moderators, you may move this post if it belongs elsewhere, or remove it if it doesn’t belong anywhere.
to my fellow fly tyers–in the current issue of Fly Tyer Magazine, Dave Hughes has a article about the Sawyer nymph–copper wire and pheasant tail fibers. Best Fishing Buddy asked me to make some for him, and i have had the very dickens of a time tying these. the wire never stops spinning on the hook, no matter how tightly or loosely i wind it. i have solved the problem by putting a bit of thread wrap on the hook, but that’s not my question…
my question is how do you go about contacting Fly Tyer Magazine? i would like very much to ask Mr. Hughes for some advice, especially since this fly is suggested for beginners, but that seems not to be possible. There is no invitation in the magazine to write to the editor, either by snail or e-mail. There is no address given. The website has no address , nor does it have the more common “contact us” link. the forum associated with the website was put up before Christmas and apparently abandoned by the management. all of the postings are by the members, and postings directed to the management remain unanswered.
you could always insert one end of the wire into the eye of the hook to prevent the wire from turning around the hook shank. then just pull it out of the eye an continue tying the fly
As for contacting FlyTyer, there is a Contact Us link on the bottom of the page, mcsteff posted it for you along with some others, I’m guessing you just missed it when you looked before, there were a bunch of links down there.
As far as tying with the wire, I just messed around with it a bit to see if I could make it work. It seemed like a few tight wraps and then some looser ones worked best. I also figured out leaving a longer than normal tag end where you start the wire allows you to hold this tag while you wrap the wire. Since you’re holding one end, as long as your wraps are tight you can tie without the wire spinning on the body. I also came across this video when I searched. It starts after the wire is already attached, but it was pretty cool to me so I figured I’d share in case you hadn’t seen it yet. It sort of looks like he did what I said, leaving a long tag to hold the wire in place while he formed the underbody shape. Then, once the body was formed and the wire was tight enough not to spin, he clipped the tag and tied the rest of the fly. It’s possible the no-bobbin meathod might make it easier as well?
Here is what I do. I start my wire as I usually do with thread then just slide it back to the bend of the hook. I then wide wrap the wire, slide it back and so on. By the time I have it wrapped to the thorax it is pretty well set. By the way sawyer used red wire and it was almost as thin as a human hair. The thinner the wire the easier it is to use. Most folks use a wire that is to heavy. Also he did not tie anything smaller than a 16. I also use a bobbin as I am to cheap to rip off a foot long piece and and only use part of it.
Last year I got some very thin wire at Blue Ribbon Flies in W. Yellowstone and it works on a Sawyers Nymph very well. It comes on small metal bobbins that I use in a small bobbin used for Pearsall’s silk.
Starting at the hook bend and wrapping forward
with one hand while holding the tag end of wire
at the bend works great for me. By the time I
get to the front and then start back and start
building the thorax the wire holds without spinning
just fine. At that point I just let go of the tag
end and concentrate on bulding the body.
For me holding onto the tag end until your
well on your way back down the hook with
the second layer of wraps is the trick.
Like Oliver Edwards said , the pheasant
tail nymph as tied by Frank Sawyers is
a master stroke. So simple yet so
effective. I really liked seeing that atricle
in the new issue.
thanks to those who posted links. if i wanted to advertise or subscribe, those links are fine. there is no address or e-mail given to write a letter to the editor.
and thanks for the hints. skinny wire and about 10 turns of skinny thread under the thorax are just the ticket. and man! even i can turn them out by the dozen. i think i’ve finally found my niche.
sometimes the fibers split as i fold them back to the front for the wing case. methinks this is going to make it look like something is juuuust about to hatch.
I would start with the 800 number listed at the bottom of the page under product info/back issues…there are also several editor email links on the page…hopefully someone will help you out.
brhoff–thanks for your posting. i have seen that page several times, but saw no links. today i just clicked on the name, and a notice popped up: “…the default mail client is not properly installed.” huh? anyway, today also the e-mail address appeared way down on the lower left of the screen. i’ve copied it and will send a message there. thanks.
Normand–Mr. Klausmeyer’s last post on Fly Tyer’s forum was dated Dec. 22, 2009. there is no PM function over there, either. too bad, 'cause there is a lot of good information and it’s a very attractive forum.
i have no difficulty holding the wire tag when building the wire underbody, but because i tie everything on a rotary, winding the wire+fiber bundle results in the whole underbody rotating on the hook. 6 winds of tying thread under the thorax cured it, but it was maddening at the time! thanks for your help
hmm…another thought: last week i had a bandage on my right forefinger. do bandages affect the pressure on the thread (or in this case the wire), d’you suppose?
thank you, Rick. that is a nice video. i especially like how he shows the materials before he cuts or uses them, holding them right up to the camera.
dudley, you’ve hit the nail on the head! hence the perceived need to contact the magazine. which i did today at editor at fly tyer magazine. i’ll let you know what happens.
well, you can tell that baseball is back on TV–i’m tying up a storm. no other sport keeps you as current on the general state of the game, while letting you know when you should whip up the head loupe and actually watch.
i have taken all of your suggestions and tried them out, and now thanks to you i have a good rotary vise technique for getting wire to “stick”. contrary to Mr Hughes’s advice, i put the wire in a bobbin with a ceramic tube. (thank you, Clay, it was in that video). then I put a couple of inches of the wire through the eye of the hook, double it back and hold the tag and the wire tight with my right-hand fingertips (thank you, Normand). i rotate the vise smartly, and the wire walks onto the hook. at some point the tag escapes my fingers, but by then the wire is holding (thank you joe cool, narcodog, and texfly). after building up the thorax area, i can pause and trim the tag, and then spin the vise and take the wire back to the tie-in point for the pheasant tail fibers.
i think the rotary vise and the ceramic tube in the bobbin protect the fine wire from twisting during the tying process because i’m winding straight from one spool to another, so to speak. anyway, it doesn’t break.
so now thanks to you all, for the first time in my life i have pattern that is quick and easy to tie, effective, and worth tying dozens of. this is cause for celebration, accompanied by gifts. if any of you would like to share, send me a PM with your snail address and i will send out my snail with some dandy flies.
and i’ll let you know when i get a reply from Fly Tyer magazine.
