FLYMPH FORUM

At my house Saturday night is often time for tying, partly because my favorite radio show is on—DARK WAS THE NIGHT with Brendan Hogan on WUMB streaming live on the internet, featuring "Blues, Roots, and Songwriters." It happens to be a local station, out of UMass Boston.
I turn that on, pull out the hen skins, spun bodies, hooks, and all that, and forget the stresses of the week.
Last night I tied about six flies. Here are two of them. Not particularly fine, nor connected by any theme. Just having fun.



Hook: 10 1X fine wide gap (Low-cost, no-name brand, probably Targus)
Silk: ash
Hackle: grizzly hen
Tail: barbs from a large, mottled feather of unknown origin, maybe turkey?
Body: medium gray New Zealand wool, courtesy Mataura Mayfly (Thanks Jeff!)
Rib: gold tinsel
Thorax: Australian opossum (Mataura Mayfly again)




Hook: 12 Grip 14723
Silk: chestnut
Hackle: rusty dun hen
Abdomen:salmon wool
Thorax: mix of gray Australian opossum and pale brown arctic fur

Fine looking pair Lance.
Fly fishing and fly tying can be two of the most relaxing and rewarding hobbies out there, perfect "therapy".

The first shows signs of your heritage, but the second is a neat looking "original".
If you liked the possum..... keep an eye on the mailbox.

Exceptional flies! I can't get over the resolution of your images. Fantastic details.

I really enjoy your style.

Both are fine dressings, but that one on the Grip hook just screams at me to be tied on a tippet. Both have the subtle coloring of live insects and look like they's have a lot of animation in the water from that fine hackle. I know some places that I'd fish those and I know I'd get some hits. Well done, Lance.

I agree with Ray. Whatever your doing to get those images, keep doing it, they are superb.

Jeff, Ray, Ron, and Donald,
Thanks for the kind words.
As for the image technique, it is done on an Epson Perfection desktop scanner and then optimized with a little tweaking and sharpening in Photoshop.
My camera set-up is much more time-consuming, but has the advantage of no shadows, and no flattening under the scanner lid.
The scanner is much faster for making forum posts, and the detail is amazing—so it is worth putting up with the shadows and squashed hackles sometimes.
These two flies were scanned at 2400 dpi.

Lance

Lance, this are beautifully non-descript, as they should be. Nicely blended materials and well proportioned. You're right about the images too. The detail is amazing.

w

If you hadn't told us differently, Lance, I'd have sworn that first fly was tied by your Dad. You have become an excellent tyer.

Well done Lance, You are developing your own style, like that

greeting

I'll vote for Fly No. Two as well--proportions are spot-on for what (to me) is a tricky hook profile, and the colors are outstanding. One thing you might try for a fishing fly is to torque the wool yarn a bit more (or use it as dubbing)--otherwise you'll spend more time tying on new flies rather than fishing, though there are worse problems to have.