Lil' Dorothy 1550

[William Anderson]

So after a short struggle with photobucket, my photo set up and some time mis-management issues, I finally have something to share.

A fly I've always meant to add to my box and I'm glad I did. This one is for Mark. The hook is a Daiichi 1550 #14 and the thorax is a blend of hares cheek and a blend of natural and golden seal. I can't wait to drift these over the snouts of some fussy browns toward the end of May and all summer long.



w

[Mataura mayfly]

Very nice work William.
What is your abdomen thread? Looks almost like original and hard to find Pearsall orange. The original I based my own tying off is an orange embroidery thread the Mark used, yours looks to be more "second generation" when Mark found a sewing silk of a lighter shade but more translucent.
Did you take your working thread down to the bend, or just catch the silk and wound it on the bare shank down and back up?

[Soft-hackle]

Wonderful! Thanks, William. That should work well!

Mark

[William Anderson]

Very nice work William.
What is your abdomen thread? Looks almost like original and hard to find Pearsall orange. The original I based my own tying off is an orange embroidery thread the Mark used, yours looks to be more "second generation" when Mark found a sewing silk of a lighter shade but more translucent.
Did you take your working thread down to the bend, or just catch the silk and wound it on the bare shank down and back up?

Thanks Jeff, and Mark. The abdomen is tied using the closest silken embroidery thread that I could find by Guttermann, which has a softer orange quality, similar to Pearsall's Orange (not hot orange) tied in at the thorax, brought down to the bend in touching turns and brought back to the thorax twisted as a cord, leaving the working thread at the thorax position. The seal and hare blend for the thorax is wrapped in a dropped dubbing loop to help manage the seal. I still haven't mastered the touch of a straight noodle technique with seal fibers. But I absolutely love the result, especially after brushing out some of the dubbing over the abdomen to get the shrouding effect Mark describes for his original design. It's a great fly. I have scores of sulphur and light cahill patterns as soft-hackles and flymphs, and for some reason these stand out in the box, partly due to the white, creamy list of the ginger hackle, and partly due to the embroidery abdomin. Mark, thanks for sharing this one and like I said, I look forward to connecting with it very soon.

w