undone!

They are called Donnegal flies and are size 22.

Would you guys take them straight back to the shop or is is just an occupational hazard of fishing such small flies?

Tight lines

Griffiths Gnats can be delicate but I'd expect to catch half a dozen fish or so before they begin to disintegrate - unless you used forceps to remove them - they can easily damage a fly.

I use an old Biro (with the ball point and ink tube removed) cut off at the end with a slot cut down one side to take the tippet, to remove small flies without damaging them.

If they disintegrated after catching one fish then you should complain.

I buy mine from John Norris.

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

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Tommy - Thanks for that. I did actually use forceps so perhaps it is my own fault! Oops....

I will make one of you 'biro' type discorgers! Hopefully they will be less harsh on my flies!

Matt

Put shrink wrap or rubber tubing on your forceps, that way they still grip & wont be as harsh on your flies. Remember your midge net & repellent, we use skin so soft, from Avon. Works wonders.

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All that glitters, will catch anglers.

The frailty is possibly to do with the way they are tied. Oliver Edwards does a sbs for the griff gnat in his dvd Essential patterns-Quick ties and favorite flies. In it he twists the herl, hackle and tying thread together as one rope so to speak then wraps from the bend to the eye and ties off. He suggests his method helps strengthen the fly. The 'other' way is to wrap the herl first-tie off, then the hackle on top-tie off.

Sounds like yours have been wrapped the 'other' way. I would defo take them back. I wouldn't hold out to much hope of getting a result but at least the retailer would know they are suspect.

Chris.

I picked up this tip from Mr. Edwards and I think it's a good one I sometime use a bit of super glue on the body before the herl rope... not sure if it helps, but it gives me a wee bit more confidence in the durability.

I like the sound of a little super glue. I'm sure it helps . I am going to tie a few tomoz, they are getting it!

Chris.

Yes, the idea of winding things as a rope can go some way to solving the problem, another help is to smear the hook shank with tying varnish before applying the silk. I have applied varnish to all my commercially tied flies for 30 years and have not had many sent back.
Having said all that it would appear that you do not tie your own flies. When you purchase flies, just be aware which continent they were tied in. You may have to pay a bit more for a fly well tied in this country, and be reasonably confident that it will not fall to bits straight away, the choice is yours.
If you send them back you would, at best, receive more from the same batch.

when i tie my griffiths gnats i always varnish the bodies as that way they seem to last alot longer.

shame to see yours coming undone from such a reputable company

Andy

Tied artificial flies obviously take some hammer when trout fishing - not only from the fish when it bites at the fly or is hooked and caught, but also from casting, particularly if the cast style is "whip-cracked".

However, if an artificial trout fly disintegrates after landing just one fish and a similar thing happens to the next fly, then they have most probably been tied incorrectly.

When I was young, my father and I tied literally many, many thousands of flies over the years and I can't ever remember flies coming unwound - they eventually became destroyed through use but never through faulty tying.

From our experience, we found that shop-bought flies were often less serviceable than our own home tied flies - shop-boughts were inevitably tied to a price-point which meant it was very often looks over substance, though obviously not in all cases as there were some excellent commercial fly-tiers.

During winter months on a very limited basis, we also tied them for sale privately or local retail outlets but in doing so, ensured they were very well tied and we charged accordingly and can honestly say we never had any problems or complaints.

Tony