Woodcock and Silver Wire - Submerged

[chase creek]

Really interesting post / pictures. I 'll have to read all the replies a third (or fourth) time cuz I drew pictures of structural steel for buildings; this is a little out of my field.

Mataura mayfly wrote:
"I have the scuba gear and underwater camera, just need one of you guys to come over and toss the flies in the water as it would be a hard one-man operation.
Guess most of you would rather toss flies at trout over here and get annoyed at me snorkelling in for photos........ "

Wm - If you need someone to accompany you to Jeff's for further research, I'd be honored to carry the concrete blocks (to keep you on the bottom).

[letumgo]

And I'll come along to save you from Rodger...

Have you looked at this last fly in direct sunlight. I would expect more light to reflect back from the dubbing brush, but maybe if it is round (twisted), it reflects less light back. This is very interesting stuff.

[William Anderson]

"Would a gallon of distilled water be even more effective?"

If the distilled water is at room temperature, in theory, the answer should be yes. Now it's up to you to verify the working theory.

By the way, when you are dipping the flies in and out of the water, pay close attention to the hackle fibers. I have observed the fibers springing away from the fly, at the instance it crossed thru the surface tension at the meniscus. I am convinced that this movement, provides an illusion of life, which contributes to the long success of these flies (wingless wets/flymphs/soft hackles/etc). I would be interested in hearing if you observe the same thing.

I will be watching with much interest...

I did observe just that, actually. It seemed the hackles and all the dubbing wanted to spring to life, with no action on my part. Just the water pressure from all sides...and they do look very lively. Like I said, I've dunked a lot of flies and I like to toss a couple on a porcelain white saucer to watch them soak. But I've never seen them in an aquarium so well lit, and never with macro vision. It's compelling. It certainly supports all the images I have of what my flies are doing as they are making their drifts. Check out the second pic here. For me, pic number 3 of the fly just photographed in the conventional way, with a wet body does a better job of illustrating the importance of the underbody color and coordination with the dubbing. Pic 2 is interesting, and lively, but it's hard to appreciate the overall effect the body achieves.

Waterhen Flymph 1250

Hook: Daiichi 1250
Tying Thread: Pearsall's Primrose
Hackle: Waterhen
Body: 50/50 blend of natural mole and natural beaver on waxed primrose silk - spun on the Clark's Block
Rib: Pearsall's Primrose.









w

[letumgo]

Was the rib waxed, or unwaxed? I am surprised by how much the rib "disappears" into the body of the fly. If one is trying to match a particular insect, this kind of testing would be the way to confirm that fly looks the same when it is being fished.

[William Anderson]

Wm - If you need someone to accompany you to Jeff's for further research, I'd be honored to carry the concrete blocks (to keep you on the bottom).

With friends like you...Thanks, Rodger.

Ray, the rib is unwaxed, the silk in the body is waxed.

Thanks so much for all the input. I would expect there are a lot more comments out there that could be a great help. You gotta start somewhere. I don't know if these artificial conditions and lighting really reveal anything, but it is getting at some of the questions that I have. Could be that my questions lack a certain streamside relevance.

Lance mentioned he was surprised at how little difference the flies appeared submerged as to when they were dry. I noted that myself. The flies shown wet, were decidedly darker, but flies in the water with the same lighting, while some of the more translucent fibers became even less visible and brighter, there is an overall lightness about them, and they shift darker when simply wet. The darker silks darken considerably, some do, but the dubbings and hackles retained the dry values. I wouldn't put any weight to that without many more shots and materials, but I thought the same thing.

w

[hankaye]

dub-ya, Howdy;

That second pic. is (hate the word but it fits[?]), awesome!.
Sorta like the old movie "Tarantula that ate Las Vegas" kinda thing.

hank

[gingerdun]

What Hank said.

[Mataura mayfly]

William, they are right, fantastic series on the Waterhen fly.

Of course you are opening up the other age old question. How do fish see things compared to how we humans see things?

I do not care much what they see, I am really enjoying you going to the effort to show us this often overlooked aspect of fly tying.
If you were able to add an inlet and outlet tube to your tank, have say a half gallon reservoir with control valve, full of water above the tank and a gallon collection vessel under it, you could give us a flowing water shot.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Excellent stuff, William. Well done!

Hans W

[cicvara]

This is great, thanks William.