Flatwings

A while back I saw a tutorial on a ‘Flatwing’ on another blog, which aroused my interest immediately. So I searched the internet for other examples (there are quite a few out there once you start looking), and made me a couple to test. This is a saltwater pattern which is gaining a lot of popularity in America, but you can just as well use it to fish for pike.

These were my first attempts, which are almost the same as the original. I just used epoxy eyes (with some UV-stuff between them) instead of the usual jungle cock feathers (some guys don’t even use eyes at all).

They are very light and very aerodynamic, so they cast very easily and they move very well in the water, with a nice profile despite of the small amount of material used.

But I quickly had some problems with the peacock herl. Mainly with the colour, because peacock has a great shine but it doesn’t blend well with many other colours.

 

So I looked for dyed herl. But beside the roots the peacock just keeps its own colour.

 

Of course you can find peacock herl which is bleached first and coloured afterwards, but it doesn’t improve the quality of the herl, and you loose that typical peacock shine, so you might just as well use something else.

So I just used saddle hackles instead. And from that moment on, the sky was the limit to make other colour combinations. Here you have some...

 

 

I’m very happy with these flies, so I already tied me a box full…

Pike flies

After all those big streamers with lots of work to tie them, I was in the mood for something smaller and most of all, easier to tie.

 

This is Long Chenille. I had this stuff laying around in one of my drawers for a while now, and looked at it from time to time with the idea of trying something with it, but I never did.

Until now.

This is very soft material, so I wanted to combine it with something equally soft as tail material. I started off with Polar Fibre and I like the results as well, but Polar Fibre is rather short (about 6 cm), which delivered me flies from about 8 to 9 cm long. Now these will probably work well for zander and perch, but they’re not exactly pike flies.

 

But last weekend, I came across this stuff. It’s called Long Fur. It’s a little stiffer than Polar Fibre, but still a lot softer than most other synthetic fibres, and the length (8 to 10 cm) is ideal for small baitfish patterns. With the hooks I’m using (Gamakatsu F314 size 1/0), I’m able to tie flies that are 11 to 12 cm long and that’s exactly what I was looking for.

One small problem with the Long Chenille though, is the fact that there’s not a lot of material on a rather thick thread. So however tight you tie this stuff in, you don’t have sufficient material to create enough volume for a fly of this size. But you can overcome this very easily.

 

First I tie in a clump of Long Fur around the bottom of the hook shank, than some flash (this is Spectra Flash), and then another clump around the top of the hook shank. But instead of cutting off the excess, I tie everything in. By doing so you create a bigger circumference. So this way you can tie in 3 to 4 times the amount of Long Chenille and create the perfect volume.

So after doing so, just glue some eyes on and you’re ready to fish. But I prefer to stick the eyes just behind the hook eye and make a small head with some UV material. I’ve tested both possibilities and I find the action to be better like this. It also makes your fly a lot more durable because they can’t bite the eyes off. And whatever happens with the fibre, just take a comb to go trough it and the fly is as good as new.

Next problem is the colour of course. Now, the Long Fur is no problem at all because it’s available in 16 different colours. But the Long Chenille is only available in 3 colours (white, black and brown). Although I now that other brands have more colours, but since I don’t have any, I can’t say anything about those either.

 

So a black one is as easy as a white one.

But another advantage of synthetic material is the fact that you can colour it in every way you want. Even with a small collection of permanent markers, Prismacolor markers (or Pantone, or whatever brand is out there), you can create all kinds of combinations.

 

Here, I just dyed the Long Chenille to create a redhead.

 

Here I gave the back a different colour.

 

These are a combination of yellow, bronze and brown.

 

But the sky is the limit, if you use some imagination.

 

If you’re not very creative with markers, here I used Long Fur in a dubbing loop instead of the Long Chenille. This one is plain yellow, but if you combine several colours I’m sure you can create really cool stuff as well.

Normally I don’t use a lot of synthetics anymore for the tail, because I just love the movement of natural material in the water, but if it’s stuff like this, I’m in!

Pike flies

It has been 28° C in the shade for the last two days, which we haven’t had all summer. So I’m a bit disappointed that I broke up my summer ‘house’ in the Belgian Ardennes already, last week (in the pouring rain, at 10° C). But I’ve had some nice orders for pike flies, so it’s not so (very) hard to forget about it.

At the moment, I’m working on an order of synthetic baitfish patterns, which is a pattern I will also use in my upcoming tying sessions.

I’m not finished yet (more colour combinations will follow), but these are the ones I’ve tied this afternoon.

They are all about 14 cm long, tied entirely with Steve Farrar’s SF Flash Blend, on a Gamakatsu F314 size 2/0.

The colours I’ve used are:

 

Belly: shrimp

Tail: wild olive

Head: peacock

Chin: red

 

Belly: white

Tail: chartreuse

Head: peacock

Chin: red

 

Belly: white

Tail: sea blue

Head: herring back

Chin: orange

 

Belly: white

Tail: pink

Head: bleeding purple

Chin: pink

Kustom easy baitfish

I’m still playing with the stuff Rich sent me, and I wanted to make an easy to tie baitfish pattern, with as less material as possible, with a nice profile, a very lively action, very lightweight to cast, and it had to be very durable. To put it in other words, a fly that everybody can tie and make every pike angler happy.

So I tried out all kinds of things, with very disappointing results at first (although one or two prototypes have some prospects).

But in the end, I came up with this pattern, which I have great faith in (I’ve already tested the action, in a water where I wasn’t aloud to, but that’s something we’d better keep to ourselves, unless some idiot puts it on the internet of course). Anyway, I made a tutorial so you could try them out yourselves (click on any image to enlarge).

This fly is about 14 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu F 314, size 2/0.

 

- Put your thread on the hook (I’ve put some varnish on the hook shank first), and leave it at about 1 cm before the hook eye.

 

- At this point, tie in some Polar Flash. Make sure that the amount of fibres facing backwards are a little longer than those facing forward.

 

- Tie the flash material in towards to hook bend in 4 or 5 wraps (this way you will still have the flash effect along the hook shank), and come back with the thread the same way.

 

- Fold back the excess and tie it in the same way.

 

- Put some lacquer on the entire piece of the hook shank where you’ve tied in your material (durability). I also put a hairclip on the tail from this stage on, to make less of a mess.

- Tie in some white chenille (this is Vampire Plush). If you use other chenille, make sure it’s wide enough (this one is 15 mm). This way you are able to make a nice ‘ball’, which will determine the volume (profile) of your fly.

- Make a ‘ball’ and tie it in.

Now I use Rich’s Kustom Fibre for the entire body of the fly. And I only use a very small amount of it. Make sure to taper it on both ends.

 

- Tie in the fibre on the bottom of the hook shank (in this case white) with a couple of loose wraps, again, make sure that the amount of fibres facing backwards are a little longer than those facing forward. Then, take your time to spread the fibre evenly around the bottom of the hook shank, and then tie it in.

 

- Fold back the excess, spread it evenly around the bottom of the hook shank, and tie it in.

- Tie in the Kustom Fibre on top of the hook (in this case yellow) the same way (with a couple of loose wraps, again, make sure that the amount of fibres facing backwards are a little longer than those facing forward. Then, take your time to spread the fibre evenly around the top of the hook shank, and then tie it in).

- And again, fold back the excess, spread it evenly around the top of the hook shank, and tie it in.

 

- Make a bit of a head, whip finish a lacquer the head.

 

- Glue on some eyes (these are some of Rich’s Realistic Flyz Eyez) partially on the head and partially on the fibre. The reason I do it like this, is because when you epoxy the head (which is the next step), the fibres between the eyes will be inside the epoxy and maintain the volume (and of course make the fly more durable).

After you epoxy the head, this fly is finished. But the nice part of this fibre

(all synthetic fibres in fact), is that you can colour them with a regular permanent marker, and make whatever you want to make of them.

 

You can leave this one white and yellow…

or you can make it a bit more aggressive by adding some red smudges like this

 

white and blue, this blue is Kustom Flash Blend (I think it’s Sea Blue Kustom Fibre with UV Violet Kustom Flyz Angel Hair)…

some dark blue permanent marker on the back, and some orange dots…

or make a kind of mackerel pattern

 

white and Lime

with green permanent marker on the back, and some orange dots…

dark olive (this is done with a Prismacolor marker) and black, with some orange dots, to make a perch pattern

I’ve also made some others without dying them. I can’t make that much combinations yet, but I will surely order me some more colours, because this stuff is really great!

 

Kustom Yellow and Purple Blend

 

And Kustom Flash Blend (purple/black)

The Djuza Project, part 2

I’ve been experimenting with racoon, until I got to this pattern, which I think has great potential (I’ve tested them already, and they look very good in the water).

 

This is white racoon with pink chenille

It’s a bit hard to explain how I made them, so I did a ‘step by step’ to make it easier.

Click on any image to enlarge.

 

Put your thread on the hook

 

Tie in some flash material (this is polar flash)

 

Then some racoon

 

Then tie in some chenille (this Vampire Plush)

 

Wrap the chenille two times around the hook shank (although this depends on the chenille you use, with Krystal Chenille for example, I’ve used three wraps), and tie it in

 

Tie in some racoon, and spread it equally around the top of the hook shank

 

Repeat the last two steps up to the hook eye

(a couple of mm in front of it)

 

Tie in some racoon around the bottom of the hook shank

 

Glue on some eyes (or like I did, some sequins, since epoxy is the next step, so these will look like epoxy eyes)

This might be interesting

(if you aren’t using them already).

These are hair clips, which are very practical while tying or drying (pike) flies (after using epoxy). They come in all shapes and sizes.

I got this from Ken Capsey from www.pikeadventures.blogspot.com

and they are damn handy!

Epoxy the head

Normally I comb out a lot of fur, but with this racoon, I didn’t, because unlike other fur, the stuff you leave in, doesn’t just absorb water and lay flat, but it actually keeps it’s volume…

 

as you can see on this picture.

This is the same fly when wet.

And some other colours.

These are all about 9 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu F 314, size 1.

 

Yellow racoon and red chenille

White and chartreuse racoon with red chenille

These are two flies from the experimental stage of the pattern above (they are tied on a hook that’s to big for this pattern, although that’s personal of course).

They are easier to tie, and certainly very functional as well.

 

I’ve just tied in the racoon on top of the hook shank.

Actually, I like using racoon. It’s durable, it keeps it’s volume, and has a great movement in the water. But this stuff is not very common here in Belgium, which makes it hard to find, and even if you do find it, they ask an absurd price for it. So, ordering it on the internet is the perfect alternative, but the problem with ordering stuff from internet shops, especially natural material, is that the example they put on their site, looks a hundred times better then the stuff you receive at home!

So if anyone can give me a good tip for ordering reasonably priced, good quality racoon zonker strips, please let me know…