Easy flies

[Mike-Connor]

Quite a few people have told me "I would love to be able to dress good flies". Well you can! No practice or knowledge required! You don't even need any tools! I will also guarantee that these flies catch fish, often much better than some others!

In order to dress these flies, you will need some hare fur or whatever other fur you can find, and this must be chopped fairly finely. Just cut it up with scissors. You are looking for an average staple ( length of fibres), of about an eighth of an inch. You can also use clothes dryer lint, wool, etc as well, indeed you can use more or less anything! A few longer fibres wont hurt, quite the reverse.



Mix this up in your fingers after chopping; You will also need some waterproof glue. I have used UHU here, but any flexible waterproof glue which dries fairly quickly will work;



Various waterproof superglues like "Zap-a-Gap" or "Fishing glue" will also work, but don't get them on your fingers! You can also make these as bead heads, etc etc. You can make smooth or rough versions, multi coloured versions, and none of them takes longer than a few seconds to make. You can make dozens of them in an hour. They also catch plenty of fish!

If something goes wrong, then just wipe the hook off with acetone, the approriate glue solvent, or similar thinner, ( Wont work with Superglue and various similar cyano-acrylates TAKE CARE WHEN USING SUCH) and start again.

STEP BY STEP !
Take your hook, in this case a gold plated one, and coat the shank evenly with a thin layer of glue. You may find a small stiff brush best for this, but I have just applied the glue directly from a tube here. Now take a bunch of fur in your thumb and forefinger and just touch the fur to the hook. You can also just press a bunch of fur on to the hook. Put it on one side to dry. This is what the nymphs look like when a bunch of fur has been pressed to the hook.



The "touch dubbed" nymphs are sparser!If you want multicoloured nymphs, then you need another bunch of fur with the second colour. In this case only coat two thirds of the hook in the first operation, and allow it to dry. Then coat the last third, and touch the final third with the dark dubbing. Eh Voila! A very nice nymph, no dressing skills required. Here are a couple of such nymphs. After allowing to dry completely, and removing the excess loose fur, ( use an old toothbrush for this, when the glymph is completely dry)which of course you just use again!



The flies shown here have abdomens made of a mix of hare fur and fine red wool. The dark thorax bits are just darker hare fur. These nymphs are top class fish catchers, and you can experiment away as much as you like with colours, furs, wool, chopped silk, CDC, bits of feathers, etc etc etc You can also make some pretty precise imitations of lots of things, but the fish don't really care much! The flies are just about indestructible as well! If you are so inclined, you can make a very large number of these flies in a very short time. Make no mistake, these flies can be real killers! Some days the fish will belt them in preference to all else!


Cont'd ->

[Mike-Connor]

These are glue nymphs, hence "Glymphs" ! If dressed with floatant, they also float well! This also solves a problem I had with some "flat" more or less oval nymph shapes. ( Especially heptagenidae), Depending on how one applies the fur to the hook, one can control the shape of the finished Glymph quite accurately. Below are some photos of the same Glymph, merely rotated. It explains better than words. The fur in this case has been applied, and then pressed together from above and below with the thumb and forefinger. Just pinched in effect. This gives a great shape for a lot of flat nymphs. Of course one may also use this as a base for other techniques as well. Simply making a Glymph body, and then adding whatever is desired using thread. They make very good sparsely dubbed soft hackles. One may of course dub thread in the same manner.








The gold plated hook used here is a Gamakatsu LS-5413G, but of course you may use any hook you prefer.

[Mike-Connor]

Good for shrimps, with the right shape as well. Here the fur was pinched from the sides.






It is easy to solve a number of problems using this technique. One can make "two tone" ( light underneath, dark on top) nymphs and similar stuff very easily. Also, "profiles" are easier to fabricate. The result of ten minutes playing around with various dubbings;



Of course, these flies are not as "neat" as some others, although one can produce quite consistent and "neat" examples with a little practice, but the fish don't care! Indeed often they prefer the scruffy ones! It's not a bug, it's a feature!

TL
MC

[Fly Tyer]

One advantage I can see is that the shine of the hook is seen through the dubbing. It would be similar to having put down silver or gold mylar as an underbody. I can see these being quite durable also, but the dubbing may pull out a lot when fished and become even more sparseand loose their shape.

A great "rethinking" for fly tying

[Mike-Connor]

One advantage I can see is that the shine of the hook is seen through the dubbing. It would be similar to having put down silver or gold mylar as an underbody. I can see these being quite durable also, but the dubbing may pull out a lot when fished and become even more sparseand loose their shape.

A great "rethinking" for fly tying

Actually, they are extremely durable, and last a very long time. I caught over forty fish on one scud pattern, and it is still OK. If you brush the dubbing out with an old toothbrush when the flies are completely dry, all the loose dubbing is removed, ( you can use it again for the next batch of flies), and very very little falls out in practice, it is anchored very firmly by the glue.

One may of course combine this technique. Dub a glue body, and add a hackle for instance.

One can of course make a huge number of these things very quickly, and with very little equipment. Just hooks, various fur, wool, etc, and glue. Great in an "emergency" if you lose your fly-box, etc

The dryer lint also works very very well, and makes some great nymphs.

Quite a few people have tried these now, and been extremely surprised at the excellent results. Of course the fish don't know or care how they were made!

Even younger kids ( of course under supervision! ), can make up some very nice and effective flies very quickly indeed. Of course it's not "fly-tying" as such, but one may still call it "fly-dressing".

TL
MC

[JohnScott]

Mike -

I always enjoy seeing something different and creative. So I very much enjoyed this novel approach you have presented.

I'm not much of a fly tier, but I do like the process of tying the few flies that I need day by day. So I'll not likely use your method, but it will probably stick and at some point ...... ??

John

[Mike-Connor]

Mike -

I always enjoy seeing something different and creative. So I very much enjoyed this novel approach you have presented.

I'm not much of a fly tier, but I do like the process of tying the few flies that I need day by day. So I'll not likely use your method, but it will probably stick and at some point ...... ??

John

Glad you enjoyed it. Of course it's a "quick and dirty" method of making a hand-full of nymphs, although one may of course combine it with other techniques, and one may also refine it considerably if desired.

Although I do use quite a few glymphs now, ( the hare's ear scud glymph on a gold hook works really well, among a few others. In fact they all work well.), I have mainly used the technique on children's days at one of my angling clubs. It keeps them nicely occupied, one can make a competition out of it, for "best fly", etc , it is easy and quick to do, requires no tools except scissors, and suitable hooks and materials are easy to obtain. It is also really fantastic for the kids when they catch a fish on one ( The club has a big pond with stocked rainbows, usually well stocked for such occasions), which most of them do. One can also quite easily fill a small fly box in a short time, and most kids love having a selection, which they otherwise can't afford, and could otherwise not easily make.

They also work just as well as any other flies.

Of course I agree with you that "normal" ( Is it normal??? ) fly-dressing is enjoyable in itself, and I don't expect this method to supplant it any time soon!

TL
MC

[mickalo]

This is a excellent technique for putting together a bunch of flies quickly. thx's MC for sharing this. I see all kinds of possibilities with this.

Mike