Nice fly and nice tying. Showing the double loose wrap before pulling tight and spinning was nice. One of the simple things you can do to keep your body materials and wing materials from accidentally getting cut while you're trimming the head is cut about a 1/4" length from a drinking straw and then make a single cut through it lengthwise. Now you can slip that over the head of the fly with the thread passing through your lengthwise slot and slowly push it back to behind the spun section, holding down softly anything you don't want to cut and giving you a clear shot a trimming the head. If there are some pieces held down you want to trim, just use you bodkin to pull them out of the straw for cutting.
A couple of comments about wood duck. REAL wood duck looks, feels, and handles much better than Mallard Flank Feathers Dyed Wood Duck. It has much more body (stiffer) than mallard does and moves a bit differently in the water. It's much easier to handle and tie than Mallard, but if you don't have Wood Duck, Dyed Mallard works and the fish don't seem to care. IMO there is no penalty to fishing mallard instead of wood duck. Also what you see being used here is a transition feather going from normal flank feathers to barred flank feathers. The barred wood duck feathers are only found on the upper edge of the flank of the wood duck. The one used is not a well barred wood duck (doesn't need to be), but it's not just the normal flank feather either. Don't try to find a feather exactly like that. you don't need to. Normal wood duck flank feathers do not have that black and white bar on the end. You don't need barred wood duck for this pattern, and when you can find it, it's typically 5 times as much as "normal" wood duck, which is typically 4-times as much as dyed mallard. By the way if you want more distinct barring on the feathers, get some dyed Teal flank feathers or dye your own. ***BIG HINT*** If you have a duck hunting friend ask them to save the feathers for you. A lot of duck hunters just breast out the wood duck and throw out the rest of the carcass. Wood ducks tend to migrate through most places earlier than regular ducks. When I lived in Oregon, they nested in the woods there, but migrated south before the normal duck season started. My next door neighbor got a couple one year that were late to leave and that's where I got a good supply of the feathers. With 2 or three wood ducks that you save the flank feathers from, you will have about a 50-year supply of those feathers, but only about a 10th that many of the barred wood duck feathers. More about feathers you get from friends who hunt - One of the things you really want to do is to WASH and dry your feathers, whether they are collected from the wild or bought in a store. It's actually very easy to do. • Put some lukewarm water in a bowl of an appropriate size. Put in a little Dawn dishwashing detergent and mix it up to get suds. • Then dump your feathers in and agitate them by holding your hand in a claw shape, putting it in the bowl and shaking your hand as you move it around the inside of the bowl. • After agitating for a bit remove the feathers (a slotted or screened spoon works great) and put them into a fine mesh strainer. Rinse the feathers in the strainer really well under cool or cold running water. You'll be amazed at the bits of junk left on the bottom of the bowl and how dirty the water is that you leave behind. • Lay the feathers out on a layer of paper towels. Put another layer of paper towels over the top and press down on the feathers to get most of the water out. • Now put the feathers in a paper bag large enough to allow the feathers to spin around and move freely as they dry out...use a big bag. • Stick the nozzle of an electric hair dryer inside it and turn on the hair dryer. Holding the top of the bag tight against the barrel of the hair dryer, run the hair dryer for a few minutes to dry them all out (don't use the hottest setting!). It will take a few minutes. Resist the temptation to use the hottest setting on the hair dryer or you will ruin some of the feathers. • Finally, put them into the storage bags or containers of your choice and you will have the best looking version of any feather you've ever seen and they will be a pleasure to tie with. Plus, you won't hesitate to lick your fingers when folding feathers back to wind a collar because you know you're handling a clean feather!
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Nice fly and nice tying. Showing the double loose wrap before pulling tight and spinning was nice.
One of the simple things you can do to keep your body materials and wing materials from accidentally getting cut while you're trimming the head is cut about a 1/4" length from a drinking straw and then make a single cut through it lengthwise. Now you can slip that over the head of the fly with the thread passing through your lengthwise slot and slowly push it back to behind the spun section, holding down softly anything you don't want to cut and giving you a clear shot a trimming the head. If there are some pieces held down you want to trim, just use you bodkin to pull them out of the straw for cutting.
My personal best rainbow was caught with a muddler. Thanks for sharing this🙂
Good to hear!
Coho salmon, chum salmon… it catches everything;) nice tying
Hi Felipe, glad you are enjoying the content. Thanks for watching!
Good looking fly. I’ll put them on my to do list. Thank you
Let us know how it turns out!
Cool 😎
👊
A couple of comments about wood duck. REAL wood duck looks, feels, and handles much better than Mallard Flank Feathers Dyed Wood Duck. It has much more body (stiffer) than mallard does and moves a bit differently in the water. It's much easier to handle and tie than Mallard, but if you don't have Wood Duck, Dyed Mallard works and the fish don't seem to care. IMO there is no penalty to fishing mallard instead of wood duck. Also what you see being used here is a transition feather going from normal flank feathers to barred flank feathers. The barred wood duck feathers are only found on the upper edge of the flank of the wood duck. The one used is not a well barred wood duck (doesn't need to be), but it's not just the normal flank feather either.
Don't try to find a feather exactly like that. you don't need to. Normal wood duck flank feathers do not have that black and white bar on the end. You don't need barred wood duck for this pattern, and when you can find it, it's typically 5 times as much as "normal" wood duck, which is typically 4-times as much as dyed mallard. By the way if you want more distinct barring on the feathers, get some dyed Teal flank feathers or dye your own.
***BIG HINT*** If you have a duck hunting friend ask them to save the feathers for you. A lot of duck hunters just breast out the wood duck and throw out the rest of the carcass. Wood ducks tend to migrate through most places earlier than regular ducks. When I lived in Oregon, they nested in the woods there, but migrated south before the normal duck season started. My next door neighbor got a couple one year that were late to leave and that's where I got a good supply of the feathers. With 2 or three wood ducks that you save the flank feathers from, you will have about a 50-year supply of those feathers, but only about a 10th that many of the barred wood duck feathers.
More about feathers you get from friends who hunt - One of the things you really want to do is to WASH and dry your feathers, whether they are collected from the wild or bought in a store. It's actually very easy to do.
• Put some lukewarm water in a bowl of an appropriate size. Put in a little Dawn dishwashing detergent and mix it up to get suds.
• Then dump your feathers in and agitate them by holding your hand in a claw shape, putting it in the bowl and shaking your hand as you move it around the inside of the bowl.
• After agitating for a bit remove the feathers (a slotted or screened spoon works great) and put them into a fine mesh strainer. Rinse the feathers in the strainer really well under cool or cold running water. You'll be amazed at the bits of junk left on the bottom of the bowl and how dirty the water is that you leave behind.
• Lay the feathers out on a layer of paper towels. Put another layer of paper towels over the top and press down on the feathers to get most of the water out.
• Now put the feathers in a paper bag large enough to allow the feathers to spin around and move freely as they dry out...use a big bag.
• Stick the nozzle of an electric hair dryer inside it and turn on the hair dryer. Holding the top of the bag tight against the barrel of the hair dryer, run the hair dryer for a few minutes to dry them all out (don't use the hottest setting!). It will take a few minutes. Resist the temptation to use the hottest setting on the hair dryer or you will ruin some of the feathers.
• Finally, put them into the storage bags or containers of your choice and you will have the best looking version of any feather you've ever seen and they will be a pleasure to tie with. Plus, you won't hesitate to lick your fingers when folding feathers back to wind a collar because you know you're handling a clean feather!