Tenkara messing

[Mataura mayfly]

There have been a few Tenkara based postings of late, be a shame to miss out and starting a new on saves hi-jacking someone elses thread.

Olive



Kamasan B175 #12
Olive sewing thread
Olive dyed hackle
Stripping off a Pheasant tail quill stem wrapped over thread body
Sparkle dubbing thorax.

Red/Quill



Varivas 2410V
Uni red #6
Soft badger hackle
Stripping off a Mallard wing quill wrapped over red thread body
Red dyed possum fur thorax.

Both examples tied off behind the hackle. The dubbing helps hide the tie off and where the quill are caught in. The red one is handicapped a little by me forcing the hackle a little too far forward.
They were really experiments with a body style shown to me while I was overseas, since there has been a Tenkara theme of late I tried using it first on them.

Jeff.

[letumgo]

Beautiful flies, Jeff. They make me want to head straight to my vice, instead of getting some sleep. Inspiring...

[cicvara]

-Really nicely done. Excellent fly.

[Mataura mayfly]

Thank you guys, your comments mean a lot.

My photography needs some work, I am not really set up to take studio photos and it was pretty dull out today for natural light.
Here are a few more experiments.

Red/ Paradise



Sprite #14 Perfect International
Red #8 Uni thread
Paradise Duck breast (male) hackle
Red dyed possum touch dubbed
Fine copper wire tag and rib

Yarn/JC Spade



Finney Irish Lough #12
Black silk
Jungle Cock spade feather
Multi coloured yarn from a local mill
Silver wire rib

Yarn weaved Peacock/ Pukeko



Kamasan B175 #12
Black silk
Pukeko blue breast feather, barbs stripped and spun around over the eye
Navy blue yarn and two bronze Peacock herls.

Hard to see from the dodgy photos, but the last body is made by twisting the herls around the yarn each time it passes the top of the hook. Gives a kind of woven body effect with the peacock staying on the top of the body- but being twisted in the yarn adds to the security once bitten.

[tie2fish]

Exquisite variations, Jeff. You re getting some really nice effects with those semi-exotic materials.

[Mataura mayfly]

tie2fish, I have been very lucky over the past few months since I joined this forum to receive some rather exotic (to me) materials from other forum members. Bout time I started using some.

Yarn/ Moorhen



Gamakatsu C14S #12 (letumgo/ Mark Romero)
Yellow #14 thread
Moorhen under covert hackle
Yarn body (Willian Anderson)
Hare mix thorax.

Just a very small sample of some of the wonderful materials that have arrived at my door.
The thorax mix is hare fur with some kind of flash added, it came in an estate sale lot and the bag is just marked "sample 3".

[William Anderson]

Jeff, this is quite a post and a lot to take in. I'm sure we'll be coming back to this time and again trying to catch all the different materials and techniques you've put in one place. I'm especially fond of the fourth fly down with that juicy body, but it wouldn't surprise me if the fifth down, with that paradise duck hackle and red dubbed body, didn't get the most takes. I don't how anything could let that pass without testing it out. Nice work all around and I'm glad to see so many creative flies for inspiration. Great set.

w

[Mataura mayfly]

Thanks William. Have no real idea what I am messing with, but I'm having some fun.

Tried one of your methods with the twisted Pheasant tail fibres.



Wee bit of another colour blend of Mark's dubbing on the thorax, maybe Peacock herl would have looked better? Wish the sun would come out and I could get some natural light photos.

Irish Buzzer barbless #14. Had a dammaged eye so I snelled in a small length of heavily waxed nylon thread for an eye.
Hackle is a feather from the underside of a Blue Jay wing and too soft for this application really.
Body of four Golden Pheasant tail barbs twisted with a copper wire rib.

[William Anderson]

Jeff, nice addition to the set. I need to tie a few on eyeless hooks as well, just to go down that path.

[Mataura mayfly]

Easier to deal with on Salmon Irons those snelled eyes William, beggars of things on wee hooks.

Spent half the day trying to make a light diffusing box for photos. Either I am diffusing too much or not using enough light..... better, but not good.
Will get back to it sometime as all of the photos look pretty yuck, the green back does nothing for it and all the colours are kind of mis-represented! Perhaps I should read the book that came with the camers..... use my good old film EOS's again, or bite the bullet and get a digital EOS.