Recent comments

Thanks! So since releasing this lots of people have told me about the rope, crazy! But I didn’t know they eat snakes, how cool!

Submitted by dbrady on

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I have never fished for gar but I do know that one of the best flies for them is just a hook with a piece of very frayed piece of rope tied to the hook. Fish it like a top water lure or spinner under water. Gar have lots of sharp teeth that easily get tangled in the frayed rope. Don't bother trying to remove the hook. Cut the hook off and tie another one on. A frayed length of strips of yarn also works. Gar eat snakes. Try swimming it like snake.

Submitted by RIC CARTER on

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Late to the party here, but you can go to a porting goods store and get a rosin bag, like is used in baseball and gymnastics, much cheaper than fiddle rosin, and no pounding.

S,

It's very common in some places to use setups like this in rivers. In southern Europe, Spain in particular, fishing teams of wet flies under a float has been a traditional way of fishing flies. It's also mentioned in the article. Light rods, small floats and a fly or two on a tippet below the float should work fine.

Martin

Submitted by Jack Mc Kie on

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I'd disagree about using a 6wt or 7wt for pike. While possible, not very easy or fun to cast large streamers. 8wt is fine with a 9-10wt opening a lot more opportunity to cast large streamers and poppers in the 6"-10" long range which seem to be the most common. I have 8wt and 10 wt rods and cast both floating and intermediate short taper lines like the Cortland Precision Compact series of lines.

Submitted by Carlos Navarro on

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Nice work! I can appreciate custom DIY projects.... IMO, much better than commercialized products.

Submitted by Pierre on

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What from your fly resemble the original Thunder & Lightning? The original fly is one of the most famous of James Wright. It dates from about 1850, which means that this year marks 170 years. The main feature is a combination of colors and elements of the design of the fly. Brown wing, black body, orange body hackel, gold ribbing and a deep blue front hackel. Thunder & Lightning is part of Simple Strip Wings classical salmon flies. In the orignal classic version, the most striking detail is the orange body hackel. It is already from the originator a very simple fly. Sorry but your fly is what it is and not even a copy, or a variant.

Submitted by Pierre on

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Yes, of course, Martin, I also appreciate Steffan's effort to do the video and to make a deadly fly known.
But as you say, when you do an internet search for a fly if you don't know what the original looks like, you will find all kinds of options. How will you know then what you should do? As books are no longer bought as they were for 25, 30 or 50 years ago, when we found the story behind the flies and how they were tied, I always wonder how the new generations will carry the tradition and pay respect to the pioneers. These are issues that sometimes make me sad. But when I see a young man with the same passion that I had more than 45 years ago and I see his hands tremble with emotion holding an original fly in his hand, I forget the moments of sadness and I am happy. We have many anonymous young people out there on the river, who will not forget to respect those who laid the foundations of modern fly fishing. I met them and they brightened those sad days with clouds and heavy rains. :)

Pierre,

You are so right, and it's a common problem in my eyes, that people tie flies inspired by other patterns, but still call them the original name. In the case of the Sunray Shadow, you are dealing with a really classic archetype of a fly pattern, and you owe to the originator, Ray Brooks, to stick to the brilliant simplicity of the pattern.

But it's a battle against windmills, and personally I kind of enjoy seeing the wealth of variation, but still feel annoyed by the mess that tyers add to a world of patterns, which is messed up already.

Viewers and readers can see the original Sunray Shadow here:
https://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/sunray-shadow

and read a story about how wild things can go when patterns catch on, and take on a life of their own here:
https://globalflyfisher.com/patterns-tie-better/the-evolution-of-a-fly

I will in all this say that I still highly appreciate the effort by tyers like Steffan who take the time to put together videos for me to share and all you to enjoy.

Thanks!

Martin

Submitted by Pierre on

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It is the simplest tubfly. Without a body defined by a moment of tying, only the plastic tube. Its name has been associated for decades with simplicity. Why call a long-winged fly The Sunray Shadow if it's not actually The SS? Altering the originals by the appearance of some variants does not do good to the new generations of fly tiers who learn that if a Kia resembles a Mercedes, we put the emblem in front and the name pasted there in the back, then we have a Mercedes. I can understand that this fly is inspired by a Sunray Shadow, but it can just as well be inspired by Spey Ghilli or another fly that has a long or very long wing. I'm sorry Steffan! :)

Paul,

The videos posted on this site feature hundreds of different tyers, and some use a Regal. I still don't fancy the Regals much, and use my trusted LAW vise for all my tying - including when I film videos to be featured here.

So no, I didn't change my mind.

Martin

Submitted by Paul on

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I noticed that subsequent to this post you seem to be using the Regal Revolution for your production tying (in a video of your fly tying room). Did you change your opinion on the vise?

SoCalAngler,

No, you aren't missing anything, but just found an example of the inconsistency of tying thread sizing... the whole motivation for me doing this article and table in the first place. The threads are clearly not the same - different physical thicknesses - and still you will see them listed as the same Denier.

In my eyes the only proper way to categorize thread would be physical thickness, breaking strength, material (nylon, poly, GSP) and fiber layout (spun, braided, parallel, fused etc.). That would avoid such confusing cases.

Trust the physical thickness in the table. I have personally measured almost all threads. And trust your experience when it comes to breaking strength (it's difficult to measure consistently). The Veevus threads are generally pretty strong.

Martin

Submitted by SoCalAngler on

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With regard to Veevus.....how can they have different aught sizes (ex. 6/0, 8/0, 10/0) which are distinctly different sized threads, out of a material of the same denier? The math doesn't work here. Am I missing something?

Andrés,

I will try to reply for Martyn. I can see that the hook is fairly large for the size of the fly, and my guess is that size 8-10 will work fine. The Kamasan hooks are thin wire (B170) and heavy wire (B175), and can be hard to find in smaller sizes than 10.

Martin

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