FLYMPH FORUM

Two very nice, very different variations on the Tups soft hackle fly.
Thank you for sharing them gentlemen, both are exquisite.

gingerdun, Howdy;

gingerdun wrote:Hank,
What you are seeing is not a rib, but rather the primrose thread that the body was spun on.
The dubbing is sparse enough so the thread shows through in places.

Interesting, how does it show or not when wet?

hank

Hank, If I had a little more time right now, I'd photograph that Hidy Tups fly underwater in the miniature acrylic tub that William gave me. I am sorry, since I would like to have some pictorial evidence instead of the written word that I offer here:

The color of tying silk should be chosen to harmonize with the body materials you intend to use in imitating a particular insect, keeping in mind the undercolor which you wish to show out through and reflect from the dubbing or body of your completed fly.

[Jim Leisenring, ATWF&FF, page 40]

The two most critical and decisive considerations in fishing the flymph are, surely, the angler’s willingness to use extremely light tippets and his foresight in securing patterns of flymph flies with soft, translucent bodies of fur or wool that blend with the undercolor of the tying silk when wet, and hackle fibers that can be activated by the currents to give the effect of an insect alive in the water.

[Pete Hidy, ATWF&FF, page 151]

The visibility of the thread through the dubbing fibers depends partly upon how densely the fibers are distributed. Sometimes my father switched gears when laying dubbing over the thread on the Clark block—sparse for the abdomen, dense for the thorax. The color variations within the dubbed body are supposed to look more natural and delicious to the trout. Dad even called one of his cards of spun bodies "gourmet blends".

gingerdun, Howdy;

Thanks for the response, Knowing you are busier than
a one armed paperhanger I wasn't expecting a wet
photo. My curiosity just blurts out at times.

hank

Apologies to Bill for hijacking his post.

Hank, no problem. Blurt away. It reminds me why I need to get this book done, so the questions will be answered in a more public way.
That is why I am not participating much in the forum these days. It is not that I have lost interest. Far from it. I just need to finish the book.

Certainly no need to apologize, Lance. Your input help give legs to posts that otherwise would wither on the vine of disinterest.

tie2fish wrote:Certainly no need to apologize, Lance. Your input help give legs to posts that otherwise would wither on the vine of disinterest.

This thread could take off in so many directions.

1.Why use silk over thread?
2. Acrylic tubs, and is there anything to be learned by them?
3. Dubbing blocks vs. Split thread.
4. Is a Tups just an attractor?

Bill, and Lance. Great patterns.

Since I am a reformed non-believer, Wayne, I will take a shot a your topic # 3. Dubbing blocks vs Split thread. Although I used to think that inserting dubbing materials into a split thread (or a loop of thread dropped off the hook shank) was simpler than going to the trouble of making up pre-formed bodies on a spinning block, I have since found that is not the case (for me, anyhow) for bodies where you are aiming for any of the following effects:

a) you are tying a type or style of fly on which minimal amounts of material are not an objective, and/or,
b) you want the tying thread to play a significant role in the color scheme of the fly, and/or,
c) you want to build a body that has different but adjoining colors of dubbing, and/or,
d) you wish to build in a specific tapered profile on the bodies of several hopefully identical flies to be tied at one sitting.

Please notice that I did not claim that these things are impossible to achieve using a split thread or dropped loop brush technique -- only that I find them much easier to do when I have both hands available to orient the dubbing materials where I want them to end up and in the quantities that I want them to be. I know that there are forum members who are capable of producing marvelous dubbed bodies using a split thread, but when I am tying flymph patterns, having pre-formed bodies handy makes the job a lot simpler for me.

Wayne,
I feel a bit sheepish attempting to explain anything to you since you can out-tie and out-fish me any day.
That said, here's what I would add to Bill's comments.

Silk Thread—Aside from the monetary advantage in having inherited many spools from my father, waxed silk holds the twist well when storing pre-spun bodies on cards. I tried Benecchi and it untwists when removed from the card. Old Hat Sanders tells me that there is an inexpensive synthetic thread that also works, but I need to find out what it is. Some of us use Pearsalls silk because it is traditional—a classic fly-tying thread. That may not justify the cost unless one is trying to recreate vintage patterns. In my case, as I try to mimic my father's tying style, Pearsalls gossamer is a necessary ingredient.

Acrylic tubs—William and others have photographed submerged flies in these to see if materials change color when wet, and to compare the hydrofuge, the ability of the materials to hold bubbles. I know. Who needs bubbles? But these hydrofuge bubbles seem to suggest freshness and vitality. They certainly do no harm. The tub makes them easy to see and photograph.

Clark block v split thread—Bill covered it pretty well. I would add this. Some tiers like to stock up on spun bodies during the winter, preparing for a range of colors, textures, and hook sizes. This saves time during fishing season when needing to quickly tie up flies to match a particular insect. Leisenring said these spun bodies were more durable, but I doubt that is a compelling reason these days, and might not be true anyway.

Is Tups an attractor?— Others can answer this better than I can, aside from the obvious resemblance to certain sulfur and yellow mayflies, and yellow sally stoneflies. Does it work as an attractor? I don't know, but my father thought that it did.

Thank you Lance, and Bill for the replies. I feel a bit sheepish. I didn't mean you had to address each of my topics. I thought they would be good avenues for further discussion. Perhaps at another date.

On another venue a small discussion is taking place as to the merits of silk. I had a grin on my face when a member of this venue linked our own Williams site as reference.

http://www.williamsfavorite.com/soft-ha ... silks.html

The work done with silk by members of this forum amazes me. Almost enough for me to purchase some silk. Especially Primrose.