Fly of the Month February 2012

The Shaving Brush

 

Summer in the Tasmanian lake country means dun hatches. Dun hatches mean emergers and one of the most popular emerger patterns in recent years has been the shaving brush.  Great Lake is not particularly known for its dun hatches but there must have been some because spinners were seen around the margins on the club outing to Swan Bay in January and, more recently, to the No.2 House at Liawenee when the weather had most attendees fishing the bay again.  Anyway, some of the fish must have remembered feeding on duns because quite a few of the fish caught were taken on shaving brushes.

Hook :  14 – 10

  Tail :     Soft hackle fibres. Stiff ones as used on dry flies tend to float and this tail should sink.

  Rib :      Fine copper wire.

  Body :   Seal’s fur or substitute. Brown, fiery brown, claret, grey or black are popular colours.

  Wing :    Deer hair, tied in a bunch sloping forward over the eye.

The deer hair wing can be a bit difficult to handle and used to be tied in before the body but these days the body is generally tied in first, right up to the eye, and the deer hair tied on top of that. This makes it less likely that the deer hair will spin around the hook.

 

It’s important with this fly that the body of the fly sinks and hangs under the wing standing above the surface. You can help this happen by winding a few turns of the ribbing around the shank of the hook just in front of where the tail is tied in before you wind the rib forward.  And if that doesn’t do it wet the body and squeeze in some of that Fullers Earth sinkant. Then treat the deer hair wing with floatant. It’s worth the trouble because the wing then stands up well and you can see it for miles….well, twenty or thirty metres anyway.

 

                                                                                                                             Alan Taylor

Fly tying

 

John H provided the following link which should be useful for anyone taking up fly tying. There are videos for beginners and intermediates tyers.  Go to the link and then select the particular aspect of tying that you want to learn, or brush up on, from the sidebar menu.

 

http://www.gwentanglingsociety.co.uk/fly-tying-skills/

 

There are also some very good fly tying clips by Davy McPhail on YouTube .

 

 

November Fly of the Month

At the November flytying evening John demonstrated tying the Vladi worm. John enjoyed some success with the Vladi Worm Czech nymphing in the Pine River and the Whitewater during the Bronte Park weekend.  

 

The Vladi Worm

The essential ingredient for the Vladi Worm is a pink condom ( not something in your average flytying kit ) and the tying process is not quite straightforward. So if you are interested in this fly I suggest you contact John for the instructions and maybe some of the essential ingredient. (You can contact John via the Club Secretary if you are not a member.)