I recently read with great interest JC’s series of articles on the appearance of dry flies at the edge and outside of the fish’s 40-something degree window, and the Thor-X. I’m wondering about also trying some sort of realistic legs instead of wound hackle. I’m still pretty new to tying. Any ideas/recommendations on materials & using them to look relativly realistic, and able to keep the hook above the film? I’m thinking smallish, not hoppers. Maybe that’s too tall an order for 4 or 6 fibers.
most fly shops sell sili-legs or centipede legs in a few sizes (thickness) that work good for dries nymphs streamers the whole works…
Thanks, yeah, I’ve got centipede legs and round rubber legs. Not sure about sillies, but if they’re rubber too then none of these help with bouyancy. I want to keep the hook bend and ideally the point above the film like the Thor-X hackle does.
i here ya dude, not too nag or anything but i thought that most bugs sit in teh film a little bit rather than right on top. i now ive seen a difference fishing caddis mayfly and stonefly patterns with clipper hackle on the underside so they sit lower in the water, specially with selective trout.
Hi David…great question…hackle floats a fly by surface tension on the water and, by itself, isnt bouyant. Youve probably seen someone float a pin in a glass of water…surface tension. In the photos from the article you mentioned the hackle fibers create little dimples in the water where the tension is holding it up.
Deerhair would be something to experiment with…not a big clump but a dozen or so hairs arranged like legs…they have some bouyancy and are also stiff enough to create tension.
Good luck and let us know what you find!..Jason
You can use various foam cut to shape, You can use hackle stems or porcupine guard hair butts, the end that comes out of the pelt. Use the finest ones you can. heat crimp and color to suit They are lollow and will float. Poul J used a hackle stem and reversed hackle leg, flexlocked backward to form a thigh while the lower leg and foot were simply the hackle stem. He learned this technique from Bill Blades. Check out Poul’s ‘Michigan Mayfly’ Only the bottom hackle on the thigh of the leg is pulled back. The top is trimmed tight to the hackle stem as are both sides of the lower leg and foot part of the hackle stem.
I see what your talking of,But for truely selective trout…I…as many do…Find the no hackle fly absalutely a god send…a fly which is solely supported by it’s finely dubbed body…in slightly less than perfect conditions ya might try a parachute fly…which puts the hackle/legs in a more relistic posture. Add an extended body and I find this the MOST productive DRY fly I’ve personally have ever seen…Just some thoughts…
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) “Spinner’d Minner Fly”
“Wish ya great fishing”
Bill
Oliver Edwards ties a dry fly with mocro-fibbets for legs, I’ll see if I can find out the name of it and see if there is a pattern online I can post a link to
Born to fish, forced to work.
Thanks guys, got some good new ideas to work on. Will let ya’ know results, but don’t hold your breath; it’ll probably be awhile.