Haven’t tried these yet, but I’m confident they will produce. They may have to wait until next Spring to get tested.
Steve Gibson likes to cut his marabou tails somewhat short and thick. I’ve left most of mine a bit long for now, and can trim them in the field if necessary.
I tied a variety of colors, since I had 5 shades of the Diamond Braid. Wish they sold the gold locally!
Black Pearl
Olive
Pearl
Chartreuse
Silver
I used Clear Cure Goo, the thin version, instead of epoxy. It made tying these go fairly quick!
Of course you can make these any size/any color you wish…I see Steve did his tutorial with a size 14 hook. WOW! I think I might have hooks that small…?
I did mine on #8 streamer hooks. He had a good reason for making his small, as he was trying to match the fry/pin minnows that were less than 1" long. His tutorial says he ties them bigger for saltwater species, though. I might have to try some tiny ones, just for kicks.
If it’s legal where you fish, a ‘brace’ of three or four of those little Myakka’s will catch a lot of fish. I’ve taken trout, bass, bluegills, crappie, and channel cats on them. Usually tied on a size 12 or 14 2XL hook.
Fished under an indicator in the colder months they are amazing smallmouth flies.
And, if you can’t find the gold diamond braid locally, try either the local craft shop or the sewing store. I tie all my gold ones with the braided gold cord they use for the plastic canvas stuff, and I’ve seen a similar product sold by the yard at the local JoAnne’s fabrics…
Good suggestions, Buddy. I do have gold mylar tubing, which might work. I was concerned that even if I tie it fairly flat, it might trap too much air under the epoxy, that it wouldn’t sink very well? Only one way to know for sure…
For the smaller sizes, I suppose I could wrap gold Flashabou or Krystal Flash for the body, too.
Another option for the body would be to use those fabric glues that I bought so many colors of a couple years ago! The only downside of that is they take longer to dry.
Good question, Warren. I don’t know the answer yet, but I would assume if the body is reasonably symmetrical around the hook shank, it would ride hook-point down.
I wonder if you could make them ride hook-point-up by using a bit more epoxy (or substitute) on the appropriate side of the hook shank?
They ride hook point UP in the water (which is what I want them to do).
Since the line tie point is off center of the hook shank, the weight on the shank causes the fly to flip and ride hook point up.
The only way this would not occur was if the mass of the hook bend/point was more than the mass of the body that was below the centerline of the line tie point. Or if you were to add a bouyant or water resistant wing above the body. With just the epoxy covered body, this isn’t an issue.
I tie this pattern and find it very effective for Crappie. If you want to try some different colors (copper, gold etc), go to a Michaels or Hobby Lobby and look at the selection of “canvas” yarn. I’m not sure why it’s called canvas yarn as it is made from a mylar type material. It comes is a variety of colors and sizes and looks almost identical to the material you used. Also, because it’s not being sold as fly tying material it is much cheaper that what you get in the fly shops. Just a thought…
The reason they call it ‘canvas yarn’ is because it’s sold to be used with that plastic grid like material they call ‘plastic canvas’. You weave the different colors and textures of yarn through/around/over the plastic canvas and you can make a picture or pattern with it. It’s sort of like painting on a ‘canvas’, except with yarns rathert than paints, which is where I think the name came from.
Not that it matters at all to us as fly tyers, but it does explain why the stuff is there, why it comes in smaller skeins, and why it’s located separately from the rest of the yarns.
Most of this ‘canvas yarn’ is nylon or mylar materials and is ideal for many fly tying chores. The ‘solid braids’ in gold and silver are comparable if not superior to the smaller sized mylar tubing sold in the fly shops. I’ve found a more open weave pearl material in the past that looks a lot like the pearl ‘Diamond Braid’ you find in fly shops.
All of the ‘canvas’ yarn stuff is pretty inexpensive. I’ve bought nylon yarn in small skeins for as little as a quarter (I don’t know how long the yarn is, I’ve never used one up and I pitched all the labels). The mylar braids tend to be more pricey, around $1 for thirty feet.
Canvas yarn? Is that the DVC (?) stuff? I have a bunch of that in a variety of colors plus metallics. In fact…I just DID tie some up with that material for the body…
I also tied one in silver, and one in copper.
The one below is tied with gold holographic mylar tubing:
David, the one with the gold holographic tubing is awesome. I made this fly a good while back, and just realized I never took a photo of it. I made two or three I guess. I need to make some more. This does look like a good pattern. If the crappie like them, I certainly need to make more.
Buddy or anyone…is there a source for the larger mylar tubing usually used for streamer/minnow bodies? I can only seem to find what I would call cord rather than tubing. Fly shops etc. seem have short length for the $.
The tubing and the cord are the same thing. It all has an inner “rope” that helps it keep its shape until you are ready to use it. Then you cut off the length you need, remove the cord from inside the tubing, and then tie it on the hook as required.
Here’s a link to some gold & silver: http://www.iflyshop.com/Mylar-Fly-Tying_p_369.html
Sometimes I can find mylar tubing that’s about 3/8 inch in diameter on the spool (it will expand/contact some each way in use) at places like JoAnne’s or Hancock fabrics. They usually have it with all the lace trimmings, sequin strands, stuff like that. They tend to always have the thinner 1/8 inch stuff (what I consider the ‘norm’ for the Myakka). They also have some ‘flat’ gold or silver stuff that’s either 1/8 or 1/4 inch wide. Works well for the Myakka too, as well as other things as long as you cover it with epoxy/acrylic.
Only place I’ve seen the bigger hollow stuff is with fly tying specific stores or websites.
