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Martin - martin@globalflyfisher.com
A Mother's Day Caddis model to work from
The forums are very quiet
The Global FlyFisher forum has existed for almost as long as the site, and the oldest posts are more than 20 years old. Forums aren't what they used to be. Social media has taken over a lot of their roles, and the GFF form is very quiet ... to put it mildly.
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Martin
As a boat builder I rely heavily on models as a first step in any new start-from-scratch project. Tying too. For this one I don't have the finished product yet. Just the model, for a Madison River Montana Mother's Day Caddis. It's interesting to see the short fat jet black body paired with a long skinny cream/tan colored wing. This view doesn't show it well but the wing is substantially taller than it is wide. The bottom profile is almost pencil like, somewhat like a short fat jet black blob underneath a long skinny cream colored paint brush.
A great way to approach fly tying. Many tyers tie from fantasy and imagination - like many of those tying my pet peeve the shrimp. I sometimes find it hard to believe that they ever saw a live shrimp.
Caddis are also a fascinating animal, and many caddis patterns do a good job of imitating them with few materials and simple tying steps. You seem to be well on your way.
[quote:bf0eda3692="Martin Joergensen"]Colin,
A great way to approach fly tying......
Martin[/quote:bf0eda3692]
Thank you Martin. I started thinking about models to work toward a long time ago. But it took time and effort to slowly transition from "ephemeral background idea" to actually working and tying that way. Now I'm addicted to it.
I want a dried bug or good photographs on hand for every fly that actually imitates something. Now I even a model of some kind for attractor flies that don't imitate anything. If I'm tying a Prince Nymph, for instance, I want a good-looking Prince Nymph next to my vise as I get started. Or maybe a row of good-looking attractors to improvise on.
Starting out with vise and imagination alone all too often leads to a fuzzy mess.
Great picture of the caddisI usually carry a small round plastic container with me when I fish. When I get home I'll study it under a magnifying class. This lead to a very successful midge/black fly/gnat/trico pattern which has caught me many fish over the last 12 years or so here in the Northeast. SE/NE PA, Catskills, Adirondacks, Vermont and the Grand and Upper Credit Rivers in southern Ontario. Tying without a specimen or basing a pattern on a book as its problems. There is a Little Black Caddis hatch on a local creek. I had one of the Orvis stream insects books and it said it's tied on a size 16 hook. So that's what I did. Took the flies out to the stream and watched the trout ignore them. Got a bit frustrated and took a break laid my rod down with the fly on a boulder and a couple of the actual caddis landed next to the fly and I was shown the error of my ways. Caught a couple took them home measured them they were about 7 mm long including the wings. The body was 3 mm long. Measured a standard size 16 dry fly hook. The length of the shank was 7 mm. So the caddis was a size 16 it just shouldn't have been tied on a size 16 hook. Another thing that I learned was the caddis wasn't all black. The body was a dark battleship gray.
I'm also a big fan of having an example of a new fly I want to tie in front of me. Sometimes I can wheedle one from the tyer, sometimes they give me one, sometimes I have to buy one. I definitely want a picture if I'm tying a bait fish pattern.
Yes I like bringing bugs home too. I put a napkin in the bottom of a tupperware food container, which helps some with wet adult bugs and puddles of water.
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Ok. The model leads to an-
Ok. The model leads to an--almost--finished project.
[img:a2c5b4a529]http://montana-riverboats.com/Uploads/_PIC7732_Mothers-day-pair.jpg[/im…]
Colin,
Colin,
A great way to approach fly tying. Many tyers tie from fantasy and imagination - like many of those tying my pet peeve the shrimp. I sometimes find it hard to believe that they ever saw a live shrimp.
Caddis are also a fascinating animal, and many caddis patterns do a good job of imitating them with few materials and simple tying steps. You seem to be well on your way.
Martin
Colin,
[quote:bf0eda3692="Martin Joergensen"]Colin,
A great way to approach fly tying......
Martin[/quote:bf0eda3692]
Thank you Martin. I started thinking about models to work toward a long time ago. But it took time and effort to slowly transition from "ephemeral background idea" to actually working and tying that way. Now I'm addicted to it.
I want a dried bug or good photographs on hand for every fly that actually imitates something. Now I even a model of some kind for attractor flies that don't imitate anything. If I'm tying a Prince Nymph, for instance, I want a good-looking Prince Nymph next to my vise as I get started. Or maybe a row of good-looking attractors to improvise on.
Starting out with vise and imagination alone all too often leads to a fuzzy mess.
Great picture of the caddisI
Great picture of the caddisI usually carry a small round plastic container with me when I fish. When I get home I'll study it under a magnifying class. This lead to a very successful midge/black fly/gnat/trico pattern which has caught me many fish over the last 12 years or so here in the Northeast. SE/NE PA, Catskills, Adirondacks, Vermont and the Grand and Upper Credit Rivers in southern Ontario. Tying without a specimen or basing a pattern on a book as its problems. There is a Little Black Caddis hatch on a local creek. I had one of the Orvis stream insects books and it said it's tied on a size 16 hook. So that's what I did. Took the flies out to the stream and watched the trout ignore them. Got a bit frustrated and took a break laid my rod down with the fly on a boulder and a couple of the actual caddis landed next to the fly and I was shown the error of my ways. Caught a couple took them home measured them they were about 7 mm long including the wings. The body was 3 mm long. Measured a standard size 16 dry fly hook. The length of the shank was 7 mm. So the caddis was a size 16 it just shouldn't have been tied on a size 16 hook. Another thing that I learned was the caddis wasn't all black. The body was a dark battleship gray.
I'm also a big fan of having an example of a new fly I want to tie in front of me. Sometimes I can wheedle one from the tyer, sometimes they give me one, sometimes I have to buy one. I definitely want a picture if I'm tying a bait fish pattern.
Yes I like bringing bugs home
Yes I like bringing bugs home too. I put a napkin in the bottom of a tupperware food container, which helps some with wet adult bugs and puddles of water.
[img:8d41abfd82]http://montana-riverboats.com/Uploads/Callibaetis-two.jpg[/img:8d41abfd…]