CDC

[willowhead]

William, when i do my three variations of the Usual.....the Unusual, the Highly Unusual, and the Highly Unusual Usual. The last variation, the Highly Unusual Usual, has a collar of Hungarian in front of the wing. The Unusal is simply a regular Usual with a Peacock herl body, ribbed or not........the Highly Unusal is using CDC for the body, and when you finally get to tyin' up the last variation, you can do it with any of the three different body types, and just add the Partiridge. Now, tell me your clear. .....

[kanutripr]

OK I know I'm hijacking this now but enquiring minds want to know (and hopefully others here). I'm wondering Mark what you're using for the tail and wing in your Usual pattern. I've seen a couple of variations. I know, my bad.



Vicki

[William Anderson]

Sure, I got it. You just tie the usual in the regular unusual manner, just in reverse order. I would be curious to see if that made adifference.

[CreationBear]

I've never tied much with CDC but Bob's query made me curious:

Standard softhackle, touch-dubbed with possum, ginger seal thorax, plover-sub hackle:


Same fly, but with a yellow CDC feather interspersed between wraps of "plover:"


As you can see, the CDC adds some color and bulk to the proceedings--I guess, as always, you should let the fish decide. As for tying with CDC, it's a bit testy trying to wrap the intact feather back through the primary hackle, especially when you don't have a lot of room with a gamebird hackle. With hen it should be no problem, but it occurred to me after I tied these that inserting the CDC fibers into a split thread and snipping off the shaft before wrapping would have made for a more elegant solution.

[tie2fish]

Still very appealing, C.B. Nicely conceived pattern and beautifully photographed as well.

[CreationBear]

Ha...thanks, but what I'm worried about is that I'm becoming convinced that all flies look the same when wet.

[hankaye]

C.B., Howdy;

Ok, You've given a suggestion as to how it may or may not do better....

Got some pix's (dry & wet), of the option????

just askin'

hank

[CreationBear]

Got some pix's (dry & wet), of the option????

Ha...no, I guess I'll have to tie some more or let these dry out.

[willowhead]

Vicki,
the Usual
Hook: any dry fly
Thread: depends on hook size
Tail: tyed in after the wing, Snowshoe Rabbit foot predominately guard hairs, length a bit shorter than the wing.....it's more of a trailing shuck than a tail
Body: Snowshoe rabbit foot underfur
Wing: same as tail but a bit longer.....should be app. shank length and tyed in facing a bit forward.....

the Unusual..........same as above but with a Peacock herl body.....which can be ribbed of so desired
the Highly Unusual..........same as above except with a CDC Body
The Highly Unusual Usual............same as any of the above, (body of choice), with a Hungarian Partridge hackle collared in front of the wing.

Wing should be done first..........then tail..........then body..........then hackle if your doin' a Highly Unusual Usual. And be sure (for the Usual, Unusual and Highly Unsual), to put a turn or two of the dubbing in front of the wing.....skip that for the Highly Unsual Usual, the collar goes there.

[CreationBear]

Hank--

Actually, they dry out pretty fast...not a great picture, though:

As you can tell from the before and after pictures, the CDC mostly disappears, though it's an easy way to shift the color of the fly a bit.