FLYMPH FORUM

GD, for a moment you nearly sullied Hans' reputation.

Thanks everyone for the comments. The mono used was of a large diameter and some finer mono's would make for something more useful. I just couldn't pass on the likeness of the old mono and the horse tail look. I remember years ago Charlie Craven talking about dying mono for some of his midge nymphs. If there is something here that is useful, there is no shortage of material. Seems like I bring someone's discards home everytime I go out.

Kacbo, check out this link to some flies that I tied a bit ago. I had seen some dry flies tied with horse tail used as a quill body and just wanted to fool around with it. A couple of board members were kind enough to send a bit my way. To answer your question, the three enlarged images at the bottom are tied using horse tail. The first two are the old mono. The horse tail, I think has a beautiful quality when the subtle differences of color are twisted together, or twisted with silk. Still no data on their effectiveness. They are in the box, and at some point the notion will occur to me to try them out.

http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... horse+tail

w

Dub-ya, Howdy;

Sounds like ya need to use a 'post-it' stick in the main flybox you choose to use the next time out ...
Short sweet not that sez something like;
If so & so (you choose), dosen't work throw the friggin' horse at'em...

hank

Youre right about that, but I have a number of Hoyt Specials to get to first. Can you imagine how many flies and designs every tier has that will never be fished. For me its a growing percentage it seems. Maybe my fishing will outpace my tying in the years to come. Chase Creek is about to find out. Maybe he will let us know what that is like.

What a wonderful idea and a good lesson for your son. I really believe things like this make a big difference in the world and one day your son will tell the story.

Oh and not a bad fly either!




Vicki

William,

Thank's for explanation. Horse hair really looks great on flies! Mono looks interesting,too...

I like the horse hair too. I've seen lots of patterns with the horse tail hairs "quilled" over an underbody with nice effect, although at this point, I don't see a great advantage over the synthetic plastic rib materials, etc, other than I can take some comfort in using natural materials and feel like my flies are something that you won't find in a catalog. I just saw Mike Harding's North Country Fly book and he sprinkles the entire book with spiders using horse tail over different underbodys. They look great, and probably won't hurt anything. I've never tried them, that I can remember.

I know Wayne G (DUBBN) is killing left and right with the rib tubing with wire inserted (Schuck style), no doubt achieving a similar effect. So there is strong evidence that they work well. ( I'm going now to tie something up...can't help it. back in a bit. )

The mono too is cool. 100 ways to get at that essential quality. I think the black fly is more successful as a possible pattern that might get a whole row in one of my boxes. But it's interesting, and sometimes that's enough. With a different thread and fur underbody these could be suited to a lot of situations, maybe. The most interesting thing about the multiple tail fibers twisted is the irregularity of the body and mix of tones, coupled with the texture and translucency they create.

w

William Anderson wrote:I like the horse hair too. I've seen lots of patterns with the horse tail hairs "quilled" over an underbody with nice effect, although at this point, I don't see a great advantage over the synthetic plastic rib materials, etc, other than I can take some comfort in using natural materials and feel like my flies are something that you won't find in a catalog.

I know Wayne G (DUBBN) is killing left and right with the rib tubing with wire inserted (Schuck style), no doubt achieving a similar effect. So there is strong evidence that they work well. ( I'm going now to tie something up...can't help it. back in a bit. )

w

Starling Stretch and Mole 1120



w

Dub-ya, Howdy;

Now that's a fine lookin' fly ...!

hank