I am venturing into tying a few woven body flies. I’ve checked out the tutorials here on this site, and they’re very helpful. Which weave do you prefer to tie up? I tried with floss tonight and got frustrated because it frayed quite a bit… Then I tried v-rib. That worked pretty well, but it was pretty chunky.
Perhaps you have already tried this one I did a few years ago. I find it not all that hard and it does catch fish.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/123002fotw.php
My prefered weaving material is “G” thread, two different colors, but one can use any thread you have or want.
If you have any difficulties in the weaving, please e-mail me and I will try to help.
Here’s what I do for most of my woven flies:
http://tailingloops.blogspot.com/2009/09/fly-tying-tutorial-woven-body-woolly.html
Zac,
I use the Granny Weave for the fly that I fished at the Fish in. I learned it from Al Campbell’s fly tying series here on FAOL. Look in Advanced Tying for the Granny Weave Stonefly to learn how it is done.
Steve
Thanks guys!
Denny, I think trying to weave thread for a mayfly body at this point would make me go off the deep end! (Which wouldn’t be too far of a trip, mind you.) That fly looks really neat.
Steve, the granny weave is the one that looked the easiest when I was checking out the tutorials. I’m gonna give that one a go after work today.
Zac
Try some of that punch yarn for weaving. I think it would work great for that on the right fly pattern.
Zac
I saw Tony Spezio tie that same fly at the sow bug this year, and it did not look that hard to tie. It was just a series of knots Tony was telling me. I would have to see it again before I try it on my own, but I think you could handle it.
Fish with you later.
Larry
I’ve been playing with wire woven bodies and having pretty good luck. Since it’s rigid, it stays where you put it and you don’t feel like you need to grow a third hand to control it. I’ve seen some really cool chenille weaves done as well.
I had real good luck with uni-yarn last night. Tried antron but it was too slick and kept moving. I am going to play with some other materials soon.
S"pose we could get a run through on Thursday? I’d like to learn the technique (I need one more thing to push me THAT much closer to the edge!!). Ya think?
The more I thought about it today, the more I’m starting to believe this style of body might be absolutely perfect for bluegill flies. A body made up more or less of knotted material should be bomb proof, and will look killer. I saw a guy in Wichita here a few months ago show us a size 14 or 16 “pheasant tail” with a tan belly/brown back using floss. That thing looked incredible with the two-colored body and distinct segmentation! He did it with a crochet hook, which I think helped keep the floss from fraying quite so bad.
I’m gonna go sit at my vise/vice and ponder a little while…
Depends, Betty. Which side of the edge are you approaching from?
Not sure! I’m not there yet!! Gettin’ really close though!
Zac,
I decided to play around with this for a couple flies to see how they work. I used the granny weave biot midge told me about at the fish-in, and here’s what I came up with. The pictures aren’t the best, but you get the idea. These are tied with punch yarn on #8 hooks. The first is a pheasant tail with woven body, and the second is just a bluegill fly of some sort. Pretty easy to do, but I can use some practice.
Here are a couple of pictures of a woven body isonichia that I have been playing with. I started weaving last week with DMC embroidery floss. It is a six strand and I split that into three and load it onto a spool. Makes it easier to keep a steady tension. Tension seems to be the key to a good weave. Sorry for the poor pictures. I have to work on the macro photography next.
Okay, so I tried the “granny weave” method tonight and it is very easy! I got some great-looking bodies using punch yarn.
The last one I did was chartreuse floss and black punch yarn with two strands of pearl krystal flash twisted together. It almost gave the black a peacock-ish look.
I didn’t get too many of the woven bodies done tonight … I was having a heart attack. Well, not eally but I wasn’t sure for a bit. You wouldn’t know anything about that though, would you?
I don’t know about the cause of any heart attacks, but I think an addict was given a new toy!
Absolutely incredible! See the post in Sound Off. You all will understand!
I find that when weaving the tail around 3 Moose mane hairs, using G thread, one needs to heavily wax the thread before weaving. When completed you can form the woven tail to a nice curve or whatever look you want. When weaving my size 22 fishing flies I use 8/0 but find it easier to get the effect if I also heavily wax. I find bow wax works quite well. I keep a tube of bow wax here at my tying bench. Just have to remember when I take my bow out shooting.