Pete - At the very least, post a pic of one of your flies. I'm sure everyone would love to see it. If the file is too large for the list, I'm sure there is someone with the ability to post it for you.
Thanks - -- Joe Fusco, Sr. Member of The Missouri Trout Fishermen's Association and The Virtual Fly Box REMEMBER CANCER IS A WORD NOT A SENTENCE Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On 11/23/06, Peter Gramp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Today in an experiment I discovered something that made the perfect nymph > legs, the lower webby > portion of an Emu feather. I cant wait to try them on scuds. These are > so Hi Jimi (and everyone)- For even more realistic nymph legs, I use a piece of brassie-sized wire to which two turkey biots are lashed in segments... I take the wire and lash two biots, notches-matched-down, to either side of the wire, such that I create a sandwich around the wire. Folding the biots back, I wrap to where I want the first joint of the leg, then fold the biots back forward to lash down, fold back again and advance the thread, fold front and lash a second bend/ joint, etc... At the foot, I just wrap around the biot which cuts into the biot and creates great 'tarsal hairs' for the foot. I'm not taking credit for this technique, as it was shown to me by Rich (aka Odonata) of the Realistic Fly Tying Forum, in person at the Sommersett show last weekend... and I think he was taught it from yet another kind soul. Regardless, I've modified even further that technique, such that if you palmer the wire with ostrich or emu herl prior to the addition of turkey biots, you get the hairs of the herl sticking out along the rearward crease of the leg, much like a natural. Of course, this is for super- realistic/ art flies... for flies under 5-hours to tie, I prefer good ol' kinked biots, deer hair, porcupine guard hairs, or any of a number of fine black-tipped hairs... Or, my favourite technique is to take nylon bristles from a "wallpaper- paste- application brush" and heat-kink those to shape. They are also sold for a large markup in price under the name "Japanese Nymph Legs". You can even lash two bristles together and wrap with thread to give the illusion of a fattened femur area... I'd attach a picture of the latest tie, but the file size is huge - at least for a listserve (450K gif) - and it is an art fly that I doubt few would ever have the patience to attempt. No offense intended to any, but it took 412.5 hours (obviously not continuous) to tie, yes four hundred twelve and a half... I'd be happy to send copies of the fly to show just how realistic this leg technique can be; request off-list and realize i'll be out of town with the Holidays until the end of this weekend. I hope this didn't hijack the post and instead offered new ideas, Pete
