Amber Mole & Partridge

[letumgo]

Amber Mole & Partridge
Hook - Mustad R50-94840/Size 12
Thread - 8/0 UNI-Thread (Black)
Hackle - Hungarian Partridge (Natural)
Underbody - Sulky Sliver Metallic Tinsel (Silver / No. 8001)
Abdomen - Kreinik Soie Platte Silk (No. 2244 / Amber)
Armor Plating - Single coat of superglue to increase durability of the silk/tinsel body. Allow the fly to dry for five minutes before finishing the fly.
Thorax - Mole (Natural Black)
Head - Tying thread sealed with a single coat of superglue.

[RnF]

Very nice pattern. Don't you just love superglue? Who needs head cement now a days? That pattern would do very well out by my way.

[JohnP]

Beautiful fly. Love the shiny coat on the body. Superglue is fun stuff, but I almost glued my fingers to a hook once.

[fly_fischa]

Superb tie Ray, I love sparse minimalist spiders best, not that you can tell from my last submission.
It'd be interesting to see two versions of this one (hint, hint ), both a soaked and dry spider, one with a superglue coated and the other with an uncoated body.

[willowhead]

The miracle worker strikes again..........it's a beaut! and the head looks just fine, as does that head on Scott's recent post.........................but i think i'll pass on usin' super clue on heads though............just not my style.

[tie2fish]

Expertly crafted, as usual. Really like the little Sulky tag, and that is the perfect partridge feather for the amber body.

[Roadkill]

Beautiful fly but does the superglue armor prevent the silk from getting wet and translucent as well as the silk fuzziness that makes a halo effect?

That color shift is one of the key reasons I use traditional silk instead of nylon thread on many flies.

[Old Hat]

Nice effect Ray. The colors in the fly are wonderfully chosen, complimentary and buggy.

I have experimented with coatings as well. Some of my conclusions Bill.

If using a thinner cement, you get the color change your after and the translucent effect with silk. A thinner cement seeps into the thread or silk. Other option is to just use the thread (not silk) color you want and coat. Adding the tinsel under the silk thread enhances the translucent effect and you get a glowing halo on sunny days. This is not the same halo you get with just silk and it is not very noticeable on dark days.

If using a thicker cement, you don't get the color change. Translucent effect is minimal. However, it can be slightly increased with a thin covering of silk over tinsel base. But, building up slightly with a thicker cement you can get some real depth to the body and create a bubble halo effect around the fly.

I prefer the details in the thicker cement. No real reason to speak of.

[letumgo]

Roadkill - I will tye up another fly this evening and try to take some wet/dry photos to show the color change. The color of the silk is noticeably lighter before it is coated with superglue. The superglue is completely transparent and very thin, so it soaks into the silk just like water does. The color of the body is how the silk would look if it was wet with water. The nice thing about the superglue treatment is that it strengthens the body significantly, without the need for any ribbing. I often use silk bodies without ribbing, to more closely match natural insects. The drawback is the durability. Some flies last many many fish, while others disintegrate after only a few fish. It seems like the smaller fish do greater damage to the flies. I am guessing that their teeth are sharper than on the older fish (unproven theory).

This is one of my favorite colors of silk, for this style fly. It has a warm golden color, once it gets wet, or like in this case is treated with superglue.

Stay tuned. I hope to get some more photos posted in the next day or two. Vacation is over and I'm back to work now, so I have less time on the forum.

[letumgo]

Here is a photo of a second version of this fly. The silk abdomen is untreated (no superglue).


Here are the two flies side-by-side. The fly on the left (the lighter one) is untreated silk. The fly on the right is the one that was sealed with superglue. Both flies are dry in this photo.


Here are the two flies side-by-side, after they have been dunked in clear tap water. The fly on the left is the untreated silk. The fly on the right is the one treated with superglue. As you can see, the color of both flies are essentially idential once they have been submerged. The only difference is that the fly on the right will be more durable.


EDIT - I am using Loctite Superglue in a brush-on bottle.