Furnace and Gold

[chase creek]

Hook - Mustad 1575B, #12
Thread - Pearsall's Gold
Body - tying thread
Thorax - Olive Green Ostrich Herl
Hackle - Furnace Hen

IMG_1282.JPG (96.82 KiB) Viewed 4484 times

[Mataura mayfly]

Very nice, I like the way the Ostrich is strong enough to come through the hackle. No doubt when wet the two combine in a very enticing way.
Also like your hook choice. Having just recently discovered the 1575, I like it a lot. No chance of accidentally wrapping into the eye on those.

[DOUGSDEN]

Chase Creek,
Dang, that's nice! I am slowly being won over to the straight eye (or ring eye) hooks that I see so many times here on the forum. Your fine example here is making the case even more convincing for me! The colors that you have chosen are so vibrant against the black finish of the hook. Very well done and I think the trout would like it too! I know that my local Blue-gators would go Ga-Ga over it!
Doug

[letumgo]

Rodger - how the heck did you get the silk to lay so smooth? Inspiring.

[Mataura mayfly]

Rodger - how the heck did you get the silk to lay so smooth? Inspiring.

Possibly another of those burnishers of silk?

Rodger, couple of questions. What shade of colour would you say the Ostrich is and did you tie in by the tip or butt of the herl stem?

I just tied a couple of my versions up (at least the hooks are the same!) and the Ostrich does not look as full. Will see what the local trout think.

[chase creek]

Ray - when I wrapped the silk, I let it slide through my wet fingers.
Jeff - the herl is olive, and is tied in by the tip. If you look at herl, it has a "concave" side (the stem stands out on that side), and a "convex" side - like a feather. I usually try to wrap it so the "concave" side is toward the eye, trying to brush it back as I go. I think that helps the hackle stand up, also. I'm not so sure the "Bushiness" of the thorax makes that much difference, as opposed to the contrast with the body. That said, I usually go pretty heavy on the thorax, be it herl or dubbing.

[Mataura mayfly]

Interesting, thanks for the explanation.
For the few I tied, I used the same hook (starting to REALLY like those), gold mercerised sewing cotton well waxed with clear wax, grey Ostrich tied in by the butt- wrapped in much the same fashion and hackle came from that rooster that featured a while back with the boars head.
The hackle was a fair colour representation, not great quality cockerel hackle, but perhaps less flumes and a bit stiffer than your hen.

I forgot to take a photo of one dry, but was pleasantly surprised by the colour/translucency the abdomen achieved when wet. Almost a light chestnut.



Oh, one of the locals took a bit of a shine to it.

[Kelly L.]

Sweet. That fly photo really was supreme. This is going to have to be on my to do list too....lol.

[letumgo]

I love these collaborative posts. Congrats Jeff.

[Mataura mayfly]

I love these collaborative posts. Congrats Jeff.

The "congrats" should go to Rodger, without him showing his excellent rendition I would have not tied/tried the pattern over here.