The Djuza Project, part 1

Last week, fellow pike-fly-tier, and very sympathetic bloke from Finland, Djuza (from www.piketeaser.blogspot.com ), had a bit of an inspiration problem. So I thought that maybe we could help each other out. I asked him to send me a list of the material he had in stock, and I would try to make something out of it.

I don’t consider myself to be a fantastic fly-tier, but I love doing it, and I like a bit of a challenge (I just love to experiment), so I thought this could be a fun thing to do.

And besides, what kind of a world are we living in, if people stop helping each other.

Actually, I expected a rather short list (no offence, Djuza, but I haven’t seen that many different material on your blog), but the inventory he sent me will keep me busy for quite a while (so more posts are coming).

This is a piece of the mail he has sent me: “As you maybe know, I prefer naturals before synthetics” … “but I should not forget Slinky Fibre or other synthetics” … “My next tying project will probably be some baitfish imitations in a smaller size for the summer”.

I was already looking for some smaller sized pike flies for myself (usually, small for me is 12-14 cm).

So I had already tied this small version of a ‘Lonesome Tom’ (about 9 cm), and therefore, I thought, this could be a good way to start.

But the head is polypropylene fibre with Crazy Legs, and those were not on the list.

 

So I’ve changed it a bit. I’ve made the head with a brass wire dubbing brush with SF Blend, which I’ve cut into shape (I know that Djuza likes to use a dubbing brush himself).

But SF Blend wasn’t on the list either.

However, SF Blend is a mixture of Slinky Fibre and Angel Hair, and those two, he does have in stock.

 

So this one, I’ve blended myself (a dubbing brush is an easy way to do that).

This head is white and pink Slinky Fibre blended with white and pink Angel hair.

The only problem with a dubbing brush is the fact that the bottom and the top of your fly always have the same colour.

 

So here, I’ve used chartreuse Flash’n Slinky for the head, but I’ve coloured the top with a permanent marker (don’t worry, a permanent marker used on synthetic fibre is very water proof).

Another interesting part of this project, is that I’m forced to use certain materials, that I rarely use myself.

Such as, Polar Fibre.

I’ve used it before for flies like these, which could be used in the Baltic as well. They’re about 8 cm long. Some of them don’t look so fresh anymore (that’s because they have already hit the water).

 

Another fly that I've tied with Polar Fibre is this one. I got this pattern from Renzo Callebert, and he uses it for ide, feeding on fry, on the surface. I haven’t caught any ide on them yet, but they have been successful for perch, and I’ve met a guy in the Belgian Ardennes, who uses a similar pattern for trout.

But I wanted to do something else.

So I’ve tied me this baitfish pattern, which I’m rather satisfied with. They are also about 8 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu F 314, size 1.

 

white and olive, with a little red under the chin.

 

white and chartreuse, with a little orange under the chin.

 

hot pink and purple

 

black and red

 

You do have to comb this material out first, and the amount of rubbish that comes out of this stuff is unbelievable (you can still use it as dubbing material of course).

The little jar is all the chartreuse Polar Fibre that I had to comb out for this one fly!

I’m already experimenting with Yak Hair (another material that I rarely use), so…