Hi Josh -- There are a couple of ways to prevent the silk from slipping down into the hook bend after a fish or two has bitten the fly. One way is to simply tie in a rib to reinforce the silk like this fly:
On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 12:19:02 PM UTC-5, Richard Farino wrote:
-- If you are not familiar with the technique to tie in a wire rib smoothly, I recommend you do it this way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFAlXG_78Z4
The zebra midge was one of the first patterns I started tying in Craven's book and he (rightly) proposed it and the brassie as good beginner flies because they teach some basic techniques with ribs and keeping the thread smooth/flat, etc.
That's probably the most secure way to keep your silk body intact. I'm sure with modern goops you can do something to preserve it as well if you wanted.
If you are using floss (and just regular thread in your bobbin), you can tie in the floss at the front of the fly, and simply cover the floss with your thread all the way back to the bend, and then bring the thread back forward again. Then, spiral your floss up to the front and tie it off with your thread. That way the thread is anchoring the floss at least somewhat, so the "slinky sock" effect can't happen (though a fish will still probably bite the floss body loose at some point). I can't tell you how many times I've been standing there, fishing a partridge and yellow (or something) and notice that the "yellow" part is trailing off the back of the hook and the black thread body is totally exposed. Usually you'll keep catching fish just the same --
You can obviously also use a wire rib for floss bodies -- that works fine.
Of course, you could skip all of this and simply create a dubbed body soft hackle ;). Or you can use a dubbing loop and make a couple of turns of the soft hackle back into the thorax and get a flymph --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDanakU2U_E
Note that I actually do not use the real-deal, Pearsall's silk thread for any of mine. I usually go with regular thread, wire, dubbing, etc. instead.
All of this is kind of personal preference -- if you wanted to use silk and wrap back-and-forth and say "I'm going fishing" no one could fault you ;).
Just my take -- don't sue!
Gene
On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 12:19:02 PM UTC-5, Richard Farino wrote:
It creates a smoother body, and instead of getting bumps near the rear of the fly where you start your floss, it's hidden up near the head.R
Richard Farino
Urban Angler VA | 108 N. Washington Street 2nd Floor | Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 527-2524 | fax: (703) 527-3313 | richard@urbanangler.com
From: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com > on behalf of Joshua Delmonico <jde...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com >
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 12:14 PM
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com >
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Soft hackle challengeJoshGene,Thanks.
I am newish to tying. What are the options alternatives to "wind[ing] the silk down the shank, and then back up again"?--On Sun, Jan 24, 2016 at 8:43 AM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:That's absolutely true Greg -- good point. Actually, I was doing that yesterday with a few feathers that were a little too big, save the barbs near the tip ;). So long as you don't make too many turns, you won't get into the barbs that are too big.--I forgot to mention one thing I've read and heard a lot -- that stem-tying permits you to "wind the thread through the feather" to reinforce it, and supposedly keep the fly more durable for multiple fish.In practice, I've rarely had a soft hackle "unwind", whether tip-tied or stem-tied. I think the "durability" idea is kind of overstated. What usually happens is that the floss or silk body unwinds -- actually, that happens all the time. You can either reinforce it with a wire rib, or with epoxy, etc. Also, what you don't want to do is wind the silk down the shank, and then back up again. That will virtually guarantee that after a fish or two the silk will unravel and move down into the bend of the hook. Hughes mentions this in his book and I've found it to be true.Not that it seems to matter whether the body looks good or not.It's always interesting to hear people say things, try it for an extended period, and decide for yourself whether it's true or not.Gene
On Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 7:48:05 AM UTC-5, Gs Feder wrote:Excellent points, Gene.I like to tie in by the tip to get the shorter barbs that are at that end of the feather; for bigger flies, I tie in by the stem. Also, where you start matters when palmering hen hackle for a wooly bugger to get the right taper.Cheers,-- GregSent from my iPhoneGood articles there! I used to over hackle them at first, but I've learned to purposely "waste" feather fibers for the sake of better flies ;). You can take fewer turns, or strip one side of the feather -- both work.--Often, you'll have game bird feathers which are too long for the "trout" size flies you may want to tie (e.g. 16s, 14s, etc.). I've seen a few ways to resize larger feathers for smaller hook sizes (Craven shows one, and Hughes shows another in his book) but I like this method better than those:One of the debates (for wrapping in the usual way) is whether to tie in by the tip (usually cut into a triangle), or via the stem. Ivan showed a sort of variation on the tip method, by not cutting into a triangle and instead tying in the entire tip, then folding it back and putting more wraps on to fully secure it. They all can work, but I'm getting to where i prefer the stem method at the front like Weilenmann shows here-You kind of take your pick -- you either end up pulling the entire feather off the hook (tip method), or you simply lose your grip on the feather tip (stem method). With the tip method, you get to use the stem as a "handle" but I'm getting more annoying with pulling out feathers over time. It only happens once in a while, but it's still annoying.Of course, CDC collars work very, very well too -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvZb5R22nXU Gene
On Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 12:15:27 AM UTC-5, Gs Feder wrote:Found this 3-part series on soft hackles via The Fiberglass Manifesto: http://theflyninja.com/blog.php
http://www.tpfr.org
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