Tying Thunder Creek streamers

[Ray Kunz]

Does anyone know of any free videos or YouTubes on tying Thunder Creek streamers?
I've been tying them for quite a while but wonder if there are any novel techniques.
Thanks.

[hap]

Ray
I tie a ton of them and have for years. It has been a favorite dolly varden fly which I thought of as a smolt pattern, particularly for streams with pink salmon runs. Then last summer I watched dollies picking sea lice off silver salmon and realized they may well take the thunder creek as a sea louse.

I usually tie them on 3XL hooks in 8, 10 and 12 with bear hair and bead chain eyes. They really work! The eyes seem just about right for weighting them for the smaller streams I often fish.

Bigger ones in the 4-2/0 sizes on mustad 36890 or Gami T10 hooks have been really good on lake trout feeding on salmon smolts. The eyes are not used on these. Salmon are not afraid of them either...

There are a number of serious fly fishers/tyers here that consider them a top 10 fly for AK.
art

[hap]

Sorry, guess I failed to come close to your actual question about videos...

No...

[Ray Kunz]

Hi Hap; Thanks for the comments on using the TC in Alaska. You really have me confused however, with using bead chain eyes. If you use any sort of eyes on the head other than painted ones, how can it be called a TC? Do you epoxy over the whole bead chain?
I think you've designed a new pattern, somewhat like a crosbreed with a Clouser.
B.T.W. I used bead chain eyes on egg sucking leaches for my nephew to use in AK because the solid dumbell eye versions sank to fast for him. They worked well.

[BlueDun]

Bear hair......that's interesting. What made you choose bear hair? (I hate tying with deer hair or bucktail.)

Also, I just did a search for it. My local fly shop does not carry it, but I assume I can find it easily enough. Is it dyed or only available in one color?

[William Fitzgerald]

Bear hair......that's interesting. What made you choose bear hair? (I hate tying with deer hair or bucktail.
There is more bear where he comes from(Alaska) than deer BILL

[JohnScott]

Ray -

Not exactly what you are looking for, but I think it might be very interesting for other folks who read this thread and follow the link.

http://globalflyfisher.com/streamers...k/patterns.htm

Thunder Creek streamers are the first streamers I fished. Did pretty well with them. But really do not enjoy tying with bucktail, although it does make for a pretty durable fly, and it is available in just about every color under the sun. I did tie some in one of the synthetic "hair" materials which was much easier to use than bucktail and did fish well.

John

P.S. Have you seen Fulsher's book from the past year or two ?? I only took a quick look at it one time, but it is really quite impressive and shows a very broad range of TC variations.

[hap]

Ray
I generally do not epoxy my thunder creeks... Especially since I started using the bead chain and bear hair is tough, far tougher than deer.

I also like the head bulk it creates which is really missing in the TCs I tie because mine are SPARSE! The result is a huge-headed minnow looking fly... WHich I think looks far more natural.

Using black, brown, grizzly and polar bear hair gives me a wide range of natural colors. A couple strands of flash for a lateral line and you would swear you were at a sushi bar!
art

[hap]

Blue Dun
I hit most of your questions but to add... Bear can be a bit tough to find. I ask taxidermists for scraps and get lots, usually. The last big batch of brown, grizzly and black I got was offered here for anyone wanting it. Generally the colors are honey brown to black. Bleaching works and dying does too...

Fortunately I have stumbled into a little polar bear from old rugs and have square feet of it.

I cannot imagine why the distaste for tying with bucktail. Possibly the fact I haved tied thousands of bucktailed coho flies makes it seem like a pretty natural material.
art

[kelkay]

Hatches tv I think had a great one. It was an instructional video on tying the rainbow trout Thunder Creek. Now I cannot find that video anywhere. I have too many patterns saved on my computer favorites.