Most Difficult Fly

I am sure that I am not alone in this. There always seems to be one fly pattern that is more difficult for an individual than any other. I have seen tiers steer away from a number of different patterns.

For me, the Rat Faced McDougall is one that I really wish had never been dreamed up. I think it was Darbee who came up with this concoction and, for me, it has been my nemesis ever since first tying one. You often hear that it is easy, if you use a razor blade, or if you do this, but it has always been a pattern I have avoided.

What is the one pattern you avoid tying?


http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78277d4b.jpg

Humpys are fun too. Not really difficult to tie, but to get the right
proportions is very tricky.
Sweetstreams

The infamous No-Hackle Dun as written about by Swisher and Richards, originally called the Double-wing Sidewinder, and made famous by Mike Lawson. I can't tie them worth a dang.:
http://www.dougswisher.com/Important..._nohackle3.gif

Funny the Rat Faced McDougall gets ya... The Goddard Caddis is one of my absolute favorite flies both to use and to tie... Small spun hair bodies on dries should be easy as there is so little there...

When trimming them I shove all of the hair up by shoving the body down between my thumb and forefinger and I make three cuts... One flat along the top and then knock the two corners off. All three cuts turn down when approaching the tail.

Then I turn it upside down and repeat. Very little trimming is needed after that. The body tends to be slightly wider than tall which I think is both an advantage for floating and looks better.

I am struggling with getting the huge articulated flies we use here to swim better...

I can think of many but the one stands out for me is the Muddler Minnow.

Allan

So....you consider the Muddler Minnow to be a fly??

Royal Wulff in small sizes like a 16 or 18. They are buggers to tie.

For me, just about anything with quill wings including the original S&R no hackle mentioned above but also all of those classic quill winged wet flies.

RFMcD with a Western Flair.

Agree with the No Hackle as well. Have two nemeisis': Rat Faced McDougall/Irristible and the Lawson popularized No Hackle.


http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1bf45e20.jpg

Just now the one I wish I could avoid tying is the Daddy Long Legs with pheasant tail legs. Not because it is difficult, but I need several hundred double knotted pheasant tail fibers (6 per fly) for the several dozen I have on order.

It goes with any fly when I have to tie up more than about 4 dozen at once.

Cheers,
A.

AlanB,
I only asked for one Western Green Drake......

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Byron haugh

So....you consider the Muddler Minnow to be a fly??

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Yes! I view the Muddler Minnow as an 'impression' of a grasshopper which, the last time I checked, is an insect. Now, uhhhhhh, never mind.

No Hackle dun for me too.... I never tie them any more, the wings are difficult to get just right.

Doug,
Are you back home now? What is the latest you have fished in the Yellowstone Area?

Yes Byron, I am home now. The latest I have fished YNP was till the end of September.

Serdendipity and quill winged flies.
Glad so many other flies work.

Rick

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Byron haugh

I am sure that I am not alone in this. There always seems to be one fly pattern that is more difficult for an individual than any other. I have seen tiers steer away from a number of different patterns.

For me, the Rat Faced McDougall is one that I really wish had never been dreamed up. I think it was Darbee who came up with this concoction and, for me, it has been my nemesis ever since first tying one. You often hear that it is easy, if you use a razor blade, or if you do this, but it has always been a pattern I have avoided.

What is the one pattern you avoid tying?


http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78277d4b.jpg

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Byron,

This version, of that fly...

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps88325e86.jpg

Was one of the first dries I ever used. I got it here...

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps3029f2b7.jpg

...in that shop on the corner, in Aspen, CO...that was owned by the author of this book...

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps55b599c6.jpg

I had to force myself to learn how to tie it since it was not available in any Fly Shops in CA. That pattern killed on the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan. These days, if I need a tying challenge, all I have to do is open this book...

http://www.amazon.com/Mayflies-Top-B.../dp/1571882421


PT/TB ;)

The Turks Tarantula.....^%#$%#^#&*$&$#!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Allan

Yes! I view the Muddler Minnow as an 'impression' of a grasshopper which, the last time I checked, is an insect. Now, uhhhhhh, never mind.

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Interesting. So, when you are fishing hoppers, you tie on a Muddler Minnow?

Quick reply - yes.

Thanks Allan.

Byron, a Muddler is a great hopper imitation when greased up and fished dry. A great fly during hopper season.

Kelly,
I am sure that it might work with lots of grease. However, when I want a hopper pattern, I use a hopper pattern like Lawson's or Whitlock's, etc., etc.
I know that Gapin(sp?) believes it can be used as such. I visited with his son not many years ago and discussed the Muddler. He said it was used primarily as a sculpin pattern and not as much for trout as for other species.

I wonder if folks who use it during a hopper fishing opportunity are really fishing it as much as a sculpin. When you fish it, do you strip it in like fishing a streamer?

My father taught me at a very young age that a muddler was exactly the right fly for a hopper imitation... I used it dapping for big browns in tiny creeks in Eastern Washington when hoppers were thick and the takes were often spectacular. It was 100% floating...

And I tied them weighted for those same creeks and dredging those same big browns during those crepuscular times...

And for many years a yellow marabou muddler was my favorite fly for huge winter rainbows on the Kenai River... Three very different ways of fishing virtually the same fly...

Not to grind the point, but I just read this upon receiving my Blue Ribbon Flies Newsletter today:

Cliff Lake presents challenges in late September as fish cruise the shoreline off the closed road along the western shore. I remember September afternoons walking the old road stalking the shore in search of patrolling fish often only a few inches off the shore. The can be taken with dry muddlers and hoppers or a #16 Mahogany Sparkle Dun.

Kelly

Tight lines Kelly. I will continue using hopper patterns when fishing for trout taking hoppers.

By the way, the BRF note about Cliff Lake mentioned the "Dry" muddler. LadyFisher has a little story and tying instructions of the Dry Muddler on this site. It is a fly popularized by Joe Brooks. It is a bit different from the Muddler Minnow - IMHO.

Do you fish a regular Muddler Minnow or a Dry Muddler as a hopper pattern?

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...psf2b69370.jpg

There are specific differences between the way a dry MM is tied versus a streamer. I won't list them but you can think about what they are. Even without any 'floatant additives', the dry pattern floats and imitates hoppers probably better then most specific hopper patterns, although I concede not trying them all. Allan

The "Dry Muddler" is the fly cited by Kelly above from Craig Mathews' newsletter - not the "Muddler Minnow"

Allan,
I take it from that above, that you fish Humphrey's Dry Muddler as a hopper rather than the Muddler Minnow?

Actually, I've always tied the 'Muddler Minnow' as it appears in the Family Circle Guide(wherein it states that it can be fished as a dry, wet or streamer, unweighted or weighted) and in the Pattern Guide by Eric Leiser. I'm not familiar the patterns by Mathews, Humphries or any other published author. And I am talking about the 'Muddler Minnow', not a 'dry muddler' or a 'muddler anything else'.