ESB - Early Season Blue

[Teifi-Terrorist]

As promised, here's the pattern that's been doing well for me this season, including accounting for 2 doubles in a week. Quite a complex wing formation, but a straight forward dressing.

ESB




Tying list:
Hook: sawada LD2 size 6.
thread: fire orange 6/0
Body: black floss
Rib: medium silver tinsel
Wing 1: natural squirrel
wing 2: opal mirage
wing 3: silver crystal hair
wing 4: silver mallard
head hackle: blue hen
cheeks: JC

Worth a try.

TT.

[watermole]

Nice fly that TT; it also works well with a pinch of blue fox fur instead of a hackle, also I find that narrow strips of well-barred teal above the squirrel, make a good complimentary wing for the striped-effect body.
..Like the use of hot orange thread for the head..finishes it off just right!

Regards,

Wm.

[JT]

Nice TT.

I wonder what it looks like wet?

The opal mirage wing - is that the small, medium or thicker guage?

I love that stuff, utterly addicted to it.

A bit like a magpie.

Ooh - that wouldn't be a bad name for your fly thinking about it.

Jon

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Hi WM; I do usually dress most of my patterns with false hackles, but the fully hackled versions do make for a slightly different profile, so worth carrying both versions I think. As for the teal; yes, totally agree. However, you cannot get teal long enough to cover a longshank hook. The original pattern was dressed with some goosander feathers, which is basically like long teal, but I only had feathers or so that I found so had to improvise.

JT; sorry, a slight oversight, the techinical name for the winging material that I used was 'krinkle mirror flash', a veniard product. It's basically mirage with a krinkle.

TT.

[LuckyLuke]

Excellent fly there TT and thanks for sharing a fly thats working well for you. Defo tying up some of those

Are you fishing it on both your floater and int ? And re those 2 doubles u took on it - were they both on the same fly line?

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Hi LL,

yes, both doubles were on the same line, a floater with a fairly long leader 10ft or so (well, long for a night-time leader).

I would quite happily fish it on floating and sinking lines, but would primarily be a dropper patterns for me.

TT.

[Diawl Bach]

As a new starter to this fly fishing lark I'd just like to say how helpful it is when experienced posters are prepared to let us know what type of flies, sizes, methods & lines they are catching on and are even willing to take the time to post a picture.

Can't fault it and please can it continue as a regular feature of the forum.

Thanks to all.

DB

[LuckyLuke]

As a new starter to this fly fishing lark I'd just like to say how helpful it is when experienced posters are prepared to let us know what type of flies, sizes, methods & lines they are catching on and are even willing to take the time to post a picture.

Can't fault it and please can it continue as a regular feature of the forum.

Thanks to all.

DB

Id just like to echo DB's comments - its so refreshing to actually have an experienced and sucessful fisherman like TT who are prepared to put their money where their mouth is and actually be prepared to open their fly box to others. And not just mention a series of flies who they caught "x fish" on when in all likelyhood thats a complete lie and their secret killer weapons are infact tucked away never to be seen or told of unless your part of their "in-crowd".

Thanks for all your help so far TT et al - keep up the good work m8

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[teififlies]

Hook

Nice fly Steff, I notice you are using Sawada hooks on the ESB and also on some of your other patterns, any special reasons? you obviously prefer them to the Salar singles.

It's becoming more noticable that a lot of salmon flies as well as sewin flies are being dressed with the hackle in front of and around the wing, Cascade, Park shrimp and of course Frodin's turbo discs. Dressing the fly this way gives the fly a bit of a hump at the front and more mobility.

By the way has anyone tried one of these turbo discs?

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Teififlies; to honest I'm not a big fan of salars; just don't like the look of them. I don't use the salar singles at all, however, I have used a few of the doubles, and, even though I can't say I particularly like the look of them either, they have proven to be very good hookers - sort of like a circle hook design to the points.

The ken sawada hooks are fantastic; ultra strong, sharp, and a nice clean design. Having said that, I'm more than happy to use standard longshank hooks for sewin, hooks such as the kamasan B800's and the kamsan b175 in the short-shank versions. You can pick them up for less than £5 per 100, which makes for great value.

As for the comments made by DB and echoed by LL; totally not a problem gents, more than happy to help. That's what the forum is about, and I'm glad you are making use of it.

Thanks,

TT.

[Salarex]

Hi WM; I do usually dress most of my patterns with false hackles, but the fully hackled versions do make for a slightly different profile, so worth carrying both versions I think. As for the teal; yes, totally agree. However, you cannot get teal long enough to cover a longshank hook. The original pattern was dressed with some goosander feathers, which is basically like long teal, but I only had feathers or so that I found so had to improvise.

JT; sorry, a slight oversight, the techinical name for the winging material that I used was 'krinkle mirror flash', a veniard product. It's basically mirage with a krinkle.

TT.

Thought that was from the bird you stalked for a week and finally managed to trap? Ooops, sorry, were you keeping that quiet?

Of course, you just found a dead one by the river, didnt you? ~:.

[Teifi-Terrorist]

100% Rex, I almost cried when I found such a magnificent bird dead. :@

TT.

[Flytrier]

Supplier of Sawada LD2

I've tried one or two places but they don't stock the Sawada LD2s. Can anyone recommend a supplier?
Thanks

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Hi Flytrier,

these have usually got a few, but not sure if they currently have any in stock:

http://www.theflybox.co.uk/

If not, you can get them directly from Ken Sawada in Japan, but this may not be the cheapest option:

http://www.kensawada.com/w/list.php?...0&mcat=305&l=e

TT.

[Flytrier]

Thanks TT,
Just ordered some.