Q & A Section, Part 2
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A.
The answer is pretty subjective. I always use three strands of
silkworm gut tightly twisted together after soaking over night
and knotted at either end. When I use a "size" I will be referring
to the sizes that Alec Jackson sells. As with hooks "sizes",
silkworm gut size varies by the source.
When I tie for display, I almost always use a Japanese small
size, either "medium" or "fine." Medium looks best on 4/0
through 8/0, and fine on everything smaller. I only tie the silkworm
about 1/2" back from the eye. This results in a very small head and
no lumps in the body. However, it produces a fly that cannot be fished.
If I want a more traditional look that might actually be fished,
then I go to Alec's "diamond drawn Spanish silkworm gut." The
Spanish is heavier. In order to fish, the gut must underlay
the fly about 4/5ths of the body length. It must be flattened
and smoothed in order to avoid lumps in the body. There are some
good books that show different techniques.
I do not like to fish silkworm gut eyed hooks, because the stuff
breaks down too quickly, but that is a matter of preference. If
I fish a soft eyed (as opposed to metal) hook, then I use one of
those modern synthetic woven lines, like Spiderwire. It lasts
longer and it's much tougher per unit diameter than silk. Typically
I use a triple overhand braid of about 15# stuff for the eye and
double it along ~ 4/5ths of the body leaving enough of a loop in
front of the hook for an eye. The hook should be coated with
thread before the eye is applied and cement should be applied
to the lashed down eye for its length. I treat it with flexible
head cement after lashing it to the hook and form an eye with
a bodkin as the cement dries. That leaves an eye that a tippet
can go through and is somewhat stiff. I hope that this helps! ~ Dave
A.
Dale, my answer is much the same as Dave's. I use vintage Japanese
"silk gut" most of the time. It is not gut like the Spanish that
Dave speaks about above but was sold as such and handles much
the same and the finished look is nearly identical. I have this
material in many sizes from very fine up to very big. I like to
use a gut eye that has the twisted gut about the same diameter
as the hook shank or slightly smaller. This balances the look
better than if one used a small gut loop on a large wire. I
mostly use two strand twisted gut but also have some that I
braided and other multi strand as well. Actually, I have also
used whale baleen, horse hair, and mono, fly line backing and
other materials depending on my mood. All but the backing would
be reserved for fishing flies for the reason Dave mentioned. My
fully dressed flies are not fished so I can use whatever I want.
Most of my flies are in the 7/0 to 9/0 extra length hook sizes
with much larger ones not uncommon. On these, I use very large
gut compared to what most other tyers use. ~ Ronn
Please send your questions or information to me at
rlucas@cybcon.com,
by mail to:
~ Ronn
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