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Fly Tying Journal Notes
A collection of helpful information and tips regarding fly tying, especially rotary fly tying. A collection of my own observations, and solutions concerning tying techniques and materials selection I have found helpful. And interesting information I have found regarding all things fly tying and fly tying materials.
Fly Tying Notes
A Simple Method for Photographing Flies
Most flies are mounted in a horizontal position on a bodkin needle through the hook eye and the bodkin is then pressed into a lump of modeling clay to hold it in the proper orientation. Articulated flies and other very large flies are hung vertically from a piece of piano wire. The mounted fly is then placed in the center of a stage in front of the background which is about 3-4 inches behind the fly.
The whole stage and fly are then lit with four 100watt standard incandescent bulbs each mounted in a cheap discount store flood lamp clamp style bulb holder (I paid about $1 USD each). These are located at each corner of the stage all aiming at the center spot where the fly is positioned. Two lights are aimed from above right and left of the fly and two lights are aimed from below right and left of the fly. NOTE: I have changed the position of the bottom lights. I have moved them to above the fly stage with one at each side. This is proving to create a better image and with a white floor below the fly there is enough light reflected upward to prevent shadows and darkness on the bottom of the fly. If the background tends to “mud” out add a fifth light positioned over and in the horizontal center of the background aimed at the point behind the fly to brighten the background up. At this close light to subject distance (about 12 to 18 inches from light to fly) 60 watt bulbs are also suitable.
The stage is nothing more than a piece of matte board with the selected color and a smooth semi-gloss finish propped up behind the fly with a pile of books or bulldog clipped to a pair of inexpensive metal book ends, and a white piece of foam core board or matte board for the floor (we are talking really High Tech here).
The camera is mounted on a tripod, but before I dug out the old tripod, I simply set it on top of another pile of books on the table in front of the stage (did I mention this is very expensive High Tech). The only real criteria for the camera is that it sits perfectly still during the exposure and that its camera lens is square to the fly. Keeping the camera still is greatly promoted by the use of the Timed Shutter Release feature found on most cameras.
The images are shot RAW, TIFF, or uncompressed JPEG so that every pixel is mapped by the camera and there is no color compression. The images are then loaded onto my computer and opened in Adobe PhotoShop Elements (my preferred software) or Corel Paintshop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate where I further adjust the white balance, crop or resize the image, remove the mounting prop using the "clone stamp" tool, and sharpening the image a bit (this will not fix an out of focus image, but improves the inherent sharpness limitation of pixel size - at least that is my story and I am sticking to it). If necessary these software packages will also correct color shift, brightness, and contrast. If you wish to do some serious image editing the use of the RAW image format allows this whereas TIFF and uncompressed JPEG do not.
While this is a very simplistic system, it does provide one with far above average images for use online or printing photographs up to 8 x 10 inches.
© 2010 Bruce E. Harang
Softhackle spider style flies can be very
effective for large fish like Steelhead, Atlantic salmon, and Seatrout.
When tying for these fish larger sized hooks can be very helpful. The
larger hooks are made with heavier and hence stronger wire; they present
a fly large enough to draw attention, while maintaining the very
attractive movement of their smaller brethren. Tying in larger sizes
requires feathers that are both larger and somewhat stiffer than upland
game bird body feathers. Depending on the water conditions to be fished
feathers from rooster capes, rooster saddles, as well as hen saddles can
provide the size and stiffness required. The additional stiffness is
required at the base of the barbules where they attach to the feather
rachis (stem). This helps to keep the barbules from collapsing around
the fly body as well as providing a better and larger profile for the
fish to key in on. A tying technique that is helpful in providing the
stiffness at the base of the barbules without requiring barbules with
stiff tips that would inhibit mobility is to tie the feather in such
that the rachis surface where one side has been stripped of its barbules
is used as the base against the hook shank.
To accomplish this you first select a
desired feather (left feather in the first photograph) and with the good
side up and the base toward you strip off the barbules on the left side
of the rachis (this is for a right hand tyer wrapping over the hook
shank and away from you – for left hand tyers reverse the side of the
feather you strip or reverse the direction you tie it in).
The middle feather in the first photograph
shows a feather stripped of the barbules on the left side for a right
handed tyer. The surface of the rachis that held the removed barbules
has been dyed black with a magic marker for clarity. This surface is
substantially flat which will aid in precisely wrapping the hackle
around the hook shank.
The right hand feather in this first
photograph shows the hackle feather prepared and ready to tie onto the
hook shank immediately in front of (to the right) of the fly body. Here
the body is orange fuzzy nylon sewing thread which is simultaneously
used as the working thread.
The second photograph shows the prepared
feather of photograph one tied to the hook shank ready to be wrapped as
a spider hackle.
The final photograph shows the hackle wound
onto the hook shank on the finished fly. Note how the hackle barbules
are standing perpendicular to the hook shank at their bases and the very
pleasant curve of the barbules out to their tips. In the water this
allows the tips of the barbules to move just like a traditional
softhackle but the bases being a bit stiffer and tied in perpendicular
to the body prevent the barbules from collapsing around the body thus
providing a more tear drop shaped silhouette to the fish. Fished on the
swing or upstream dead drift these flies are very effective. This
particular fly is a simple but effective imitation of a Western October
Caddis as tie here in a size 6 Partridge Wilson Low Water Code 01 hook.
© 2010 Bruce E. Harang
The Rite brand bobbin holder has a lot going for it. Firstly, it has what is arguably the best ceramic tube of any bobbin on the market. And most importantly to the rotary fly tyer, it has a quick, easy, and precise means of setting and changing the tension the bobbin holder exerts against the thread. I have been using a baker's dozen of these unique bobbins for about a year now. I have and use the Standard model and the Cermag model. The Cermag is the largest version and I have found it to be a bit large for most trout, steelhead, and Atlantic salmon fly pattern tying. The Standard model has an overall length and size that I find easiest and most pleasant to use in my tying. In use the Cermag model starts with a base tension of 2 oz. and the other two models start at 1 oz. tension. All of them add about 1 oz. of additional tension with each "click" of the tension setting star wheel. Overall all the bobbin holders work very well and the construction and workmanship are excellent with the two caveats listed below. For tying using full rotary techniques they are indeed a fine choice.
I have found two points about the Rite brand Standard model bobbin holders which I don't like. One is simply a personal thing. That is, the vinyl hood over the ceramic tube to metal arm connection is free floating and tends to ride up the tube. It is simple to push back in place but I would prefer to see this sleeve designed to stay in place unless the tyer wants it removed completely. Note: Merco is now using rubber O-rings in place of the vinyl sleeve on at least the new Mag bobbin model. You can purchase O-rings having an id of 3/32" and od of 7/32" to fit the standard bobbins and having an id of 3/16" and an od of 5/16" to fit the Mag models from places such as www.oringsusa.com. It takes 10 O-rings per bobbin of the smaller size on the standard model bobbin. and 13 O-rings on the CerMag models. As an added benefit the stacked O-rings provide a great thread holder.
The second is more troublesome. That is 4 of my 13 bobbin holders have had the super glue adhesive that binds the ceramic tube to the metal arm fail and the ceramic tube become detached. Now the fix is simple enough by pushing the tube down through the metal arm tube hole, putting some super glue on the tube near the metal arm and pulling the ceramic tube back through the tube until it is in full contact with the applied super glue. However, having about 30% glue failure rate seems to me to be excessive. You can do this fix yourself or Merco the manufacturer will happily do it for you if you return the affected bobbin holder. I just don't think you should expect to have 30% of your bobbin holders fail in less than a year of use.
© 2010 Bruce E. Harang
Dubbing Technique Producing a Tapered Body
In tying flies with bodies that having a dubbed segment and a floss, tinsel, or other smooth segment the transition between this smooth segment and the dubbed segment tends to be very abrupt and the dubbing tends to cover a portion of the smooth segment because of the great difference in bulk of the two different body materials. Where ostrich herl butts are used between the various body segments the dubbing can cover or distort the position of the ostrich herl butt. A simple and elegant solution to this problem, suggested to me by Russ Osenbach, where a dubbing loop is used to form the dubbed segment follows.
1 After forming the dubbing loop but before placing the dubbing in the loop, spin a very small fine noodle of the dubbing over a short distance onto one leg of the dubbing loop next to the hook shank.
2 Now add the desired dubbing material between the legs of the loop starting at the end point of the spun dubbing.
3 Twist as you normally do preferably using a dubbing twirl and wrap the dubbing onto the hook shank.
4 This produces a very smooth transition from or to a smooth body segment while making the dubbed segment look continuous and smooth.
© 2011 Bruce E. Harang
Herl butts are used on many classic Salmon flies of all types. They are also a very nice addition to many traditional Steelhead wet flies. And while a properly mounted herl butt is a thing of beauty adding to the over all symmetry of the fly most folks don't do a very proper job of it. Michael Radencich not only does it correctly he has shared the knowledge with all through his books and DVD's. Particularly well worth the effort and cost is his recent book and DVD combo titled "Twenty Salmon Flies", ISBN 978-0-8117-0523-3 and available directly from Michael at http://radencichsalmonflies.com/pages/twenty_salmon_flies.html. Here is how to do it properly without tearing one's hair out in the process.
If you look at a single Ostrich herl you will notice that the two sets of barbs are not 180 degrees opposed to one another. Instead the stem of the Ostrich herl is square in geometry and the two sets of barbs emanate from two adjacent corners of the stem. Thus, the barbs form a V on one side of the stem and the other side is bare. You can see this in the photograph below. In the photograph the barbs are pointing away from the viewer (most easily seen at the bottom end of the herl) and the bare back side of the stem is in front.
You will also notice that the barbs at the base end of the herl taper down to where it attaches to the stem. If you were to start wrapping the butt with this portion of the herl you would get a tapered diameter to the butt somewhat like a cone. So you cut this portion off at a point where the barbs are all the same length. Likewise the tip tapers to a point thus you don't want to use this section for the butt either. Also, note that on this particular herl there are a couple of bald spots. If you wrap using this portion of the herl you will also get bald spots in the butt. So here you would cut off the herl just above the bald spots and use the rest of the herl (not shown in this photograph) to form your butt.
Once you have selected a herl and removed it from the plume stem and using a pair of tweezers hold it with the butt end to the right and the barbs facing down.
Holding the tweezers in the right hand use the thumb of the left hand to bend the herl to the left of the tweezers rearward forming a 90 degree bend in the herl stem. Below the bend herl is shown from above still in the tweezers and in the second photograph from above after removal from the tweezers. The section of the stem that will be tied in also has had the barbs removed from the stem.
The prepared herl is now mounted on the far side of the hook with the butt to the head of the fly and the barbs facing rearward. The stem is mounted parallel to the hook shank. The photograph below has the hook upside down allowing the hook to stay in proper orientation for a right hand tyer while allowing the far side of the fly to be seen. Note that the tie in point is level and smooth where the herl butt will be formed. The stem is overly long at the tie in to more clearly show the parallel orientation of the stem.
Now as you wrap the herl in the normal direction, that is, over the hook shank and away from the right hand tyer the herl will rotate so that the barbs slope rearward. In this manner the bare front edge of each wrap of herl stem is concealed by the next wrap of the herl's rearward sloping barbs.
If the barbs rotate such that they face forward instead of unwinding, re-bending, and remounting simply wrap the herl on in reverse direction. That is over the top and toward you. This will reverse the herl stem rotation so the barbs face rearward as is desired. Just be careful in tying off the herl with the thread to ensure the herl is securely tied off.
If you are satisfied with the herl butt cut off the excess herl. In this photograph there is a bit of unevenness which for a presentation fly would be best unwrapped and done over. If the base thread is causing the problem you can wrap over them with a few additional untwisted thread wraps to smooth them out before rewrapping. Below is the finished herl butt completely concealing the tag, tail, tail veiling tie in point.
© 2011 Bruce E. Harang