[Matt Henderson]

Evening all,

A bit of resurgance at the vice for me. 

I've followed the guidance earlier on in the season and have cut down to three or four patterns but in lots of different sizes.  Anyways I was thinking earlier on that I needed something big, and bright for coloured high water.  Had a look round the web and tied up this bad boy.  It's got a 3/4" copper tube underneath all that, and has a brass turbo cone with the option of putting on a tungsten cone if the water is high. 



cheers

matt

[Graham Ritchie]

That should work really well.

[danbruce]

Great looking fly Matt, what kind of feather have you used for the hackle? On tubes I have tied I have used hen, but what you are using looks great.

Also how did you decide on your Salmon fly patterns for the season?
My salmon fly box is full off stuff I have tied, bought or acquired. Could be done with slimming it down like you have done.

Cheers,
Dan

[Ben Dixon]

Nice fly Matt, I like the look of that.  Best not loose it mate, some dear stuff tied to that tube!

Ben

[Matt Henderson]

Dan - the hackles at the front are "Spey plumes" they've got sort of marabou type fibres but on a nice supple stem. As for trimming down the patterns somebody asked a similar question and Ben suggested a very small number of patterns I'll look for the thread later on. Something I've found out is that it's useless having 50 flies in my box for the day if only a handful are the right size for the conditions.

Ben - yeah they Spey plumes aren't cheap and neither are the turbo discs. I tied one exactly the same earlier on and broke it taking it off the needle! Wasn't impressed.

[Ben Dixon]

Matt,

Are those "Spey Plumes" baby ostrich feathers, looks awful like them but difficult to tell?

Cheers

Ben

[danbruce]

Cheers Matt,

Found that topic on salmon flies, interesting reading. Thanks again.

Dan

[Matt Henderson]

Ben - they may well be.  It's certainly easier tieing them in as hackles rather than cutting marabou and spinning it in that way, but for smaller sizes of flies it may be necessary.

These are what I use, if you scroll down to spey plumes

http://hareline.com/feathers.html

[Hamish Young]

Lovely fly Matt, nice job 

H

[Rob Brownfield]

Are those "Spey Plumes" baby ostrich feathers, looks awful like them but difficult to tell?

Look like it to me too. I got a heap in Banchory from Megs Attic.

[Matt Henderson]

Are they soft enough to tie in as a hackle Rob? If so I might have to investigate further.

Ordered some tungsten tubes for the underbody and some more turbo cones too. I may be at the vice for some time this week!

[Rob Brownfield]

Yes, very soft, but about 4-5 inches long. I got them for making up mobile Pike flies. There were smaller ones, but I have not seen them in the shop for a while.

[Ben Dixon]

Ben - they may well be.  It's certainly easier tieing them in as hackles rather than cutting marabou and spinning it in that way, but for smaller sizes of flies it may be necessary.

These are what I use, if you scroll down to spey plumes

http://hareline.com/feathers.html

Have you tried tying in marabou by the tip of the feather and winding?  You can get different sizes of Marabou from some suppliers, the Orvis stuff available now is "medium".  Orvis used to do, long, med & short but now only do one size, the one that used to be medium.  Shorter stuff tied in by the tip works fine on that style of fly and it is cheap.  When I had a phase of tying such flies, I used marabou tied in my the tips then wound one turn of ostrich over the top if feeling flush, otherwise the marabou was enough.

Cheers

Ben

[Rob Brownfield]

Just a thought, but the "new" feathers from Whiting might do the same trick, and at a fraction of the price. Bird Fur seems to be a cross between marabou/hackle/fine ostrich.

[Matt Henderson]

Ben - I've used mini marabou on occasion that worked well. I'll have a look for the marabou next time I'm out in Banchory.

Rob - what are these feathers you speak of?