Simple Sea-trout Tube fly video

[IanMcD]

Nice one Steff... appreciated.
Must try harder on the heads I finish up with ~#

See you in June.
TL's
Ian

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Totally my pleasure Ian. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Steff.

[heron]

I thought this was a really good video clip. Commentary was very clear and easy to follow. The angle of the shot was fine. The suggestions at the end on how to fish it etc. were particularly useful - always worth finishing with this kind of info.

Mention made of too much material and a bulbous head. I notice that experienced tyers often create a short, well-tapered head. I wonder how you best ensure you get this effect? Mine are always bit random in shape.

[fredaevans]

Heron, wiser minds than mine will have far better answer(s), but I find that if the 'head' on my fly is too large it's because I've probably used too much in the way of materials.

Fred

[sewinangler]

Mention made of too much material and a bulbous head. I notice that experienced tyers often create a short, well-tapered head. I wonder how you best ensure you get this effect? Mine are always bit random in shape.

Heron, the easiest way to ensure you get a small tapering head to any hairwing fly AND make sure that the wing doesn't fall apart after the first cast is to use a method known as locking turns. Here's a few photos from an old simplified sbs of the method:



Initially set your wing with a couple of turns of tying silk



Lift a bunch of fibres and take one or two turns of tying silk in front of the bunch.



...and again



....and again



...and again until the bunches get ever smaller and you're left with no more wing material.



Snip off the waste



....and then take wraps of tying silk over the waste ends to form your head.

Different winging materials have different characteristics; Bucktail is quite coarse and doesn't compress that well. Squirrel is fine and can be very 'slippery' so unless secured properly can fall out and ruin your wing. Arctic fox is very fine and sometimes you need a lot more than you think to ensure a substantial wing; which leads to large bulbous heads.

The above method ensures two things: a wing that will never come off if done correctly and also a small well tapered head.

Hopefully this doesn't detract from Steff's video, and I hope it helps.

[fredaevans]

An "old dog just learned a new trick." |\

[heron]

Yes the locking turns method works well

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I tied a different, smaller fly and attached the hairwing using the method laid out so clearly by Sewinangler. This helped me acheve a short, well-tapered head. So thanks very much.

PS I had a go at the fly tied in the video clip by The TT. It looked OK, but biggest difference was that the dressing was nowhere near as slim (when viewed from above). The materials flared out sideways more. I guess I could give the fly a trim with my scissors.

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Sewinangler; well answered and thanks for posting, great to see you on here. Your advice and insight is always appreciated.

Heron; if the materials have flared, then that's usually down to not securing the materials in place with a 'pinch and loop' technique. This really does help secure them in one place, and does stop them from spinning around. Just keep perfecting that technique and it will come.

As with most flies it is about proportions, amount of material used and perhaps most importantly thread control.

TT.

[T7]

This pattern has been working well for me on the Ribble, (although last night they kept coming unstuck~#), so thanks for the video TT! One modification I've added is the addition of a thin black squirrel underwing before the arctic fox is tied in, which seems to help with the shape and to keep the rest of the wing upright and mobile. Worth a try anyway...