First Post & SWHAPF & ALL PURPOSE pattern.

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Hello~ First post.
I first want to start out by saying thank you to all the mods and members for this great site! (i wrote a whole page of moving words but stupid blackout in my building… ARG:mad:)

Me: Im a20yr o, college student @ CSUN. Currently suffering from Guillian Barre Syndrom(GBS) for a total of 4 months:x so ever since i got out of the hospital&rehab, i’ve been tying flies for about 2 months mostly for SoCal beaches. Before getting GBS, i was an avid surf angler and now all i ever want to do when i get better is to wade out to a lake and fly fish for my lost time!

Anywho~

I’ve been tying some adams, elk hair caddis, wooly everything, midge&emerger patterns, and now came across SWHAPF from FAOL main site (:. I think its a great pattern and another perfct beginner fly for me.
SO my questions are:
are there any other ALL PURPOSE patterns?
and
for SWHAPF tyers, what patterns have you come up with?

Images would help a ton! thank you in advance!

2

Hi Kenstah Glad you survived to join us. When you talk all purpose patterns you have to be talking attractor patterns which means the royal coachman in all of it’s variations. For a new tyer I would stick with the hairwing flies which I think are just as effective (accept possibly in the wet fly) and much easier to tie. As for the SWHAPF variations try using a grey squirrel tail with a grey or olive body.

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kenstah,
A big welcome to FAOL form Eastern Washington. When Al Campbell (the creator of the SHWAPF) showed me how to tie it, he told me one of his favorite materials for that fly was badger. I have a full badger hide but I just can’t bring myself to cutting into it. We lost Al a few years ago and I still have the fly he tied for me. It will never get wet. No matter how hard I try, I can’t tie one as good as he could.
Again, welcome to FAOL.

4

Kenstah,Welcome to FAOL from a So Cal desert rat. Hope to see some posts from you when you get on the lakes and streams. Also some salt casting is allowed on the Salt water forum here. Keep tying whatever you feel like. It’s really good therapy. Jimsnarocks.

5

Congrats on your first post…and WELCOME! :smiley:

Wolly buggers, in their infinite colors, sizes, weights, patterns & materials…is a great all-purpose pattern, as is Rick Z’s Boa Yarn Leech.

As for Shwapf patterns… This has been one of my favorites. I occasionally substitute different colored flash material…like red or green or black.

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the one I have had the most success with is Squirrel wing with olive dubbed body and a couple of strands of red crystal flash in the wing

Eric

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It’s funny. I’ve never gotten around to tying one of Al’s SHWAPFs before. So, after reading this thread, decided I just had to. I’ve tied up two, both using some of the wool I dyed (primairily coffee in one and red cabbage in the other). For the hackle I had grey squirrel tail and grey squirrel tail dyed blue. I really like these flies. I’m a big fan of soft hackles anyway, so these really appeal to me. Isn’t this a great site?

  • Jeff
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Yes it is! and thank you for all your welcomes (:

As for SWHAPFs, i’ll just try to come up with something with the materials i have right now and post some on here (remeber’s Al’s words, “it’s your choice”)
(: thank you Sir Al and Rest in Peace :wink:

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Kenstah,
Another big Welcome! from the great state of Texas!
I’ve tied the SWHAPF using Crystal Flash and Flashabou for the back and hackle to great effect on the local Bream population. Any fibers you have, that are long enough, are useful. Give it a try and post up the results. We are always interested in seeing what new tiers are up to!

Kirk