Fly tying: Threads & ribbing.

While reading the latest post on Jack Lindra's blog Grayling on the fly,  http://graylingonfly.blogspot.com/2011/11/order-clearly-spoken.htm , I was reminded again of how important it is to look at other sources for interesting fly tying materials.

A while back I went into a embroiders/sewing shop to look for coloured threads and found the metallic threads pictured below. The lady who ran the shop was curious to know why I wanted embroidery threads, and was most shocked when I told her I was going to use them to tie flies to fish with.

Two containers of metallic thread. The spool of silver in the bottom right hand corner of the container on the right actually belongs in the container on the left. The missing colour is a beautiful shimmering dark green, found after I took the photos.

Different shades of gold, a silver, red, blue, green and copper/bronze.The thread is very fine and useful on small flies. Double it up for bigger flies.

The colours in the container above have a bronze/copper tint running through all of them.

Each reel has 200 meters of thread, more than enough for a lifetime. Composition 60% Viscose and 40% metalliss. Extremely strong.

Metallic Miadeira, made in Germany.

Flies

Below are a couple of flies I've just tied.

Click on photos to enlarge.

On the left is an Elk hair and CDC caddis and on the right is a South African fly the DDD, (Duckworths Dargle Delight)
The origin of this name is a story on it's own and too long to tell here.

The DDD above with deer hair tail, spun deer hair body, and a dark brown, almost black saddle hackle about twice the hook gap, maximum two turns around the hook. The spun deer hair is trimmed slanting backwards in a cone shape, not too neatly (trim the deer hair before tying in the hackle). Underneath it's trimmed flat so it doesn't obscure the hook. I tied this one 0n a #12 dry fly hook, though a heavier and bigger hooks work just as well.

A very buoyant fly, can be fish through rough water, and can be used as a strike indicator with a nymph suspended from the bend of the hook. Works well in still waters to. In still waters it's fished almost static with a twitch now and again. The takes on this fly can be quite dramatic.

Can be tied in any colour, and I've found that  large, yellow DDD's fished at dusk are almost irresistible to bass.

Above elk hair caddis. I tied this one with a tail of elk hair, dubbed body of synthetic olive green dubbing, and under wing of  olive CDC, and an over  wing of elk hair, almost twice as long as the body. This fly is tied on a #14 dry fly hook.  this fly can be used to imitate small grass hoppers. Also a very buoyant fly.

Looking  to buy a digital camera in the R2800, ($350 to $400) price range. Any one have any suggestions on a good camera.

Fly tying.

The pleasures and challenges of fly tying.

When I started fly fishing about seven years ago, I bought all my flies, large, clunky things.  Back then I really thought bigger was better, bigger flies, bigger fish. As I was mainly fly fishing for large mouth black bass, it seemed to work. (If a bass ever went to a MacDonald’s, fast food restaurant, he would order a double Big Mac with everything).

Then I started reading about fly tying, to me it seemed that only the most gifted and artistically talented people could tie flies. Mere mortals like me could not even dream of tying anything like you saw illustrated in magazines and books on fly tying.

The “experts” were tying tiny flies, size 16, 18 and just imagine even size 20’s. Size 16 seemed unimaginably small never mind size 20.  Today on the web I come across tier’s tying size 32.

Then I found, in a second hand book shop, John Veniard’s “Fly Dressers Guide.”  4^th edition printed 1977.  This book cost me a small fortune, but it was worth every penny. This book slowly started to reveal the secrets of fly tying to me, mastery of technique, and mastery of materials and very important, proportion.My first flies were big, size 8, 10 and 12 being the smallest, they looked like nothing on earth unravelled, sank like a stone when they were supposed to float, floated when they were supposed to sink. I never realized that there were hooks for dry flies, a different hook for nymphs, merger’s, you name it there was a special hook for it. To me a hook was a hook. I have a very large plastic container full of my first attempts at fly tying, no self respecting fish would give them a second glance.  One day I need to unravel them all as there is a small fortune in hooks involved.

Slowly I’m starting to get the hang of it, right hook for the right fly; I have even become reasonably proficient at dubbing, a skill I thought I would never master.

Above is a small selection of flies I tied recently, all size 14. One or two of them look as if they might just fool a fish.

Flies

Spent some time this evening tying some flies for a fly fishing trip I hope to take Saturday.
Size 12.

Something I saw on some one's blog. My impression of an "ausable bomber."

With two "wiggle tail" flies I tied. The photo's aren't very good took them with my Black Berry camera.

Grantchester

Took a trip to Grantchester dam on Defence farm in the Kamberg valley yesterday. There were two other club members, Jan and John, who arrived just after me also fishing. I proceeded to fish the south shore and they fish the north shore. Between the three of us we caught one rainbow trout and it wasn't me.  I had several takes on the wiggle tail fly, but all right at the end of the retrieve, just when my concentration was starting to slip. Jan caught his fish just as he was preparing to lift the fly off the water to cast. He was more surprised than the fish.


I sat for a long while eyeing a fish who hung in the water not two rod lengths away. The fish was facing me. How to cast a fly to it without spooking it, the water was very clear, that's why I was sitting.(to keep a low profile and hope the fish don't see me). Not so easy casting any distance from a sitting position. Anyway the fish solved my dilemma by disappearing with a flick of his tail.


Took the following to photos on the way to Grantchester. Click on photos to enlarge.

Winter landscape. Blue gums in the foreground, and Natal stretching away to the north.

Note the fire break starting from the bottom left hand corner of the photo. According to law all fire breaks have to be burned before the end of this month. When burning fire breaks a land owner has to inform all his neighbours. By the middle of next month the winds start to blow and veld fires are a regular occurrence. A run away fire can cause huge damage and endanger lives and property. 


During the fire season people do not readily leave their farms, but keep a watch for fires which have to be tackled immediately to prevent them getting out of hand.


The next photos are of Grantchester dam. Everything was reflected in the water.

Upside down trees in their winter bareness.

The view above I found particularly intriguing, the repetition, in the water, of patterns, texture and variations of brown. Taken across the water and over the Dam wall. On the hill in the top right hand corner, is where the owner of the farm has a vulture restaurant. Any animals that die on the farm, or any offal from when he slaughters something, is left here for the vultures. 

Grantchester is a large piece of water, in a steep sided valley, so it is quite deep. The club only allows four rods at a time to fish this piece of water. Although a dozen could fish it and you wouldn't notice them they would be so spread out. Yesterday was one of the few time that I got there and others were also fishing it.


Those out there who like to tie their own flies might like to go to this link www.streamxflyfishing.co.za/fly.htm Some interesting flies there this month

Storm

Today was a public holiday in SA, human rights day. So no work, slept late, got up,(05h30) normal time is 04h30). made coffee and had some breakfast, a nice big juicy mango. Talking of coffee, Estcourt has a huge Nestle coffee factory right in the middle of town, claims to be the biggest coffee factory in the southern hemisphere. In this town you don't have to stop to smell the coffee, you don't have much choice. Lying in the middle of a very productive agricultural area all our factories process agricultural products. Wood processed into hardboard, pigs into bacon, milk into milk powder, maize into maize meal and a couple of animal feed producers.

Took my dogs, my 6 weight fly rod and walked to the bigger of the two dams yesterday afternoon about 16h30. Took some photos of the smaller dam on the way, and saw way to the south west, over the Berg, clouds building up. Continued on to the bigger dam, about 15 minutes walk, and looked back at the clouds, they had covered the whole south western horizon. Decided to try my luck any using a foam beetle cast into reeds and grass in the shallows. Managed to hook one  6 inch bass who performed some acrobatics and threw the hook. By now the sky was black and I decided to head for shelter. You don't want to be caught out in an African thunder storm waving a carbon fibre rod about! Got home just in time the sky opened with a crack and the rain came down.

This has basically been the story the whole summer regarding bass fishing in these two dams. Summer means good bass fishing, but with the weather being so unstable the fishing hasn't been good. We had a dry summer last year and during the winter the dams shrunk to about a third of their normal seize. As the water receded green grass appeared. The herd of cattle on the farm loved to graze this grass fertilizing the bottom of the dam. With the good rains this summer the dams filled up quickly. With the well fertilized dams the water is swarming with all sorts invertibrate life, I think the bass are so well fed that anything I try and tempt them with does not interest them. But I'm not too disheartened there is still about six weeks bass fishing left.

In winter I fish for trout, mostly in still waters, but I still do some bass fishing. Although bass become very lethargic in cold water and their metabolism slows down reducing the need to eat, though they still need some food. Summer months my bass fishing is restricted to early morning or late afternoon, the sun will cook you in the middle of the day. In the winter I fish for bass from about 11 to 2 o'clock. I use intermediate line and almost no retrieve letting the fly sink slowly. Bass pick up the fly and start to swim away and I tighten up. Lots of good fun.

I've been tying flies for a trip to the upper Mooi River in the Kamberg Nature reserve, which lies right in the foothills of the Drakensberg. Dry flies, RAB and DDD's, The RAB is a variant type fly and the DDD is a spun deer hair fly a bit like an Irrisitable, and weighted ZAK nymphs some Ptn's and Grhe's.(code that fly fishers understand) These SA patterns can be seen with full tying instructions and photographs on Tom Sutcliffe's web site, the link for which I put on a previous post.

God willing and weather permitting I'll make the easy 60km trip next week. Hopefully I will have got a new data cable and be able to download some photo's of the scenery in the beautiful Kamberg valley, the river and with luck of some trout. Will try out my new 3 weight TFO rod that I built from a kit ordered from the US.

Next blog I'll explain why I chose Drakensview as my blog name and where the name Drakensberg comes from and what it means.