I’m determined to tie an all-purple winged wet for a swap I’m in right now. This is my first attempt. The hackle’s not quite the right length, but it’s all I have found. This is my first fly using goose shoulder. It sure is easier to use than duck secondaries!
Anyhow, let me know what you think.
Zac
tie yer collar in as a beard to get it the right length. a rib of some sort might be nice.
try to get a smooth shiny and hard head. three coats of shhan should do it. try to get the wing tie in directly above the collar.
very nice fly.
That’s a great looking fly! I know that color is killer on the Smallies up here in New England!
Goose shoulder is a lot easier to work with. It will marry really nice, too.
Your proportions other than the hackle, which you already know, are good. The head is just right as far as size goes. I try to tie my heads about the same size as the eye. Another coat of Hard as Nails wouldn’t hurt. You want it to look glossy and smooth.
The beard/collar is back about a hook eye too far. I do that quite a bit, myself.
Nitpicky stuff aside, that is a nice fly and a good use of purple for that swap.
You did a very nice job in tying. Please find the links below of two wet fly’s that I hope will help you with your tying. The flies shown below have two different styles. A full collared hackle in picture one made from hen cape and the second in a beard/false hackle that you can make with schlappen or hen Saddle. I hope this helps a bit.
Sincerely
Andy Brasko
http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq348/Fontinalis/03-21-09CatskillFly010.jpg
http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq348/Fontinalis/Blk_white_3.jpg
look closely at the pics andy posted. he certainly knows his stuff. you’ll also find him very helpful if you have any questions.
Thanks so much for the comments. I will try and get the beard and wing lined up… I had never seen that before. I knew something was a bit off, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it!
Andy, thanks a ton for those pictures! That is true inspiration. I tried a couple flies just tying a clump of feathers in as a beard, and it didn’t quite look right. I will have to give it another shot.
Zac
Hi Zac:
Learning to tye wet flies at first is tough. Wet fly tying requires practice and patience. Now to help you a bit, the head section should be no longer/wider than the eye of the hook. Place a hook in the vise, take another hook and lay it over the hook. Make sure the end of the eye of the hook in the vise just touches the eye of the eye of the hook laying on top. other words two circle next to each other ( OO ). This will be the size of your head region where the wings, beard/false hackle, floss tinsel gets tyed in and tyed off. So keep thread wraps to a minimum. The other trick hear is to not use Uni thread. You want to use Danville 6/0 thread. The thread can be flatted out by spinning you bobbin counter clockwise. Now as I said the beard/false hackle is tied in before the wings and can be made with schlappen or hen saddle by using a reverse pinch. I know you used goose shoulder, but after your swap is done you should be using Duck or Goose quills for the wings. These can be bought in all colors and most important of all matched pairs. Now I do use Goose shoulders but for more delicate marrried wing flies. When you finish you swap flies, send me a PM and lets talk about tying wet flies a little easier. Wet flies are fun to tye and are true fish catchers. Wet flies are tried and true classics that I am extremely proud to tye and fish with. Any questions while tying your swap flies, please ask and I will be more than happy to help. The flies I posted for you are made from paired duck quills.
Sincerely
Andy Brasko
Andy,
Thanks again for taking the time to comment. I will shoot you a PM here some time soon!
Zac