I’m working on new patterns for our TU chapter fly box donation to our state banquet next year. A couple of weeks ago, our fly box brought in $155.00. I am trying out patterns that no other chapter had in their fly box.
A brand new fly I am tying is the pattern below:
Really awesome. What is the body???
I like those. Is the body made of flex-coat or something of the kind
Saw this over on the Fly Fisherman forum, too. I guessed it’s a red bead surrounded by thread wraps.
Regards,
Scott
Gorgeous fly, Silver! At risk of a hijack, I’d always thought that hard- bodied flies lack “attraction” to the trouts… the movement of flies tied with softer, more-flowing materials like fur, feathers, etc. What’s your experience?
Tried those a time ago. Can be tied with hot glue or epoxy for the body. If you use a glass bead, you can get a translucent effect like above. I want to say the original pattern was from a Scott Sanchez article, but I cannot quite remember.
Why ant you tell us how it was made?
…pretty good looking fly.
It is an old recipe by Harrison Steeves, and a version of it is in his book Terrestrials written with Ed Koch. I was introduced to this pattern by Harrison on the old FF@ list. The old way to tie it was tedious with tying thread cover in epoxy as it was wrapped.
Harrison publish an improved method glass beads and epoxy but I substituted UV cured acrylic for the epoxy.
This is a SUNKEN ant recipe. As to whether hard flies work, think about an ant. It has a hard body so yet it works. One of the best ant patterns ever invented was Ed Sutryn’s McMurray Ant which was balsa wood covered with model paint.
Tying the AttractAnt is simple really.
Put a black bead followed by a red bead on the hook and mount the hook, keeping the beads to the rear of the hook. Use black thread and lay with several layers of thread at the front of the hook so the black bead barely slips over thread and push the bead so it is to the rear of the hook, leaving enough room for thread wraps to form the front taper. Wrap the front taper and then take the thread behind the back bead to wrap a reap taper.
Wrap the rest of the hook forming a thread base for tight fit for the red bead. Push the red bead into position and form the from taper, then take the thread over the bad and form the rear thread taper. Plan the rear taper so you can finish the taper with a whip finish. Cut off the thread.
Coat the beads and thread with the UV acrylic and cure with the UV light. Coat with Sally Hansen’s. Allow to dry overnight.
Finish with hackle wraps.
You can tie Harrison Steeve’s TransparAnt with 3 beads of the same color using one for the thorax and two for the abdomen.
