Needle Brown

[tie2fish]

Yet another stonefly representation, one which Fogg says "... seeks to imitate the small and slender stoneflies known as needle flies ...; trout often gorge themselves on the egg-laying females. At such times, the articficial fly may be fished effectively by twitching it close to the surface." (Carl, please note) This version was originally given as a winged pattern by Theakston.

Hook: 16-14 (Daiichi 1640, #14)
Thread: Well-waxed hot orange tying silk (Pearsall's Gossamer #19)
Hackle: Small dark snipe feather from the marginal coverts wound sparsely
Body: Hot orange silk waxed to almost a brown color with a thorax of grizzled hare's ear; a few fibers should be picked out

[willowhead]

That makes me wonder if you couldn't just catch Trout with a bare hook. Actualy i've caught Trout with a bare Red curved hook. Apparently they can't tell that from a worm. It's a very beautiful sparse dressing Bill............VERY sparse. i think it takes a certain disciplin to tye like that, and be satisfied with the reuslts.

[Otter]

Thats a nice set of fly's that you have tied recently Bill, thanks for sharing them.

[William Anderson]

This seems very Fogg-like to me. He seems to prefer that short shank, straight eyes and this whole composition is very sparse indeed. Are you getting that rich brownish color with the silk you made up or something with darker color? Nicely done, as always.

w

[tie2fish]

This seems very Fogg-like to me. He seems to prefer that short shank, straight eyes and this whole composition is very sparse indeed. Are you getting that rich brownish color with the silk you made up or something with darker color? Nicely done, as always.

w

Thanks. Same wax ...

[DNicolson]

You really are on form Bill.
Orange silk can be altered to some very nice mahogany colours with wax.
I did this experiment about six or seven years ago,
http://donaldnicolson.webplus.net/page56.html
I had done one a couple of years earlier with several different
colours of silk. but lost it with a pc breakdown.

[tie2fish]

You really are on form Bill.
Orange silk can be altered to some very nice mahogany colours with wax.
I did this experiment about six or seven years ago,
http://donaldnicolson.webplus.net/page56.html
I had done one a couple of years earlier with several different
colours of silk. but lost it with a pc breakdown.

I appreciate that, Donald. Have you tried using different colored wax componds? I know some are quite a bit darker (cobbler's) than others, and wonder if this difference transfers to the wax.

[DNicolson]

I started my experiments :-

Primrose --- Plain white wax
Yellow --- Ditto
Orange (Gold) --- Ditto
Hot Orange --- Ditto
The results were quite good, rather subtle Olive on the Primrose & Yellow.
Rather nice Mahogany shades on the Oranges.
I tried some Cobbler's wax, not easy to use, needs a bit of heat and is rather
like a Black Treacle Toffee in consistency.
I also tried some pale Amber coloured wax from Veniard, with very
interesting results.
I was going to try various mixtures of Clear and Cobbler's wax by
heating them in a pan, light colour to dark. Fate intervened.
I may re-start the experiment.

[hankaye]

Donald, Howdy;

Should you take up the experiment again, I'm sure that I'm not the only one that would be interested in the results.

Thanks for being here;

hank

[letumgo]

Yes, I am interested too.