FLYMPH FORUM

OK, now I really can't wait to receive the swap flies!
Absolutely lovely, all of them.

Oh William! This second fly is absolutely graceful. It's the first word that came to my mind. Graceful... yes graceful.

You tie up a mean fly, sir.
Bravo.

Superb flies!

You got style in spades, my friend. Not to mention mad tying skills...

Crazy good...

This is really nice.

William,
Wow! These patterns of yours are beautiful! I just keep flipping back to them and take them all in! Sooo superbly done! I did not realize that I was such an influence to an innovator such as yourself!
The hook style that I have prefered thru the years is the "swimming nymph" with its graceful curves. I believe that our own Ariel (fflutterfly) really has a soft spot for this pattern tied on the swimming nymph irons and I sent her some in the early spring time. She also sent me back some good reports of it's taking powers! Tiemco seemed to be the first hook company to offer this hook design but has since discontinued it. Dang! I should have bought several thousand. I have since found out that Daiichi is making a swimming nymph hook which is excellent in form and temper. So, the beat goes on!
I have often wondered (forgive me Dave Whitlock) what other color combinations would work keeping within the fox squirrel fur range? Does it dye well? If at all?
In defense of the orig. fur used in the orig. pattern, there simply is no other fur that glows like the fox squirrel even if the antron was not added to the mix nor the unique ribbing wound around the abdomen. Try it sometime. The stuff is amazing just by itself!
Don't forget....the orig. Whitlock offerings are weighted with several wraps of lead (or lead substitute) around the hookshank. However, the pattern tied without the lead is an excellent wingless wet fly and I carry an increasing amount of these in my fox sq. box. They are killers and they are accepted almost every month of the year....by discriminating bluegills the world over! I also used them succesfully in Wyoming several years ago and fooled some cutthroats and brookies in a little gem of a stream called the Tongue River! What a beautiful stream that was!
I think I have gone on long enough,
Dougsen

Thanks again everyone for all the kind comments. I know there is a lot of ways to make use of the Whitlock dubbings and the slf line. This pattern is just really rich looking.

Doug I got some great shots of your fox squirrel set. When I'm on my machine I'll try to add it to the post.

Anyone else tie a version of this pattern to show? Or the nymphs?

As promised, Doug showed me quite a number of variations on this nymph and here are a few of the shots I was able to get when we met in Roscoe.









I absolutely love the swimmers, but I really like seeing the fished patterns in that last pic.

Thanks Doug for sharing all the variations you use with this fly.

w

Hi Doug, beautiful set of flies and William thank you for posting them!!


Greeting