Woven Caddis Flymph

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Vicki tied a mess of those things for a swap she was in. Just walking past her tying bench gave me the willies. I was glad when she mailed them off.

[cassady]

Ray, that's awesome. I hope you'll consider that for your demo next year!

cass

[cassady]

Ray,

Do you know the name of the weave you used? It's a gorgeous fly, and I really like the pattern. And the slight bugginess /'hairyness' that it has -- is that just from the uni-stretch, or did you lightly dub something on?

Best,

c

[chase creek]

Ray! That's one of the puurdiiest flies I've seen in a long time. Wonderful combination of materials and colors.

REE- The spider. I tied a few of those up a while back and left one on my desk at work. The next day i found it smashed on the desk. Cleaning lady - no sense of humor, I guess.

[Roadkill]

Beautiful fly and example of tying skill!

[letumgo]

Chris (cassady) - The fuzziness of the abdomen is caused by the UNI-Yarn. There are just random fibers that poke out from the yarn, which create a sort of halo effect around the body. I did not do anything intentional to create this effect. That's just how the yarn behaves.

Sorry, I do not know the name of the weaving technique that I used. It is not the knotted technique, but rather a wrapping weave technique. This method is generally used with wire, instead of yarn. I have a feeling, after having tried it, that the wire is easier to work with. You need to keep firm, uniform tension on the yarn, to prevent slippage. With the wire, each bend helps lock the material in place, with less slippage issues. Like anything else, it just takes practice. I am just beginning to learn the technique. I would want to practice a lot more before demonstrating it in front of an audience.

Bill (tie2fish) - This may be a good time to introduce "cassady". His real name is Christopher Lee, and he is a friend of mine from this area (Western NY). Last year I gave a tying demonstration at the Oak Orchard Fly shop and Chris watched me use your tying wax. Chris and I exchanged E-mails and I sent him the list of ingredients to your wax. Chris has since now made a couple batches, as he tries to match the properties of your wax. He recently gave me another sample which is very close (just a tiny bit softer and stickier). I wanted to introduce you guys and let you know Chris is a fellow alchemist of tying wax.

[tie2fish]

Ray ~ Thanks for the intro to Christopher Lee, and I wish him much good luck on the wax thing. I have not yet been able to duplicate the lucky mix I stumbled onto the first time. Even with only three ingredients, there are an almost infinite number of variables (source of rosin, strain of bees that make the wax, and type and brand of oil).

[cassady]

Sorry, I do not know the name of the weaving technique that I used.

Thanks, Ray -- I was wondering because the weave on this fly looks significantly different than the ones I tied -- and in a way that didn't seem to be attributable to the vast difference in our skill levels. Reading it now, however, perhaps it is, because the technique sounds very similar. I wonder about other contributing factors as well: perhaps the Uni Stretch, or perhaps the torque you applied (which sounds considerable if you were horsing around your vice!). Anyway, I look forward to chatting more about it on Friday at Tim's demo at OOFS.

Bill (tie2fish) - This may be a good time to introduce "cassady". His real name is Christopher Lee, and he is a friend of mine from this area (Western NY). Last year I gave a tying demonstration at the Oak Orchard Fly shop and Chris watched me use your tying wax. Chris and I exchanged E-mails and I sent him the list of ingredients to your wax. Chris has since now made a couple batches, as he tries to match the properties of your wax. He recently gave me another sample which is very close (just a tiny bit softer and stickier). I wanted to introduce you guys and let you know Chris is a fellow alchemist of tying wax.

It's great to meet you, Bill -- and thanks for the inspiration and work you put into the wax. It's great stuff!! I look forward to chatting about it when I cook up my next batch (or maybe before!)

Thanks, again, Ray -- I really should have done a formal intro a while ago. Anyhow, I started tying a little over a year ago, and had the good fortune to see a demo by Ray when I was first starting out. We chatted afterwards, and as you can imagine, he was most supportive and helpful. Among other things, I was quite interested in the wax -- as I hadn't seen anyone else other than Davie McPhail (on video) using it, and I was eager to try it. Ray was kind enough to follow up with me, and send me information and encouragement. I cooked up a few batches (although I would consider myself more 'Natural Philosopher' than 'alchemist' ) and had some small success, and many discoveries. I never tie now without a bb-sized ball of itmashed against the side of my left index finger.

Meeting Ray also inspired me to build a dubbing spinner out of an erector set I found at a thrift store... but that's a different story!

chris

[cassady]

Ray ~ Thanks for the intro to Christopher Lee, and I wish him much good luck on the wax thing. I have not yet been able to duplicate the lucky mix I stumbled onto the first time. Even with only three ingredients, there are an almost infinite number of variables (source of rosin, strain of bees that make the wax, and type and brand of oil).

No kidding! Although I've tried hard to control my variables (using the same block of beeswax and bottle of castor oil), there seems to be differences in the rosin even though I bought the same brand from the same store (albeit at different times). It's a natural product, I suppose, and there will be some differences. But that's the fun of it, and the joy of discovery!

Thanks again for sharing your findings.

best,

chrisu

[fly_fischa]

Stunning looking fly Ray I love every aspect of it and would fish it in a heartbeat.
I reckon Terje would love this one, might even convert the granny weave master to wet fly fishing

K

Cassady- without seeing Ray at the vice it's hard to tell, but I think it might be what's known as "the Parallel Weave (also referred to as a Shuttle Weave at times)" It creates a round back and flat underbelly and if done well the change of direction spots (where the 2x strands cross) line up along the side of the body. Looks easy when done by a practiced hand, but far from it in reality, uniform tension and fluid movement are the key. It's amazing to watch a Czech/polish nymph expert knock one of these weaves out at lightning speed.