Hi Tom; Interesting observations, it never ceases to amaze me how different flies look onced tied versus how they look once fished through the water. I was thoroughly amazed at how much reflextion a chili pepper puts out when fished through the water and sunlight hits it, looks totally different than dry. Also, glass bead really look amazing when in the water and hit with light. Very interesting oservations concerning hackle, mohair and marabou, will have to put to good use when tying. Makes me wonder if Ostrich herl has same or similar variation as marabou. Thanks for sharing; Wayne
--- On Wed, 12/15/10, Tom Davenport <t...@comcast.net> wrote: From: Tom Davenport <t...@comcast.net> Subject: [VFB] Some observations about fly movement under water To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 12:26 PM Over the years I have made a lot of assumptions about how a fly looks and behaves underwater, based on observations made while fishing. But I ashamed to admit that until yesterday, I had never bothered to attach a fly to a piece of tippet and swim it around in the 100 gallon aquarium that has been sitting right next to my fly tying bench for the last 20 years! I did that yesterday to see if this Chinese crystal I have been using as bead heads on Wooly Buggers flashed as much underwater as it does in the air (it does) but became more interested in how all of the components of the flies were performing. So I attached a dozen of the different styles of buggers I have been tying onto tippet and swum them all. I was surprised by what was actually going on. Here are some of the things I noticed: 1. All marabou isn't created equal. If you look closely at a marabou feather it consists of a bunch of smaller shafts each containing filoplumes. It seems that the tiny shafts with the biggest and fluffiest filoplumes, move the best. As a result, a wooly bugger tail made from the tip end of the feather doesn't move as well as one made from the side shafts IF the tips are thinner and not as fluffy. 2. Flies made with mohair look a great deal like a fly that has been hackled, except they have more motion. When you pull it out of the water, the fly might become swept back and streamlined, put it pops right back to its original shape as soon as it is back in the water. And, a mohair fly with a marabou tail has a lot more movement that one with just mohair. Saddle hackles pretty much stick out straight, there isn't a lot of movement. They may be creating some sort of water disturbance that the fish can hear, but based on what I saw in my aquarium, mohair has a lot more life like movement while looking remarkably like hackle. 3. "Spectrumized" mohair (a color created by mixing several dissimilar colors together, like the Canadian series of mohairs) really does look more lifelike under water. 4. Flashabou in the tail of a wooly bugger has very little movement itself, but visually creates a lot of flash as the fly "jigs". And it doesn't seem to impair the movement of the marabou tail at all. Also, marabou tails made of several colors (like the "Thin Mint" bugger that uses black, brown and olive) create an even stronger illusion of motion. 5. A fly with the weight in front (like a glass or metal bead) is constantly trying to nose dive and does a lot of jigging with any kind of erratic movement. 6. Hooks with eye bent downward (the default design on most hooks) tend to ride with the hook up during retrieval, straight eyed hooks not so much. Today I tied a bugger based on these observations and it looked pretty good under water. It has a blended tail (olive-brown) made from the sides of marabou feathers, a body made of chenille with red and blue and black flash incorporated into the design, and I "hackled it" with spectrumized olive-brown mohair in a red copper wire dubbing loop. I made the mohair very sparse. I liked the way it looked and moved in the water, but will have to wait a while to see if the fish like it! But I like the idea of using Mohair in place of hackle, and will tie up a bunch more with this technique. Tom -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. To post to this group, send email to vfb-mail@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to vfb-mail-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. To post to this group, send email to vfb-mail@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to vfb-mail-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com
