Our 2008/09 Winter Flytying Challenge

[Sandy Nelson]

OK folks

This year I figured we would actually use the power of the internet to set a challenge that can't be done by any other medium.

Inspired by Daniel's fascination for underwater life, Mr B and myself have been taking video footage (reasonable for two amateurs) of some of the insect life that lives at Haddo. The ultimate aim is to provide an online library of how the bugs swim and act in the water. We have done the Loch first but the river should follow eventually.

We also thought this would a great way to run this year's flytying challenge.

So the idea is, we will put up a couple of short videos of particular bugs doing what they do best. We will include some still photos of how the bugs look to gauge colours etc, but given that a trout's vision is not supposed to be as sharp as ours, hopefully our woeful attempts at photography are actually fairly representative of what the fish actually see. And we will include a small description of the insect, giving approximate sizes.

The marking categories for this years flytying event will be


1-Size/proportion

2-Tying skill/consistancy

3-Original/innovative use of materials

4-Movement/action (a description of how its intended to be fished to be included)

5-Imitation, will it look like the Bug (to the fish) when in use

Each category will be marked out of 5 you will have to tie 2 of each pattern you enter .

Judges will be myself, Mr Barrio and the good Mr Young.

We are hoping you will all find it a fascinating insight into what the fish are seeing and just what our flies do when they are in the water. It is surprising just how some of them act, I learned a lot from just catching them and doing the videos and I've been studying bugs for years to help me understand what the fish are feeding on.

Mr B will post details of this year's prizes as well as the videos, as he has them on his machine.

Each month we hope to give everyone 6wks to get the flies in, so the first one will be for the end of November. This should allow some of our brothers of the angle whom reside more than a decent cast from the Don, a chance to get their entries in on time.

Good luck to everyone and I hope you all find this as interesting a challenge as we think it is

Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

The challenge for November.

The Corixa

You have already had a heads up on these little devils, in another post .

There are two insters for the little corixa,
The first stage is the nymphs, entirely aquatic and yellowish coloured underneath.
The adult stage can actually fly and have white undersides.
The trout will take both with conviction, although there are times when they will definatley favour one or the other.
Apart from the colour the only other difference is the size, the Nymphs are from 5mm to 10mm in length and 2mm to 3mm wide.
The adults are usually between 10mm and 12mm and 3mm to 4mm in width.
They have a very distinctive motion, you decide what you think is the most important feature of this and at what point the trout are most likely to intercept them. The criteria are explained in the very first post.

Have fun

Sandy

[Barry Robertson]

Are we trying to make a copy of the corixa or can we do jazzed up versions

[Hamish Young]

Sandys' first post kind of covers the criteria 

Jazzed up or not, the marking categories are an indication of what we hope to see but how you interpret each challenge is up to you 

Hamish 

[Iain Goolager]

Right!,

That's mine done. Had a problem with the legs/paddles so have resorted to a basic concept - pity as I recon that the paddles will be the most innovative aspect, apart from that I'm reasonably happy with the pattern.

Mike I'll drop them off soon

Iain

[Cameron deBoth]

Ive got an idea of what I want to do, now just need to work out how/what to complete my plan. Oh and also find the Time to actually tie them lol

Really looking forward to this 

[Phil Slessor]

HI all
found  this on the  web

Corixa


Hook: Tiemco 5230 # 14
Thread: Black 8.0 or 10.0
Shellback: Strip of black foam
Body: Black oval plastic bead
Paddles: 2 black or brown goose biots
Head: Turns of tread and nail-varnish

[Phil Slessor]

sorry guys  cant get the picture to copy 

[Phil Slessor]

 but  how  about  the link ( me daft or what ) dont answer that mike 
www.danica.com/flytier/rbelzen/corixa.htm

[Sandy Nelson]

Rootnaboot

Interesting post, kind of defeats the object though



Sandy

[Hamish Young]

Originality/imagination is the key folks 

[Dutchfly]

Now there's a challenge

I'll try and send my flies in on time, this year

Cheers,

Jeroen

[Cameron deBoth]

Tied one up last night, I must say its like a Frankenstien of flies. Need to re-think lol 

[Barry Robertson]

 
This is not as is easy as it first seamed!

[Cameron deBoth]

This is not as is easy as it first seamed!

Hahahahah yea I had an awesome plan and it worked great "IN MY HEAD" different story when your at the vice! 

[Cameron deBoth]

gonna have another look at it tonight 

[Barry Robertson]

Same here until i realised how hard body stretch (shelback) was to use , what a nightmare!

[Paul Rankine]

Hi All,
         Came across this which might help all you exact imitation guys 

http://www.hatches.tv/play.php?vid=325

Excellent magazine too by the way.

Happy tying !!

Paul.

[Barry Robertson]

Looks good - if you scroll right down the fishing calendar looks better though! 

[Paul Rankine]

 

[Sandy Nelson]

 

However I think corixa boobies wont score.
Mind you if you can get the legs spread right.

Depends what type of guy you are i suppose

Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

I have the first couple of entries

Nice flies, if everyone gets near the same mark this is going to be really hard to judge

We'll have to get something up about wee prizes soon too.

Sandy

[Cameron deBoth]

OMG your gonna shit yourself when you guys see the MONSTER I just tied, its CRAZY hehe. 

Gonna tie a more sensible one but will send this bad boy also!!! hehe actually might just use this one lol

[Sandy Nelson]

but will send this bad boy also!!!

Make sure you put the right stamps on it

Sandy

[Barry Robertson]

LOL You tell him sandy