Pike flies

I’ve started playing with ostrich herl again, because I think there’s not a lot material around that can beat the action of this stuff.

And one of my favourite patterns is still Ulf Hagström’s Toro Killer. You can find a tutorial on the genuine fly here.

And although I tie mine differently (I use more bucktail along the way to increase the volume), it’s basically the same fly. Here are some I’ve tied today:

 

different shades of olive

 

white and pink

 

my pike imitation

 

same here but shorter, and I also added lead wire in the head

 

and a tandem version

I already visited an ostrich farm for new feathers.

I’ll start dyeing them tomorrow…

Pike flies

Of course, I’m still playing with ostrich herl. I should have started dying this stuff a long time ago (instead of paying a ridiculous price for something so simple).

This is how I store different colours. I’ve put my saddle hackles in folders like this as well, it’s very practical.

These are the flies I’ve tied today (I’ve been playing with the Shinetail pattern as well, but more on that later). All three are about 18 cm long, tied on an SS-1930 inox (from TOF), size 4/0.

 

- I’ve started with orange Vampire Plush (chenille) around (1 cm of) the hook shank

- then yellow bucktail around the hook shank

- yellow Krystal Flash on top

- yellow ostrich herl on the sides and on top (about 55)

- orange ostrich herl on top (10)

- 5 orange grizzly saddle hackles

- and the head is yellow, orange and black lama hair (cut into shape) with homemade epoxy eyes.

And again, I forgot to put the Crazy Legs in the head. And again, they where laying in front of my nose. I think they are cursed!

 

I’m very pleased with this one.

- yellow Vampire Plush around

(1 cm of) the hook shank

- purple bucktail around the hook shank

- mixed yellow and purple ostrich herl on the sides and on top (about 65)

- two yellow and two purple grizzly saddle hackles on top

- the collar is made of 4 artic fox dubbing loops (yellow, purple, yellow, purple)

- sequins and epoxy for the head

The purple ostrich herl turned out a bit pale (that doesn’t mean they are rubbish), but the ones that are drying now, look a lot better (I’m still experimenting).

This is my version of a torö killer by Ulf Hagstrom. You can find a tutorial on the ‘real thing’ at www.ulfhagstrom.blogspot.com

- I’ve started with 10 strands of light olive ostrich herl around the hook shank

- some yellow Krystal Flash around it

- light olive Vampire plush around the hook shank

- light yellow bucktail around the bottom of the hook shank, and olive bucktail around the top

- light green Krystal Flash on top

- light olive ostrich herl on the sides and on top

- again light olive Vampire Plush around the hook Shank

- olive bucktail around the bottom, and green bucktail around the top

- light green Krystal Flash on the sides, and dark green on the top

- light olive ostrich herl on the sides, dark olive a little bit higher, and green on top

- olive bucktail around the bottom, and green around the top, both towards the hook eye

- fold back the bucktail, secure it with your thread, glue in some epoxy eyes, epoxy the head, and remove the thread

Aesthetically speaking, this one has a bit of a chin, but sister pike won’t mind (so neither do I).

Ulf Hagstrom is a real artist (check out his blog, and see for yourself), so I can only dream of his skills. But I’ve fished with this pattern a lot last winter (we didn’t have this amount of ice last year), and by adding the bucktail in the tying process, this fly has a lot more volume when wet, and it keeps the ostrich herl from wrapping around the hook.

Dying experiments with ostrich herl

I intended to try this a month ago, but there was always something else that I wanted to do first. In the mean time, I’ve gathered some information and received a very interesting mail from Liviu (aka Parintele), how to dye feathers with natural pigments (like saffron and henna), thanks again for that Liviu.

 

But first, I wanted to try the stuff that I already had. Like this pigment to dye textile, I received from Fario Jan (still my favourite fly shop).

 

The manual that came with the pigment, indicated it was necessary to heat the water. This might be so, but putting the ostrich herl in the hot water, wasn’t a very good idea.

 

After drying, it looked like mice had it for breakfast.

 

When I tried again, this time the water at room temperature, the result was a lot better.

 

This stuff is pigment that my mother used to dye silk. The box you see on the picture isn’t even half the stock she had in her closet. So I definitely had to try that!

 

This was my first attempt, and I’m very pleased with the result.

Here I used the pigment undiluted…

 

and here I added some water, to have a lighter colour, which works as well. So I don’t think I have to look much further.

The result is good, and I’ve got plenty of colours in stock now.

 

The next colour is orange.

And of course, I’ve tied some pike flies with my new colours. They are about 14 cm long.

- the first one, I’ve started with a 5 mm tungsten bead (which is inside the head)

- then orange Vampire Plush (chenille) around (1 cm of) the hook shank

- yellow bucktail around the hook shank

- yellow Krystal Flash on top

- 10 strands of yellow ostrich herl on each side, and 15 on top

- again yellow bucktail around the hook shank

- 10 strands of yellow ostrich herl on each side, and 10 on top

- some sequins, and epoxy for the head

 

The second is tied the same way, but here I only tied in the bucktail and ostrich herl once (but a bit more), then a collar of orange artic fox in a dubbing loop, and there is no bead in the head.

 

The third one, I’ve used pink Polar Flash in stead of the Krystal Flash (but more), two kinds of ostrich herl (pink and white), and the collar is pink (Steve Farrar’s) SF Blend in a brass wire dubbing brush.

Ostrich herl

Lately, I have been tying a lot with natural fibres. Especially when you want to retrieve your fly slowly, these fibres really give a lot of movement.

I really like using ostrich herl and I know, this is not a material you use when durability of your fly comes first. One pike bite and your fly can be demolished, but I really don’t care when my fly gets killed by a pike.

 

What I don’t like, is when my fly looks worse and worse, just by fishing it.

This fly only hit the water for about 20 minutes, and look what is left of the big clump of green ostrich herl.

I did notice though that not every colour reacts in the same way.

 

On this fly you can see that the white herl is getting very thin, while the black herl still looks brand new! So the problem had to be the bleaching of the herl.

 

So I visited an ostrich farm and bought these natural feathers. They are not as white as a package you can by in a fly-shop…

 

But! This fly already hit the water, and look at the white herl!

Now, this kind of white is white enough for me, but I would really like to colour them now.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I am afraid that the colouring process will have the same effect on the herl as the bleaching.

So if there is anyone who can give me some advise on doing this the right way, please let me know.