jeff wrote:

i studied that video before i decided to enter this swap. the fact that
it is such an apparently simple tie led me to the erroneous conclusion
even i could do that. a type 1 cdc feather is important simply to lock
in the lower feather branches allowing the upper ones to flow out and
backward.

Yep, and if you tie it in with the concave side facing backwards,
it's easier to keep them out of the way when wrapping the feather. I
take the feather and stroke all the extra longer fibers back, leaving
just a tiny bunch of feathers at the tip to tie it in. (I initially
tried doing it the way he says and slide the feather back and trap it,
but kept catching longer fibers that way.)

In then lock it in place with a wrap over the tip, one under, and
another over it before advancing the tying thread. (I experimented
quite a bit with this one, as I tied my own mutant CDC Madame X for a
previous swap.)

my mutants are... uh ...well, you'll see. hans ties his on a
15 hook...i'm using cheap 14s and 12s. it's been humbling. the 12s are
laughable, the 14s humorous but nearly acceptable. doubt they'll float
upright, and finding the eye will be tough...but you guys don't fish
with the swap stuff anyway. me...i fish em all.

If I like the looks of the fly I'll tie up some extras and save the
original to refer back to it.

but, i'll tell you, that is the best dry fly i have ever used. it works
everywhere. i bought some from harry mason (troutflies.com) a couple
years ago and it's my favorite dry fly now. the madison browns and
rainbows and slough cutts really liked it, and snowbird and hazel creek
trout couldn't resist it. as i ripen, i'm narrowing my preferred flies
to a few proven types. this one's tops.

Cool. I used them on the Little River with no luck, but the
Crowsnest River 'bows loved them. They were smacking it from every
direction; dead drift, dragging across stream, skittering directly
downstream ... it was great fun.

I'll have to make a more concerted effort to fish them on my May
trip to the Smokies. (I'm with you on sticking with a proven fly. I
usually just tie on a #16 para Adams and fish that until it gets totally
trashed or hung in a tree somewhere.)


Chuck Vance (which is really prety funny when you consider all
the different flies I tie up before a big trip)