Pretty Penny
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 11:19 pm
I wanted to add weight to flymphs without making the tying complicated, and without beads or toxic lead. Since others have been using wire instead of silk on the Clark block, I thought I'd experiment too, especially now while the memories of those mayflies on the Willowemoc and Beaverkill are fresh in my mind.
There is a double strand of wire hidden under the silk wrap down the length of the shank in addition to the visible, double-strand, dubbed rib. I dubbed the abdomen very thinly so the wire would show better there. I space the rib more closely in the thorax.
The wire is impossible to spin with fingers on the block, so I use a Radio Shack wire clip, which is easy to spin between thumbs and forefingers.
I was wishing I had a jeweler's scale so I could measure and compare the weight of this copper wire against beads or lead wire. The weight effect might be negligible, but I like the efficiency, and the way it looks.
Hook: 12 Daiichi 1560
Silk: primrose
Hackle: pale ginger hen
Tail: lemon wood duck
Body: bleached mole with yellow and orange wool spun on "SM" copper Ultra Wire, waxed


There is a double strand of wire hidden under the silk wrap down the length of the shank in addition to the visible, double-strand, dubbed rib. I dubbed the abdomen very thinly so the wire would show better there. I space the rib more closely in the thorax.
The wire is impossible to spin with fingers on the block, so I use a Radio Shack wire clip, which is easy to spin between thumbs and forefingers.
I was wishing I had a jeweler's scale so I could measure and compare the weight of this copper wire against beads or lead wire. The weight effect might be negligible, but I like the efficiency, and the way it looks.
Hook: 12 Daiichi 1560
Silk: primrose
Hackle: pale ginger hen
Tail: lemon wood duck
Body: bleached mole with yellow and orange wool spun on "SM" copper Ultra Wire, waxed

