"Tim J." wrote in message ...
Ahhhh, the hint of Autumn is in the air and the close to another summer.
You know what that means - time for the annual Dog Days Fly Swap. This
is a swap for patterns you found work particularly well in the summer
months. There are usually 20 or less participants and each person ties
one particular fly multiplied by the number of participants.

Let me know you're interested by posting a response here on roff or
rofft, or sending an email to kpos3wt at comcast dot net. I'll leave the
sign-up open through Sunday Sept 17, then set a deadline for sending the
flies after we see how many people enlist. You can always sign up now
and decide what to tie after the sign-up period ends. Tyers, start your
vises!
--
TL,
Tim

Okay, I'm in Tim!

I will be tying a fly that I designed, but haven't named yet. This fly has worked like a charm on at least three outings this summer, and it has not failed to attract a trout yet either!

The basic pattern goes like this:

Hook -- size 18 light dry fly
Tail -- either two muskrat guard hairs (which I prefer best) or two moose body hairs
Tag -- a bit of CDC between the tail hairs, natural or olive in color
Body -- turkey biot, peacock herl or stripped small feather quill (any variation on the theme will work, as long as it is very light and dainty)
Wing -- wood duck or mallard flank, natural or gold in color
Case
Hackle -- size 18 dun and grizzly or grizzly and brown or dun and brown (just about any color combination that you prefer)

I start the tie by coating the hook with a bit of Hard as Nails polish. I then tie in the tail hairs. I leave the tail hairs long--for this fly anyway--about an inch or inch and one-half in length and I tie the hairs all the way up the hook, for flotation, to about 3/16ths behind the eye. I then tie in the CDC between the tail hairs at the bend in the hook. I don't leave much hanging, maybe enough to cover your pinky finger nail, but I continue up the hook with the CDC, again for flotation, tying it off at the same point as the tail hairs. Next I tie on my body material, beginning at the back of the hook, just in front of the CDC. Once the body material is secured, I tie in the wing case. I tie in a whole feather and then draw it up until the tip is just over top of the CDC. I then clip the tip off, leaving a straight edge just in front of the CDC. I then coat the wing case with Dave's Flexament or Hard as Nails to stiffen the wing case. It looks like a Delta wing over the body, when finished. Lastly, I tie in my two hackle collar feathers.

Op