32 Articles
Biot Body Soft Hackle
Biots the fibers from the leading edge of primary flight feathers of Turkeys, Geese, and Ducks can be used for making fly bodies illustrated above. Depending on how the biot is wrapped, you can form a smooth body or ribbed body.
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Klinkhamer Emerger
The paraloop method can also be used to tie emergers. Instead of pulling the hacked brush flush with the top of the thorax, the hackle brush can be left long and looped over the thorax.
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Paraloop Fly
The paraloop method of hackling flies utilizes a hackle brush that is pulled over the thorax of the fly. This technique is described in Ian Moutter’s excellent book Tying Flies the Paraloop Way. The book describes the method in detail and gives numerous examples of flies tied using this method. It does require one piece of extra equipment. There are several advantages to using this technique.
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Just A Bug
Many years ago when I was in medical school, I had one of the doctors I was working with tell me that I needed to see what a doctor does on his day off. He picked me up the next morning at 5 am and we went Bream fishing on Lake Conway.
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Quill Body Frenchie
The Frenchie is a competition fly popularized in France. Tying is described in Mrogan Lyle’s book Simple Flies. My buddies and I are going to fish the Driftless Area in Wisconsin, the home of the Pink Squirrel, and I tied these to try. The Frenchie has a pink hot spot also.
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Polish Hand Stripped Quills
The herl in and just below the eye of a peacock feather can be used to form the segmented body of small flies. The quills are flat and distinctly marked giving the fly a realistic abdomen. You can easily make your own. However, if you don’t want to or don’t have the time, they are available commercially.
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Dewey Freeman
The Sowbug was a big success. There were over one hundred fly tiers and hundreds of visitors. Saturday was by far the busiest day. It was an opportunity to visit old friends such as Captain Unk Smith, Fishy Fullum and others. But just as important to a make new friends. However, as I looked around, I could not help but notice the vast the majority of the tiers were grey headed, if they had any hair at all. I thought I would take this opportunity to profile some of the younger tiers and vendors.
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Mike George Fly Tying
I posted this fly in 2010. Since then the video has been viewed 10,243 times.
The Gurgle Pop is a foam popper that is deadly on Bream and Bass. I have caught hundreds of Bass on this fly in the Boundary Waters. The fly is easy to tie.
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Green Lantern
At the Sowbug two years ago, I was tying a Green Lantern Soft Hackle fly. This fly is described in Allen McGee’s excellent book Fly Fishing Soft-Hackles. When I had finished the fly, a spectator said, “Do you want me to show you the correct way to tie a soft hackle?”
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