FLYMPH FORUM

Choice thread. Thanks to JohnP and Lance.

Growing up, I noticed all of the heads on the patterns available to me were huge. All of the tiers that I was exposed to used half hitches and glue to finish their patterns. For me, the in "vogue" smaller heads were not a possibility until I learned to whip finish (35 years ago). The idea of leaving an eyes length of distance behind the eye seems silly to me now, but I would imagine it was sound advice at one time for wingless wets.

Leisenring does use the whip finish and his book has a good illustration of it. He is not keen on half-hitches for finishing flies. I too have noticed how many of the older flies had large heads. I doubt it makes much difference to the fish.

Lance,

The dun spider looks very different than the red and the black. Do you know if it was done at a much different time or if there is another reason that would explain the difference?

gingerdun wrote:
Jeff, I'd bet that these hackles were tied at the butt behind the eye, and then wrapped down the shank, with the fibers getting shorter. Or so it appears, and would be consistent with his illustrations in the book. But you could be right. And the heads are a signature of Leisenring's as seems to be the case with many tiers. I grew up with flies like this, so seeing the minimal heads that are currently in vogue seems exotic to me.

Lance, thanks for the "brain shake". I seem to remember us discussing the hackle wrap direction a while ago...... now you mention it.
Maybe I should get back to the pronounced "head" ties, might stop me crowding the eye....... on upturned eyes especially.

gingerdun, Howdy;

Lance, the more I look at the Right hand fly in the photo
it almost appears to have 2 different hackles, one (front),
slightly lighter than the other. Might just be me, the lighting
or the space between the (what appears to be), front hackle
and that which follows.

hank

Hank I can only guess the different color that both you and I are seeing is the barbs closest to the butt end of the hackle used. In this case quite possibly a starling feather where many will drift from black to what I would call ash or light gray. The gape you mention I would think was simply a void brought about as barbs were trapped and distributed else where.

Regards, Jerry

Hey Chris and Hank and others, sorry I have been preoccupied and missed the activity here.
I don't have any insights into the construction of these three flies. All we can do is look at them and try to figure it out.
It is certainly possible that Leisenring used two hackles on the black fly, but Jerry might be right. I just don't know.
Leisenring did use two hackles on some flies when one was palmered and one a collar, which could be what is going on here.

Because of the interest in the Black Spider, here is a higher res shot for your examination.

gingerdun, Howdy;

!!! My Gawd!!! Not so many secrets left when ya get that close!
Still looks like it could be 1.5 turns of one then the rest with another
or just an awkward space with just one hackle ...
Hope you are getting a good chuckle from this Lance.

hank