FLYMPH FORUM

Not surprised at all by your creative take on this swap, Will. Very nicely done on all of those flies. I do however like the fat bodied fly, very cool.

dub-ya, Howdy;

Ok, ...... now, what's a heavy loop spinner look like ????

hank

William, you should find the spun body quite buoyant. As I have stated elsewhere, possum is quite hydrophobic- until you force water into it. Most fur bearer donor guard hairs shed water to some extent, Hare foot is better than Hare body- because it is the bit most often in contact to the wet ground and Hares tend to ride out a rain shower by hiding in cover and coming out to shake like a dog when a bit soaked. Possums however, do not get too concerned with the precipitation aspect- nor snow for that matter and will often be found out and about on the crappiest of nights wandering along looking for dinner. If the fur did not shed water well, there would be a lot of hypothermic possum deaths here in the Winter and they would not be the pest they are.
Possum fur is a hollow tube, like polar bear and second only to polar fibre in insulative quality. You have compromised the hollow tube a little by clipping to length, but each hair will still carry microscopic amounts of air in the cavity until displaced by water pressure.
Once sunk, you should see large amounts of hydrofuge bubbles all over the fibre body.

hankaye wrote:dub-ya, Howdy;

Ok, ...... now, what's a heavy loop spinner look like ????

hank

Link sent for clarification. Its just a dubbing spinner with two prongs spread from the top of a heavy brass base. This one is stumpy, but there are lots of models.

Thanks for the info on the species. I can imagine some testing will have to be done, hopefully soon, but the temps are getting a bit high for me right now. Come on Fall!

dub-ya, Howdy;

Thanks for the links.
Thought I'd been sent one when I was first starting and
someone sent me a few items that have proved to be helpful.
Couldn't find it so I'll be visiting ebay or some online shop to see
what's available.

hank

Was able to get on the river yesterday to test out my pattern for the swap. The pocket water browns and bows were eating it up despite being a rather simplistic pattern. Now to tie up the bunch and get them in the mail...

Darin

dub-ya, Howdy;

I think I'm going to 'borrow' from your 'I think I might' post.
Thinking along the lines of ;
Hook: Mustad 94840 # 14 (barbs mashed)
Thread: Benecchi Tobacco
Hackle: Beet dyed Hen
Tail: Beet dyed hen
Abdomen: Ubiquitous Orange Yarn (UOY), corded
Thorax: Mystery fur in split UOY (^)

hank

hankaye wrote:dub-ya, Howdy;

I think I'm going to 'borrow' from your 'I think I might' post.

hank

Love it.

w

I've started mine and settled on a pattern and it's kinda simple.

I'm using:

hook: Allen #14 ring eye
thread: Pearsall's cardinal (or red) floss
rib: 5 wrap skinny gold mylar
body: split thread possum
hackle: one turn of hen mallard

I will say that hen mallard is hard to get to hackle well on a hook. It's a bit stiff. I think Whiting needs to come up with genetically engineered hen mallard and have them fly by where I'm hunting.

I will also include some true wet flies for our material provider. Who knows a Trout Fin married wing #8 wet fly might just be what the NZ trout have been waiting all their lives for.

Two good flies tied and seven more to go. The hardest part was settling on a nice looking pattern. I'm glad this wasn't one of the cooking challenges as I greatly exceeded the hour time limit.

I've started and almost finished my set. I'll post pictures of the pattern soon!