FLYMPH FORUM

Bob, these guys were no doubt passionate about imitating their insects, both stashing white China saucers along the stream, Skues with his marrow scoop and JL with his autopsies. I'm not quite sure how Skues would chat with a streamside angler when asked "what are they taking?" In a short section of Skues nymphs I counted 10 Pale Watery Nymphs, each quite different. There are seven PWN's just on Gunnar Johnson's watercolor plate and eight Medium Olives. It complicates matters a little. Maybe someone can shed some light on that.

Carl, you're right about the tail length. I amazed at the tiny little whisks. They can be very specific with the color, stiffness, sheen, even speckle in some cases for such a delicate feature.

Howdy All;

Ok, I found some Bear fur, Now I need to find some Seal fur.
One site in Canada, mentioned that they are prohibited as far as shipping to the States ?????
WT& ???
So, Where is a good place to order some from???
Next I need to track down 1 Pale dun Cock feather I can use for tailing and a pale dun Hen Cape ( ),
for my hackles. Any good ideas as all I'm finding are capes and saddles. Hundreds of feathers when only 30 or 40
(depending on how fumble fingered I am the day I choose to tye), are needed. All I need for my small amount of
tying is a neck with the smaller sizes and only one of those cock feathers (probably only 3" of one for the tailing
material...). Hate to have to purchase a whole friggin' bird for a sample.

hank

I think I saw seal at feathersmc.com.

Angora goat is a good substitute for seal. I get the feeling many of us may have to do some substituting.
I was also wondering where to find some blue dun hackle.

Howdy All;

Found some Seal ...
http://www.davemcneese.com/sealfur.html
He's in Springfield, Or.
I'm sending him a few bucks for a small baggie
on Monday. Should see it here the following Monday.
Talked to the man on the phone and he says he met Pete
Hidy back in the late 60's or early 70's. Asked him to maybe join
up and share some of his knowledge. Think he's thinkin' about it...
Ok, got the dubbing (seal and Bear found and ordered), now about them
Pale Light Blue Dun chicken covers.........

hank

Jim should be able to hook you up there Hank.

I'm doing the same pattern. It's a fun one. Especially working with the original materials.

Old hat, Howdy;

Here's where I'm getting the Bear fur;
http://www.bearsden.com/page106.html
I ordered 2. For those of us that don't have time to
wait for the proper season to arrive...
I do enjoy the search for 'authentic' materials for
this kind of swap. Just wish I could source a good
hook for this as well.

hank

William suggested that I post this, so here's my version of the "Dark Dun Nymph" from the list of JL's orphan nymphs. The hook is a vintage Herter's 423 TDE, Size 14, and the recipe components are as listed in the Swap #22 thread. The olive seal fur blend was applied in a Clark block brush made with Pearsall's #19 hot orange silk thread. I chose the #19 because the #6A color that we sometimes call "light orange" is also known as "gold". If anyone knows for sure which shade was used by Skues and/or JL, please let me know.

Bill, this puts us off to a great start, even if it sets the high mark and everything I try will only be an effort to do half as well. No matter, this isn't about that anyway. It's fun to investigate these patterns, and I see lots of folks investigating new materials, for the fun of it. It does make a leap from reading the old accounts to putting yourself in the old gent's tying chair. Based on the array of pics Lance shared of the Skues flies, I'd say you really dialed this in, and quick. That's wonderful control of the seal and the profile is a departure from my usual thinking, which is a good reason to fool around with these flies. Nice. Thanks for putting this up.

Hans was kind enough to share a version of a Skues Medium Olive Nymph. I'll just have to retrieve the link and post it here. Thanks Hans.

w

Here is a pattern Hans tied a few years ago. Skues lists quite a number of nymphs called Medium Olive Nymphs, they must have been as important to him as the Pale Watery Nymphs. Thanks again for sharing this one, Hans.

http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenma ... _nymph.htm