To Ray and all the pals and pallettes,
Wow! Imagine my surprise when I clicked on this thread! They look great Ray and I will take your word on photographing the Tan Flymphs! I appreciate the effort on these and all the patterns posted! I will try and get together some receipes and hook types soon!
I am looking at the tan flymphs in particular. They seem overhackled. I swear they didn't look that way when they left my house.....Just kidding Ray! The camera reveals every little detail and every big detail too! Your camera work is excellent. I am very fortunate to have so many folks clicking the shutters on my behalf!
Thanks everone for your kind words on my tying. It means so very much to me considering the core of excellent tyers offering their praises! I am the one who stands in awe (usually sitting in awe at the computer desk) of the beauty that is offered on this forum.
Thank you again everyone for giving me confidence to journey on and guidance to keep in the right direction!
Until the next batch,
Dougsden
Doug's Beauties
Moderators: William Anderson, letumgo
Re: Doug's Beauties
Fish when you can, not when you should! Anything short of this is just a disaster.
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CreationBear
- Posts: 1156
- Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 6:35 pm
Re: Doug's Beauties
The two "Golden Boy" ties are my favorites, especially the dark ginger--wonderful pairing with the gamebird hackle. 
BTW, I think that's a Gamakatsu R10-B "retainer bend" hook.
BTW, I think that's a Gamakatsu R10-B "retainer bend" hook.
Re: Doug's Beauties
Dougsden, the Red Fox Squirrel Swimming Nymph was OUTSTANDING. Plus the Doug's Golden Boy is a show stopper. I loved all those flies, superbly tied. But the two I mentioned were my favorites of the bunch. The swimming nymph has to be the 1st place winner though. I hope I can tie some as pretty as you did, one of these days!!
Kelly
Kelly
Re: Doug's Beauties
To Creationbear and Kelly L.,
Creationbear, I am going with what you said about the hook on the two goldenboys. I know that they are Gamakatsu brand but I do not have a series # or any indication on the package. These, and a few others, were recent gifts from Mark Romero (Willowhead) and I had these prairie chicken feathers given to me this past autumn and one thing lead to another....
The p.c. is quite a unique feather. It is a slight bit thinner stemmed than say Hungarian Partridge but still wraps quite easily around the hook shank. The feathers used on these patterns were from around the head and part way down the neck. As you progress down the back toward the shoulder joints, the feathers get somewhat larger and wider and webbier. I have not soaked these or given them a fair trial on my local waters but I am expecting good things to happen with them. The Gamakatsu hook is a really unusual shape and I am anxious to see how they indeed hold on to certain speckled fishes in our local ponds. Let's all give Willowhead a big round of applause for spreading these around esp. to me. It was a super-nice thing to do Mark and I really appreciate it!
Kelly L., I am glad that you like the swimming nymph hook profile and my rendition of Dave Whitlocks famous Rd Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph. It's really not that hard to tie. There are just a few more steps than usual but overall once you get stuff together and start in tying them, it goes pretty quickly. One thing that I have discovered (and I am sooo guilty of this on this pattern and others too) is do not overhackle it. When it says to trim off one side of the hackle (the leading edge side) before starting the wraps, do it! Even though our heads say otherwise, force yourself to do it. It will pay off in overall appearance and performance down the road. Try tying one of each, soak them, and look at the difference side by side. The thinner (sparser) hackled looks more natural. The other looks like an umbrella at the head of the fly and does not relent even when well soaked! Also, take a velcro wand (Ruard makes a great version of this) and rough up the body just a little to give it a wonderful hallo effect with the ribbing showing thru almost glowing. I did not rough these up for some unknown reason?
Always learning and willing to share,
Dougsden
Creationbear, I am going with what you said about the hook on the two goldenboys. I know that they are Gamakatsu brand but I do not have a series # or any indication on the package. These, and a few others, were recent gifts from Mark Romero (Willowhead) and I had these prairie chicken feathers given to me this past autumn and one thing lead to another....
The p.c. is quite a unique feather. It is a slight bit thinner stemmed than say Hungarian Partridge but still wraps quite easily around the hook shank. The feathers used on these patterns were from around the head and part way down the neck. As you progress down the back toward the shoulder joints, the feathers get somewhat larger and wider and webbier. I have not soaked these or given them a fair trial on my local waters but I am expecting good things to happen with them. The Gamakatsu hook is a really unusual shape and I am anxious to see how they indeed hold on to certain speckled fishes in our local ponds. Let's all give Willowhead a big round of applause for spreading these around esp. to me. It was a super-nice thing to do Mark and I really appreciate it!
Kelly L., I am glad that you like the swimming nymph hook profile and my rendition of Dave Whitlocks famous Rd Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph. It's really not that hard to tie. There are just a few more steps than usual but overall once you get stuff together and start in tying them, it goes pretty quickly. One thing that I have discovered (and I am sooo guilty of this on this pattern and others too) is do not overhackle it. When it says to trim off one side of the hackle (the leading edge side) before starting the wraps, do it! Even though our heads say otherwise, force yourself to do it. It will pay off in overall appearance and performance down the road. Try tying one of each, soak them, and look at the difference side by side. The thinner (sparser) hackled looks more natural. The other looks like an umbrella at the head of the fly and does not relent even when well soaked! Also, take a velcro wand (Ruard makes a great version of this) and rough up the body just a little to give it a wonderful hallo effect with the ribbing showing thru almost glowing. I did not rough these up for some unknown reason?
Always learning and willing to share,
Dougsden
Fish when you can, not when you should! Anything short of this is just a disaster.
Re: Doug's Beauties
Thank you for the wonderful comments on these patterns. I am a big fan of your work!