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OK, so I've recently committed myself to tying a few flies for a swap. I'm tying Griffiths gnats, and I know they're super easy to tie, but I decided to try something a little different this time. I'm braiding the Herl together to form a small rope. Does anyone do this? I'm very new to tying, and I like coming up with new ideas, but I'm guessing this is nothing new. Are there any other little tips like this that anyone would like to share??
When I've seen this done, one of the braiding strands was the tying thread.
I don't braid it but after tying in the herl and making a good thread base I spin the herl and thread between my fingers to make a herl rope, put a little head cement on the thread base for added strength, then wrap the herl.
Work well for me.
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Rich
I often spin Peacock with diffrent materials. I am currently spinning peacock and black Angora yarn together for the bodies for some soft hackle buggers, I am doing for a swap. I also spin the Peacock to thread for doing bodies for Prince nympths some of the time to give the body more strength. Most of the time this is because I am doing away with the wire around the body to give the fly a little diffrent look. The very few braided flies I have tried were done with Peacock and yarn but I was not happy with my own tying results. This was not do to the materials but my own tying skills.
A nice effect is achieved if you spin a hackle feather in the herl rope. First you should stroke the feather to stand the barbs out at right angles to the stem. This makes an especially nice Griffiths Gnat. If the feather you use has a noticeable taper to it, tie the feather in by the tip.
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Jim Johnson
Wow, Jim. Never heard of that before but it sounds perfect for a griffith's gnat. I'm going to try some later today. Thanks for that idea.
I've twisted hackles with all manner of materials from yarn to peacock herl it's a quick solution for a bushy fly, but doesn't offer that sparce look, especially in the case of a material that takes many wraps to cover the body like a uni yarn. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/smile.gif It is gonna be heavily hackled if you try this method with a yarn cause in most cases it will take many wraps to cover the length of the body, if your into size 10 dry flies and larger like I am. You can twist hackle around everything from yarn to chenille or other hackles.
[This message has been edited by Newfoundlander (edited 05 February 2006).]
Sometimes half the hackle can be stripped before combining with another material to eliminate some of the "bushy".
....lee s.