Thanks Everyone who had idea's. I didn't think of heavy hair. Tried some I had and wound up with a "Bass Bug" tail. Striped it out and still looking. Have found a couple of feathers that seam to be stiff enough to stand up straight and initial test show promise.
As to you Don, from the report we had yesterday on the "Rope Dubbing Lesson", he was impressed by how organized your tying room was. Why he even said that it only took you seconds to lay your hands on any material, computerized, bin numbered, some even had GPS coordinates to the exact location...8^0. Just funnin you my friend, Isn't it amazing how when you start tying something new, especially when you are working on going smaller, nothing you have is the right thing. But as always we strive to adjust and be creative along the way. One thing I am sure of, the variations we see of fly patterns is due to the tier not having the exact material, but the result accomplished the intended purpose so dose it really make that big a difference. we all know that there are no definite hard and fast rules that say just because the pattern called for "Black Barbules", that a fine black biot would not work, or fine black Moose if that is what you have and it is small enough for the hook size. I am beginning on a new road, trying my best to learn to tie smaller, more delicate flies and do it accurately with my big hands, ( it is quite a show believe me). But in doing so, I find that my inventory dose not contain some of the "Called for" material and the recipe doesn't have a substitution list. So what do we do, abandon the pattern because the materials we have are not those called for, I dare say not. Every tier on this list, and more than likely in the world, use what they have and create as they go, but in the end the results are amazingly similar to the original example. Do the fish recognize that the tail is hair rather than feather ? Dose ol Mr. brown pick out that the #20 dry doesn't have wings called for in the recipe ? Or none at all ? I don't think so. Sometimes I wonder, do we tie to catch fish by fooling them, or do we tie to impress other tiers. Nothing wrong with tying to impress, it leads us to teaching by being able to do something a bit different. And it leads to better tiers by raising the bar a bit with a new challenge. Most of all I think we should tie for ourselves, So we don't have this, we can use that, and when its done, it still looks like a #22 Black Gnat or Adams and catch's fish. The satisfaction of just being able to do it, is that enough, yes, for me it is. Man how did this get to be such an essay, I better stop, so have a good morning folks, Keep tying, (With whatever you have) Jimi Jimi, I have some black moose shoulder fur. I'll send you a chunk tomorrow. It's very fine and very stiff and makes great tailing. Just have to locate it amongst all my stuff. DOnO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Desert Eagle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 8:11 PM Subject: [VFB] Tail Problem ? > Evening folks, > Seams kind of quiet and thought I would toss out a problem I am having > and see if anyone can give me a fix for it. > I am working on my "Black Gnats" and have a problem. The recipe calls of > "Black Hackle Barbules" for the tail. Now I assume they are referring to > just pulling some of the side off a black hackle and using it. What I have > tried, ( "Not" getting into the few actual dry fly hackles I have), is not > at all satisfactory. Even on a #14 dry fly hook the finished product > collapses the tail and just "Mush's" it out. It will not stand straight. I > do have "some" pheasant hackle that is soft but at least it is a "Bit" > stiffer than this other stuff. Problem is, it isn't black and still not as > stiff as I would like. > I have gotten up to 12 segments, ( 16 on one), rope dubbing the body on > a # 14, dry fly hook and the hackle actually looks very good. "But" the tail > ruins the whole appearance. > Dose anyone have a suggestion as to how to maybe stiffen up the hackle, > or something else I can do to make these look as good as the rest of the > fly, or something else I can use ? I thought of Biot but don't have any > black in that either. I want these to be the best I have done yet, ( Except > for my "Prize" winning flies for the Rope Dub Swap). > Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. > Working smaller and smaller, > Jimi >
