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I'm going to make some transparent glass bulb Christmas tree ornaments and place flies within the bulb. The diameter of the bulbs I have are: 4", 2-1/2" and 1-1/2". I didn't measure the openings yet. Except for full dressed Atlantic Salmon flies, what specific fly patterns would you suggest to place in these bulbs?
Thanks.
Allan
Feather wing streamer on the big size.... perhaps a winged wet in the medium, and a flashy dry fly for the smallest, like a royal wulff
A Woolly Bugger Dressed as Santa. Have Fun.
Traditional bass flies are very attractive and smaller than most salmon flies. Take a look at Henshaw's Book of the Black Bass.
Royal Coachman and Royal Wulff dry flies are the prettiest of dry flies IMHO. I also think a Royal Coachman streamer would look nice.
Hi Allan,
Silver Doctor's, or Holberton wet fly's would really pop in a christmas ball. You may need to be a bit careful when trying to put them through the opening though! ;-)
Regards,
Mark
fan wing coachman, size 8 or so.
For the last couple of years I've been trying to get hold of these decorations with no luck. I don't trust our post office not to play football with the package if I buy mail order. Nothing available locally. What I wanted to do is put a load of 1 pattern in that he uses a lot and sneak it onto his tree.
Cheers,
A.
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the suggestions. So far I've tyed some Royal Wulffs, Spruces, female Adams, and Lllamas. I'm going to try and tye some colorful bass wet flies and the Holberton(I always liked this one) as well as some hairwing salmon flies and maybe a couple of somewhat 'realistic' type flies. I have to use flies that are proportionate to the size of the glass bulb. For medium bulbs I was thinking of a set of Wulffs - all different. For the large, I guess the salmon or Rangely type streamers will be needed.
Thanks again.
Allan
Spun green deer hair in the shape of a Christmas Tree.
When I did this a few years ago I tied dry flies so they would remain 'perky' after a couple of years. I attached a piece of 7X tippet at the balance point (behind the wing) to the fly would remain suspended horizontal in the middle of they glass.
I have used a number of clear plastic ornaments available from Michael's and Hobby Lobby. They are in two halves making it VERY easy to put (or hang) something inside. The problem with anything smaller than about a size 8 is that it disappears. Eventually I focused on spun hair flies and large clousers.
It's not a fly you would fish with but Betty's hummingbird is a great looking piece. I have gifted a few of them to friends and family and it is about the only time anyone has ever been impressed with my fly tying. It can be found in the archives on this site.
allan,
being from new york, how about an ausable wullf, ausable bomber, coffin fly, or any of the catskill paterns.
maybe a grey ghost or a nine three
Thanks again for all the suggestions. Couldn't find Betty's Hummingbird but there are a lot of colorful flies in print - as in the Mary O. Marbury book. Some Catskill flies will go into the smallest glass bulbs.
Allan
Allan,
Here is a link to Betty's Hummingbird. I have made many of these for Christmas presents over the years and it is very well received.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...112706fotw.php
Warren,Quote:
Originally Posted by WarrenP
Interesting and I think I'll try tying a few. Maybe one or two in blue, red or green. May stand out more.
Thanks.
Allan
Allan,
For colorful wets, how about a Cajun Coachman, the barred woodduck wing on a red body make for a nice contrast and it has some Christmas colors on it. For a little bigger fly, how about a Missoulian Spook?
Alberto
Visited Michael's and they have already gotten in a large inventory of clear plastic ornaments in a variety of sizes. These do not come apart but looking at the opening I think even a good size deer hair bass bug could be squeezed through. For one of the smaller ornaments a royal wulff could be impressive. If you put uncooked rice in blue food coloring, dry it and pour it in the bottom of the ornament it can look like water.
Hi Bob,Quote:
Originally Posted by CoachBob
I planned on going to Michaels tomorrow and will see about those bulbs. I already have a bunch of the standard types.
Good Idea about the rice. I'll try that out but wonder what happens when the bulb gets jostled. Does the fly end up compacted by the rice and 'submerged'? Will have to see.
Thanks
Allan
I made quite a few dozen of these ornaments a number of years ago, all with royal coachmen dry flys, tied on the largest dry fly hooks I had at the time, which were probably #6's. My wife adorned the top of the bulbs with Christmas-colored ribbons and hemlock tree pine cones, which are the right size for these bulbs. We kept a couple dozen for ourselves, which I still have somewhere stored in the house, and my wife sold the rest at a local craft show that she had at the time.
John