Hi,
Inspired by Donald’s Tup’s Flymph, I’ve been having a play at the vice. Not quite having all the correct materials, I’ve had to make a few substitutes. Regardless, here is my “Tups Nymph”:
I’ve also put one together that is a flymph version of Pritt’s Water Cricket (which would omit the tail and thorax). This is one of my favorite spiders (with starling hackle: this is black dyed hen): http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ … mphjpg.jpg
Oooh, oooh, nice set of flies, Jeff. Like Donald said, see what the fish think of them. As soon as I get unpacked from Lowell (yeah, I’m still not unpacked) I have to tie up some flymphs. I’m gonna attempt one of Jim’s Triple Threat Caddis flies too. Man, did I get some heavy action on that fly.
On that fifth fly Jeff, you say you are using a french partridge hackle, is that a body or a wing hackle?
The reason I ask, is that Roger Fogg recommends french partridge wing hackles in his book, they are a grey olive colour,
which is a good colour on its own, but he says they dye very well with fibre pens.
Over here the wings are very cheap, slightly larger than standard partridge wings, and exteremely useful hackle as an alternative for dyeing domestic hen hackle.
I think they may be exactly what I want for a B-W. O. project of mine.
Thanks everyone! Indeed, I can’t wait to get the chance to try these out on the fish. With the new little one, just finding the time to tie is a challange. Fortunately, she’s starting to sleep for good stretches, so I can tie a few while Genesta and Vanessa both rest.
Here are a few more that I like. I personally like the Pale BlueDun, and think that will work wonders.
Part of this exercise was experimenting with the blending of different dubbing materials and colours to see how much of each was required to look good. This basic construction is hugely versatile, and it seems it’s pretty hard to come up with a combination of materials that doesn’t look fishy! Proportions also seem quite versatile, from very sparse short tails to longer, stiffer, fuller, same for the hackle and the thorax. Great all round pattern.
That is French Leg Partridge, acording to the packet. I won a package of loose feathers in one of the club’s competition and this was part of it. They are primarily a dusty blue-gray, and at the tips are 3 horizontal stripes of white, black, and brown (the last at the tips proper). The one I selected lacked the stripes, and it was a mix of the brown and dusty blue-grey over all. The others were too large, but I didn’t size the whole packet. They are a great looking feather and I should use them more often.
Jeff
I decided to tie up one using a full coloured hackle, and these feathers have really nice effects as a soft hackle. Here’s the result, again, using red golden pheasant breast fibres, cream floss, and this French Leg Partridge feather. I blended a few strands of claret seal’s fur in with some gray wool for the thorax. Because of the gray dun centre of these, I used gray for the tying thread. Unfortunately, although tying in the feather by the tip provides access to the shortest fibres, the 3rd bar (the white one) ended up being the last one you see. The blue-gray section doesn’t make it into the hackle collar on this one. I earlier though it was the photo bleaching it out, but I had a closer look at the fly itself and there are only the rare fleck of gray at some of the roots of the collar.
It is a popular game bird over here and the wings are only ?1.00 a pair.
A whole skin is a bit dearer at ?10.00. The flank feathers are used in quite a few Mayfly recipes.
Have a look at the Cookshill site below.
For anyone in the USA, Jim Slattery is stocking Cookshill skins etc., so it would be quicker to try him.
Thanks for the info Donald. I only have a packet of loose feathers, but I really like them. The wings should provide good hackles, and I would think a whole skin would be full of good feathers. Not a lot of patterns call for this feather (none that I know of), but a great skin to experiment with I’m sure.
Holy Cow! That’s a very well marked feather from the French Partridge. Now that I’ve seen how nice the feathers are, I’ll be giving Jim Slattery a call.
Here are a couple of flies using the French Partridge breast hackle in a very similar fashion.
One is wet - The Straddlebug - quite an old northcountry fly.
These are Leslie Magee’s comments on the Straddlebug.
“The original dressing called for the feather of the summer teal or garganey,
now a rare summer migrant and of course a protected bird.
I have caught a great many trout on rivers and lakes with this pattern,
fished always in the surface film.
My own tying of the Straddlebug is:
Hook: 14 or 12 fine wire long shank.
Silk: Orange (Used for ribbing).
Body: Light brown mohair wool (One run only).
Hackle: French partridge with hackle twice the length of the shank.
The hackle is divided after tying to form two horizontal wings
and held in place by figure of eight tying. The natural bend of the hackles
causes the wings to slope back in a very realistic way. A ginger cockhackle is
wound through from the head for four turns.”
No tail or whisks mentioned, but assume same as following recipe.
This is the old dressing:
Straddlebug or Spent Gnat. (J. Bickerdyke 1900)
Hook: Number 3.
Wings and Legs: Hackled with a feather from the breast of a French partridge,
with a ginger cockhackle wound through from head for four turns.
Body: Yellow raffia, ribbed with fine gold wire.
Whisks: Three pheasant tail fibres.
These are really the only flies I could find using Frenchy partridge breast feathers and
they are virtually identical except for splitting the wing on the Straddlebug.
I fished one of Donald’s PT Flymphs, which I altered for my waters. It worked great yesterday. I fished it as a dropper. I hope Donald doesn’t mind. It looks so buggy when wet.
PT/BWO Flymph Emerger Sizes 18 & 20
Tail: Pheasant Tail
Body: Pheasant Tail
Rib: Fine Copper Wire
Thorax: Greyish/Olive dubbing
Hackle: Dun
That’s the only pattern I’ve ever seen that calls specifically for these featers. I’m surprised because the markings and colours on these feathers are very striking, but natural looking at the same time. Normally “natural looking” is used to describe a drab looking fly, but these seem to make a nice “natural attractor” type hackle.
Anyway, will have to tie up some Straddlebugs as well. Thanks for that.
I’ve tied almost all of these on size 14 hooks, with one or two size 12s I think. I’m interested myself in seeing how these produce on some of my local waters. My, I’ve got a lot of experiments to run! I’ve not had a chance to get fishing in months, but I’ve done up a bunch of sets that I want to test out. Looks like I’m just going to have to face it. It will be time to fish soon! Anyway, hope you have some luck if you try any of these. At the moment, they are all “untested” (apart from Tups Nymph).
I’ve taken a photo of some of the French Partridge feathers, to give an idea of the colours and banding. Most in the packet appear to be like the middle 3, with the 3 bands of colour (white, black, and brown) at the tips. I used one like this in the cream bodied flymph showing the banding pattern.
Some are like the feather on the far left, just a pale brown with maybe a tinge of the blue/gray in places. I only just noticed the 4 banded feather on the right while getting some out for this photo, so I’m not sure how common this will be, but it should produce a nice pattern (just have to tie it on a large hook to get all four bands to come into play).
Anyway, from the links Donald included to the Wikipedia entry a few messages back, it looks like a full skin would include a fair number of these banded feathers in this size (the NZ 10 cent piece is about the size of a Canadian or American penny) and it looks like there’s a patch of smaller but similar feathers on the neck. The feathers also have a nice feel for soft hackles.
For anyone looking for something to expeirment with, one of these skins would be a lot of fun for anyone into wet flies.
Anyway, hope you have some luck if you try any of these. At the moment, they are all “untested” (apart from Tups Nymph).
