I am planning to tie up some Old Reliables, #10 gold ribbed hairs ear flashbacks if you don’t read Joe’s feature every week, and am wondering if he, or you, fish them both in weighted and unweighted versions.
If weighted, how many wraps of lead wire, of what diameter do you use?
(I usually tie up most of my nypmhs as soft hackles, and am thinking on tying some up as soft hackles, and also am thinking about both red flash back nymphs and green flash back nymphs.)
I’ve never tried them with the flashback…I guess with all the popularity of flashback pattern’s I really need to tye some…
I tend to tye my grhe’s both weighted(Size depending on the hook shank size) and non weighted, and in various styles (except for the flashback thus far) I like to keep a few tied in the round as Joe Brooks did…and also as you, soft hackles…A floating nymph/emerger pattern also.with and without shucks…
I don’t know if others do or have practiced it…but I also like to keep a few stashed in my boxes that are rather unorthadox…in that I tie them on 2 to 3 xlong nymph hooks, In Natural,Olive and dark brown dyed colors…It’s just a great suggestive pattern even for the bigger bugs in the streams around here…If I had only 1 fly…I’d pick the grhe.
In response to your question about wire diameter and number of wraps, the answer is easy----any way you want it. That’s the beauty of tying your own flies. Depending on the depth and current speed that you want to fish, you can tie them unweighted and fish right below the surface or overweight them and make them go down cannonball. Tailor the flies for your conditions. 8T
