broken-fish.net » fly tying

micro midge

Ray — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:55:00 +0000

This past weekend I finished tying up some flies for a swap that I’m participating in, the Small Fly Swap 2010 with the NLFT/TU club. These were the smallest flies that I’ve ever tied – #28! With eyes ramping up to 50 years old, it was a bit of a challenge, but thankfully I had purchased a magnifying glass attachment for my Peak vise.

I also had to swap out the standard jaws on the vise, replacing them with the midge jaws – recommended for hooks smaller than #22. Fun stuff – as I haven’t used those midge jaws yet as I’ve never actually tied anything smaller than #18 before. ;^)

Deciding what to tie was a bit of a challenge – but after browsing through my copy of Compendium of Canadian Fly Patterns, I got inspired and made up a nice simple pattern.

Here’s the pattern I came up with:

HOOK: Mustad 94834 #28
THREAD: Gudenbrod 10/0 Black
TAIL: Crystal Flash
BODY: Peacock herl

I’ll post up some pix once the fly’s from the swap are distributed.

Swan Lake – Fall 2009

Ray — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:01:23 +0000

Spent the past few days up at Swan Lake – and was the fishing on!

While the numbers weren’t quite those of years gone by, the size of the fish and the fight they put on hasn’t waned too badly!

The fish that I caught ranged between 14″ and 29″ – with the average fish between 18″ and 20″

Had some typical end of fall weather – Saturday there was a wind warning for the area, which made for some interesting water! At least I know how my pontoon boat behaves in 2′ swells and whitecaps ;^)

A mink leech seemed to be the fly of choice this trip – Don Anderson had a version that he was using – I tied up some that were very similar to a rabbit zonker – and they were very durable and very effective!

Northern Lights evolves…

Ray — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:29:32 +0000

The fly tying club that I’m a member of, the Northern Lights Fly Tyers and Fishers is no more. Well, at least the name is no more ;^)

Last year, circumstances forced the Edmonton chapter of Trout Unlimited to shut down. I believe it was related to lack of participation by members to administer the chapter, as well as the size of the membership. There was a core group of people that were taking care of the administration for years, and they just couldn’t do it anymore.

Last night (unfortunately I had to miss the meeting) the Northern Lights Fly Tyers and Fishers formally (and unanimously) voted to change the club charter and name – and as a result, is now an official chapter of Trout Unlimited. The name of the club is now Northern Lights Fly Tyers – Trout Unlimited Edmonton

I think that this is a good thing for sure – there was a lot of overlap in terms of the aims of the 2 organizations – likely a result of the orginal Northern Lights club being formed as a result of some T.U. members that were into tying flies!

Interested in a great deal on fly tying materials, books, etc?

Ray — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:45:02 +0000

Have a look at this PDF – this is a partial inventory of a friends supply after the shop his family ran closed it’s doors in 2001. The prices are all retail from 2001 and earlier, and Shan is open to any reasonable offers on the supplies, plus shipping.

So whether it’s hooks, dubbing, feathers, chenille… whatever you can think of, have a look.

Creative use of materials

Ray — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:42:19 +0000

The Northern Lights had a fly swap recently – in which I participated. The theme of the swap was Packing Foam, and the only requirement was that packing foam had to be one of the materials used in your chosen pattern. (I’ve created a gallery with photos of all the flies submitted in this swap)

I tried a couple different Stimulator patterns – once of which is using cat fur for dubbing – our cat was pretty co-operative – likes getting brushed I guess, for a little while anyway. Used packing foam for the bodies.

I wasn’t completely happy with them though – and ended up tying a dozen red floss chironomids. I used thicker pieces of foam at the head – I think that these will actually be pretty effective – hopefully keeping the chironomid right at the surface film.