Beginners Only February Dry Fly Swap

[Steven McGarthwaite]

This is the third swap of five, the first was a soft-hackle wet fly, second was a nymph pattern. February the members had to face the dreaded Dry Fly. So much to do, so much that can go wrong, but most where up to the task, out of ten members, 8 sent in their efforts. One is point unknown, and the other has pulled his attempt at dry fly, waiting on a order of better hackle for the pattern. So some may arrived with the March Swap of Beginners Only, when they will be doing "Streamers"! ~Parnelli

I have to apologize for some of the photos, I took photos before sorting the fly patterns, sending out the best of the bunch to the tiers. When I returned from the Post Office, after mailing the shipments, I found that my photos where ruined, and I had to re-shoot using the spare flies.


1. Light Cahill
Dressed by DruLeeParsec
Hook: Dry, size 14 - 16.
Thread: Tan, 6/0.
Wings: Wood duck fibers, upright and divided.
Tail: Ginger.
Body: Cream fur or synthetic dubbing.
Hackle: Ginger.
from Dave Hughes' book "Essential Trout Flies".


2. Parachute Hendrickson
Dressed by Cold
Hook: Mustad 94833 (Signature R30)
Thread: Uni 8/0, Gray
Tail: CDL, Spade hackle, or similar (Whiting tailing CDL, Med. Pardo used)
Body: Superfine, Hendrickson Pink
Post: Poly yarn, yellow, dabbed with brown Prismacolor.
Hackle: Dun

[
3. Generic Dry Fly
Dressed by Ohio fisherman
Hook: Dry, size #12
Tail: Mallard Flank
Body: Olive rabbit dubbing
Hackle: Barred saddle hackle
　

4. Adams (Variant)
Dressed by Brian Kee
Thread: Black 8/0
Tail: Brown and grizzly hackle fibers
Body: Muskrat or medium gray dubbing
Wing: Grizzly hackle tips-upright and divided
Hackle: Brown & grizzly, mixed
　

5. Wulff Irresistible
Dressed by Rodger
Hook: Mustad 3261 size 10
Thread: Black 6/0 or 8/0
Tail: Dark Deer
Body: Lighter Deer, Spun or Stacked
Wing: White Calf Body Hair
Hackle: One Brown, One Grizzly


5. Brown Bivisible
Dressed by Dave P63
Hook: Standar size 12
Thread: Rusty Brown, Ultra 140
Tail: Brown Hackle
Body: Brown Hackle/ White Hackle


7. Royal Coachman
Dress by kbproctor
Thread: White for bulk of the fly. Switch to black for Hackle and Head. 70 denier or smaller.
Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets
Wing: Grey Mallard Wing slips tied upright curves out.
Body: 3 turns Peacock Herl, Red Floss, 3 turns Peacock Herl
Hackle: Furnace /Coachman Brown is traditional, but the furnace looks nice and the fish don't care.


8. Tan Elk Hair Caddis
Dressed by KSBASS
Hook: Dai-Riki #300 size 12
Thread: Danville Flymaster 6/0 waxed - Tan
Ribbing: #12 Ginger/tan saddle hackle - palmered
Abdomen: Fine dubbing - golden stone
Wing: Tan elk hair with black tips


10. Red Quill
Dressed by Quivira kid
Hook: standard dry fly size 12 or 14, Mustad 94840 or equivalent
Thread: dark red
Tail: dun hackle fibers
Body: quill body in "red quill" color, or stripped hackle stem dyed red
Wing: wood duck flank fibers, upright and divided
Hackle: medium dun

　
　
　

[DruLeeParsec]

OK, here's the monthly "What I Learned" post.

I have never been so frustrated at the fly bench. The first 3 flies took half an hour to tie (or was it an hour? I can't remember). The wings. Oh My Gosh, the wings.

Trying to get 2 distinct wings was really hard. I ended up just tying on a single clump of wood duck and calling it a wing and blessing it with the fly tier's mantra "the fish can't count how many wings it has".

I purchased a Whiting farm 100 fly pack of #14 ginger hackle but the tip of the hackle always looked too small for the hook, the middle and end of the hackle feather looked better. Also, the hackle always felt either too sparse or too tangled up and clumpy. The middle ground never seemed to happen.

This was a rough one. I want to try tying another dozen for myself but when I finished tying these I was in no mood to spend more time tying.

So on one hand these were the flies that I was the least happy with. On the other hand, these flies really pushed my tying skill level. I'm not sure I was up to the challenge. But now that some time has passed I look at my vice and think "Give it another shot. Go tie another dozen or 2 of those guys." I do know that if I push myself to learn how to tie these dry flies I'll be a much better tier.

[Cold]

For my part, these flies are actually the second fly I decided to tie up, after tying 4-5 adams and deciding I'd had enough of the upright, divided wings. I started tying these parachutes last summer for a small creek in my area and while they're not pretty or delicate, they *do* work. The hackle is especially heavy for a parachute, but I found the more heavily hackled flies in my box performed better than their sparser cousins, so that's how I tied em for the swap. In contrast to the soft hackles, nymphs, and this month's streamers, once I decided on this pattern, I was just in a dry fly tying mood and sat down and banged out the entire batch in one sitting.

All in all, I'm about as pleased with these flies as I have been with the others I've tied for this swap...hopefully, March will be my breakout month.

While all the flies look great, quivira's red quill is really something. I hope when I get around to tying a dozen for my box that they look half as good.

[kbproctor]

I am glad to hear I wasn't the only one that was not happy with his flies. I wound up tying 2 dozen and picking the best out to send. The wings kicked my butt and the hackle gave me more fits than normal. However, toss one of these at a bunch of brookies while a hatch is coming off and you will catch fish.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

"Do not worry about slowly moving ahead in your endeavors, worry instead about not moving!" ~Confucius

All the tier's that sent in their contributions to the swap, met the challenge, and succeeded. They dressed some "Dry Flies", they have learned somethings during this month's fly swap, that they never knew before. With time and patience, they will continue to succeed and improve their skills

"When the student is ready to learn, the Teacher will appear!" ~Confucius

I am very satisfied with the efforts that the members of this swap, have put into their creations.... It is only by learning from failures, can we begin to learn how to succeed! ~Swapmeister Parnelli

[quivira kid]

THANK YOU, Cold! These were my first attempts at a "bona fide" dry fly. First time tying upright and divided wings, using quill body, and good dry fly hackle. It took me a few flies to get proportions and how to handle the materials down. My first flies look AWFUL! But that's the fun part: seeing improvement!

I think the lesson I keep re-learning is that if you take your time and pay attention to details, you can tie well beyond what you think you can do.

Now from "small and delicate" to STREAMERS we go!