Wet fly variations

[gpatton]

My expedition into diffusion hackling spilled over into my wet flies in using the wing casing to re-distribute the wet hackle fibers. Not a new technique at all but its funny how one thing leads to another. Besides, it gave me a chance to use some beaver fur again which I am liking more and more. Donald's oldschool flies inspired the color combo of orange and brown which don't show up well in the photos but in real life looks great. Now if I only had a bamboo rod and a nice trout stream..... Let me know what you think of the flies and what you think of the wing.


diffusion beaver 1.jpg


diffusion beaver 2.jpg


diffusion beaver 3.jpg

diffusion beaver 4.jpg

diffusion beaver 5.jpg

Greg

[Donald Nicolson]

Geg,
I like your flies a lot, I have copied them into my Pix files for more intense examination.
I have not really used Beaver dubbing much, so I have not formed an opinion.
Perhaps you could say why you like Beaver?
I shall now have to backtrack and re-read your BBs on diffusion hackles.
Excellent work.

[EdD]

Donald, are you saying that the "wet flies" have been, um, "pixilated"?


Ed

[Donald Nicolson]

Certainly not, I just pixed them into my files.
I think they are great.
Has anyone read W. H. Lawrie's "The Book of the Rough Stream Nymph" (1947) or "Border River Angling" (1939).
Unfortunately "Rough Stream Nymph" will cost about $50 these days But "Border River Angling" is a lot cheaper, about $10.00 at
its cheapest. You will find them very interesting on the subject of floating and sub-surface nymphs.

[Greg H]

Let me know what you think of the flies

Hi Greg,
I think that you could put a hot needle into the eye of the flies where the hackle tips interfere with the eye and thus clean them out of there.
Cheers,
(another) Greg

[gpatton]

Thanks Donald for the compliments: it was your site that started me tying soft hackles and continues to serve as inspiration. I don't know much about the properties of beaver fur as I just started using it and haven't fished with it yet. I've heard it is water repellant which, if it is true is nice for dry flies and soft hackles that you want to sit in the film or just below it. What I find I like is that the underfur is a nice light brown that matches many insects and by changing the color of the ribbing allows for a pretty good imitation of a wide range of body colors. It also has a nice translucent like sheen adding just enough sparkle without overdoing it and it is a very fine dubbing that can be applied very sparsely. It is the only dubbing I have used yet that I can use on a size 28 hook and still not feel like the body has become too bulky. I'm sure others know more about its properties and would welcome their thoughts/comments.

Thanks Greg for the advice on the needle. I used to do that a lot in the past but started running into problems with the hot needle burning the thread and causing the whip finish to fall apart. Any tricks on how to prevent that? I now just try not to crowd the head but sometimes it still happens that way.

Greg

[herefishy]

I'm curious about where a soft hackle ends and a nymph starts - it seems to me that it is with the wingcase. Or is it just how it is fished?

[Greg H]

Thanks Greg for the advice on the needle. I used to do that a lot in the past but started running into problems with the hot needle burning the thread and causing the whip finish to fall apart. Any tricks on how to prevent that? I now just try not to crowd the head but sometimes it still happens.

I agree totally with the solution problem. Sometimes my hot needle gets stuck in the eye! As you listed last, the first key for me is to not crowd they eye, thus the stray hackle is easier to remove without hitting the thread. Head cement first so that when the head heats up the cement bubbles but the thread does not separate. I particularly ensure tidy flies if I am going to photograph/donate/trade them. Cheers, G.

[gpatton]

Hey Greg, good call on the head cement. I've never really used it so it never came to mind. I'll keep that as a solution if I have a particularly untidy head that I can't thread the tippet through or if I happen to get some head cement in the future. I've never had much of a problem with the flies unwrapping or coming undone after whip finishing the fly. I either loose the fly to a tree, break off on a fish or the fly gets chewed up long before the head unravels. Since I don't use head cement I am a little naive when it comes to its benefits. I can see its benefit on larger flies and streamers to make a smoothe head, but what advantages are there to using it on smaller flies?

Greg

[gpatton]

I'm curious about where a soft hackle ends and a nymph starts - it seems to me that it is with the wingcase. Or is it just how it is fished?

I wish I had a good answer to this question, but I am by no means an expert. I assume that most people refer to "softhackles" as a fly that uses a soft feather wrapped circumfirentially around the head with a thread/silk body like a traditional spider pattern. To me "softhackle" seems more of a generic term used to describe any fly with a softhackle collar and could be tied as a nymph like pattern fished deep with the softhackle imitating legs and adding movement, tied light to imitate emergeres, using wingcases or wings if wanted to imitate whatever stage of insect you want. There are probably more specific names for each of these flies and "softhackle" may refer to one specific subset, but I seem to find myself thinking of them as described above. I have heard of the term "flymph" as well and remember that there was a flytying book about them from the 70's I think, but don't recall. It was a popular book that brought softhackled flies to the attention of many american flyfishers. Someone with more expertise in the area will hopefully chime in and enlighten us all, but that is the way I find myself using the term. Either way, they are fun to tie and to fish.

Greg