flashabou on nymphs
 

When I tie common mayfly nymphs (which 90% of the time are PTs or GRHEs
or some combination or variation), I usually tie a single strand of
pearl Flashabou over the wingcase. I picked this up from Bruce Hopper.
It works great. No epoxy -- just a bare strand. It usually gets broken
after the first hookup, but I keep fishing with it and that doesn't seem
to matter.

Maybe the Flashabou doesn't matter. I think it does, but flyfishing can
be an exercise in self deception.

I don't think it's imitating a natural feature so much as drawing the
trout's attention in a fairly subtle way. Some insects have iridescent
wingcases, but I can't say I've ever seen a natural with one. Maybe I'm
not looking closely enough.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

flashabou on nymphs
 

On 1 Dec, 08:10, rw wrote:

I don't think it's imitating a natural feature so much as drawing the
trout's attention in a fairly subtle way. Some insects have iridescent
wingcases, but I can't say I've ever seen a natural with one. Maybe I'm
not looking closely enough.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

None of the nymphs I have seen had iridescent wing cases, but
underwater, and with bubbles etc, they do often appear to be
iridescent!
Although the flashabou ( or whatever), does not appear to imitate a
natural feature, perhaps it does, and we are merely not aware of it?

I found that ordinary polythene stretched and tied in over the wing
case seemed to improve hook-ups. Unfortunately, it is also not very
robust. Quite a few people I know put a drop of epoxy on wing cases.
It works OK, and is robust,

On the other hand, it is often quite impossible to tell whether
anything actually improves hook-ups. For the most part I prefer very
robust fur nymphs, and they catch plenty of fish, so the rest is just
experimentation.

As for "drawing the trout´s attention", that is doubtless the case
with a lot of flies, including bead heads.

TL
MC

flashabou on nymphs
 

"rw" wrote

..
It works great. No epoxy -- just a bare strand. It usually gets broken

I do a similar thing .... Phil Takatsuno gave me a couple of his nymphs, one
day out on Hebgen, and they had full wingcases made of many strands of
"chrome" crystal flash. They were effective but too gaudy for my taste, so
I made more subtle versions.

After the wingcase is tied down I double a single strand around the thread,
hold it towards the tail and then tie it down and form the head in one
action. I trim the resulting double strand very short, about half the
wingcase or so. It's been several years since I deceived myself into
believing this increases the fly's appeal and I remain .... deceived

flashabou on nymphs
 

On Dec 1, 9:22 am, "Larry L" wrote:

....I think it helps (like Larry, apparently) not to be locked into
any 'must-be-useful' fly tying ideology. Some techniques help
catch more fish. Some just make a better looking fly (to the tier).
Some are just fun to do. Tom Travis mentioned that in a fly tying
seminar last year, and I thought it was important.....Tom said
taking pride in your work meant finishing flies off in a way that
matters a lot more to you than the fish.

flashabou on nymphs
 

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:10:33 -0800, rw
wrote:

I picked this up from Bruce Hopper.

Bruce gave me a small fly box with many tiny nymphs in it. It
inspired me to think "small" when tying. His single (sometimes
double) strand of flashabou has worked wonders on many of my ties. I
love his simplicity of design: thread body, wire rib, flashabou,
thread head on a #20 and smaller hook.

flashabou on nymphs
 

spittendrigh wrote:
On Dec 1, 9:22 am, "Larry L" wrote:

...I think it helps (like Larry, apparently) not to be locked into
any 'must-be-useful' fly tying ideology. Some techniques help
catch more fish. Some just make a better looking fly (to the tier).
Some are just fun to do. Tom Travis mentioned that in a fly tying
seminar last year, and I thought it was important.....Tom said
taking pride in your work meant finishing flies off in a way that
matters a lot more to you than the fish.


Good quote. Basically I feel that if you're fishing a "good" fly in the
right size ( I think there are lots of "good" patterns ), little changes
are very unlikely to make a difference to the fish. However, it
definitely gives you something to do at the vise without getting mind
numbingly bored bored bored tying the same thing all the time.

I have a small number of favorites that I tie every year and it seems
like each year I have a couple new favorites that may or may not last.
I've been doing this long enough now that a number of my older favorites
are "new" again because they've fallen out of use by other anglers.


Willi

flashabou on nymphs
 

On 2 Dec, 15:45, "Guy" guytee2 at comcast dot net wrote:


Mike,
When you say "robust", do you mean large, with lots of dubbing for the hook
size?
Or, how do you define robust?
My preference has always been to tie sparsely on nymphs.

Guy

No, I mean hard wearing, long lasting. I also like some sparse
dressings, but I have a few bulky ones too which often prove
successful. Depends on what one is trying to imitate.

There seems to be a general trend away from specific imitations
towards generic and general nymphs. Quite a few people only carry a
selection of general nymphs nowadays. Probably suffices for most
situations as well, but I still like to have a few specific dressings
for various hatches.

TL
MC

flashabou on nymphs
 

"spittendrigh"


...I think it helps (like Larry, apparently)


I stock and fish many flies that I know to be overkill in the detail dept.

This is NOT to be confused with "realism." As most of us know, the
ultra-realistic flies that look like they will crawl or fly away usually
fish very poorly.

The excessive detail that I speak of is things like blending three very
similar dubbings to get a bit of mottled look, or using a biot for the
abdomen on a dun pattern instead of just dubbing for the segmented look, or
adding a couple long antenna on a caddis pupa pattern, etc. I don't
honestly believe such detail adds many more fish, if any, to the "score" at
the end of the year. But then I don't fish for the score.

Pride of ownership is traditionally a big thing in fly fishing.

Each year I meet a few anglers that have clearly practiced the pose that
lets you see all "their labels" easily and strike that pose whenever any
other angler is near.

Last year I met a guy that grabbed my rod from my hand and looked at the
label, apparently to see if I was worth getting to know. I was doing
"OK," I think, until he noticed the "demo" on my Sage XP. "Oh, it's a
demo rod," he said with a visible shudder, and handed it back.

Flies one ties oneself can provide tremendous pride of ownership, and I
think it would be pretty easy to make an argument that pride in "what I
made" is more deserved than "pride in what I bought."

Regardless, it increases my pleasure in the sport,but certainly more at the
vise, and as I pull a fresh fly from my box, than at the fish counting
competition back at the camp.


-------

P.S. I also fish a lot of very ratty, very minimalist, flies. Especially as
the season nears a close, my stock is low, and I'm going fishing tomorrow,
the need to fill the box often outweighs the desire to fill it more
artfully. BUT, fwiw, I do NOT catch fish at a higher rate with the less
detailed ties and I DO suffer a pang each time I tie one on. G

P.P.S. I suk at tying and even my best products are still damn slovenly
compared to many other tier's products ... but I still love 'em and the
pleasure they bring.

flashabou on nymphs
 

Larry L wrote:

I don't
honestly believe such detail adds many more fish, if any, to the "score" at
the end of the year. But then I don't fish for the score.


You've said that many times in the past but I don't think it's true.
Your score maybe isn't about numbers, maybe it's getting that "tough"
fish or seeing the take or ..... The "score" does play a part or it
wouldn't be fishing. People just keep that "score" in different ways.



P.P.S. I suk at tying and even my best products are still damn slovenly
compared to many other tier's products ... but I still love 'em and the
pleasure they bring.


I also think I "suk" at tying but I think alot of that has to do with
being able to see your own mistakes much better than those of other
people. This applies to lots of "crafty" things like woodworking, home
remodeling, etc. Your faults are glaring to your own eye but aren't seen
by others unless you point them out.

You've been tying for a long time, your flies catch fish for you
probably better than what you could buy in the store. To me this makes
you a good tyer.


Willi

flashabou on nymphs
 

"Willi" wrote


You've said that many times in the past but I don't think it's true. Your
score maybe isn't about numbers, maybe it's getting that "tough" fish or
seeing the take or ..... The "score" does play a part or it wouldn't be
fishing. People just keep that "score" in different ways.



That, sir, is very true. I am competitive about fishing in many ways.
For instance, I get great pleasure in catching a fish that another angler
has given up on ... .... far greater pleasure than I would have
if that other gent hadn't left defeated.

And, I often mention my "not keeping score" partly because I'm aware of just
how often I'd be a loser in such a game ... better to belittle the game
than be defeated at it. G

Privately, I try hard to maintain a fairly accurate self apprasial and note
the irony in much of what I say here. But like most of us, I usually keep
my honest self appraisal to myself and pretend the irony doesn't exist G

"Reality" is that, measured by fish caught, I'm usually in the top group of
anglers on the waters I fish, when I'm there fishing. And, yes, I do notice
that. I also notice that there is usually a guy or two "out fishing" me at
my prefered haunts, and I hate them G.




Crap, now I gotta come up with an entirely new ROFFian persona ... :-(





You've been tying for a long time, your flies catch fish for you probably
better than what you could buy in the store. To me this makes you a good
tyer.


In most cases, yes. However, many of my personal efforts to "create new
patterns" fail, too, and I'm too "conservative" ( I've come to define this
as 'mindlessly refusing to accept the facts that would lead to intelligent,
needed, change' ;-) to admit it sometimes.


Larry L
( Who is now going to UOP, where his son is performing this afternoon
....bassoon and bass clarinet )