Executioner and Arndilly Fancy

[salmonking]

Not seen a bad fly on this thread,all well tied.

[ibrox]

Thanks Dan

I've got to say looking at them close up and from the top I'm not happy with the heads . They looked fine side on in my vice but I think I'll take DAZ's advice.

Thanks for taking the time to post them for me

[juniorspey]

thanks for the advice rp, the main mistake i make is putting too many turns of thread on, for a 16 year old im a complete technophobe, but al maybe pinch the wee sisters digi camera and try to post sum of my pics!

[salmondan]

ibrox said:

Thanks Dan

I've got to say looking at them close up and from the top I'm not happy with the heads . They looked fine side on in my vice but I think I'll take DAZ's advice.

Thanks for taking the time to post them for me

Jeez, what was I thinking (just bloody laziness probably), when does anyone (human or fish) look at a fly from that angle? What a F*ckwit I am . I'll post a side on and slightly underneath view tomorrow night (hopefully) to show the flies in the way they were intended to be seen. I admit the heads are prettier from that view and never thought about the consequences of "point of view".

Thinking about it though, maybe point of view is where we go wrong sometimes with our fly tying, a subject for another thread ?

[ibrox]

Dan I'm sorry mate, I'm not having a go at you i would never do that.

I was trying to make light of the fact I think I made a mess of the heads on my flies. Nothing to do with your photo skills

A truly sorry Mike

[salmondan]

Nae bother Mike, that photo angle was poor . I'm sure that most flies look like that, it must be fairly unavoidable due to the shape of hook eyes. Surely the most important aspect of fly tying aesthetics is the view from below and/or slightly to one side?

We never look at flies from the photograph angle until we are choosing one at the river bank, perhaps we should. Your flies are top notch and I will post a pic showing vice/tyer's view tomorrow night to prove it.

No offence taken, Dan.

[DAZ]

Mike.

There ain't much wrong with those heads mate....I would fish everyone of them with confidence....Very nice indeed.

DAZ.

[salmondan]

Right, here they are, the same flies from side on (vice view) and much prettier they are too compared to first pic. Shows some nice wing work too, well done Mike.



Many apologies regarding pic size, told you i was a fwckwit ;D.

[rpsalmon]

Dear salmondan

Your practical experience shows through in those flies. My only thought is that on two of the flies there may be a few too many turns of ribbing and the turns may be at too narrow an angle, with the result that the ribbing may become loose and even slip.

When you do the butts, do you just tie in some floss after the tag? When I want a bright tag, and because these very bright modern flosses are not supplied in rope like Pearsalls floss-and the fibers often break/trail after one fish, I just tie the fly with silver tinsel in order to prime the butt, and when I've finished the fly I will wrap the floss on the silver butt separately and finish butt with a whip finish. Then, when a fish damaged the floss I can simply cut it off and put a bright new butt on!

The Haslam can be an extraordinary fly but I always ensure mine have long criss cross horns. I didn't appreciate this when first introduced to the pattern, but an angler in Northumberland gave me some examples with the long criss cross horns and it made all the difference. His used hen pheasant tail for the wing and the horns extended at least an inch behind the wing! I have found this pattern to work very well (!!!) in Iceland and Norway.

[speycaster]

nice flies mate well tied

[ibrox]

Hi rpsalmon,

Salmondan kindly posted these flies on by behalf.

I appreciate your thoughts on my ribbing and admit there are some flies I tie with 2 or 3 extra turns, not sure if it makes a difference? I also glue the bodies once or twice just to make sure the ribbing doesn't slip, same applies to my tags.

The Haslam is a lovely fly and has caught me numerous ST on the Annan. The one you see was one of my first tyings and if my memory serves me right I used dyed turkey quills for the horns instead of Macaw. I think this is why they don't sit right (not stiff enough) IMHO I don't think this will make a difference to the fish. I could be wrong! It is nice to see a properly tied fly though, so I'm off to my local pet shop to mug the first Macaw I see ;D ;D ;D.

I appreciate all the hints and tips and will put them to good use.

Cheers

Mike

[acw]

ibrox said:

The Haslam is a lovely fly and has caught me numerous ST on the Annan. The one you see was one of my first tyings and if my memory serves me right I used dyed turkey quills for the horns instead of Macaw. I think this is why they don't sit right (not stiff enough) IMHO I don't think this will make a difference to the fish. I could be wrong! It is nice to see a properly tied fly though, so I'm off to my local pet shop to mug the first Macaw I see ;D ;D ;D.

The Haslam is a great fly ,the Horns do make a huge difference to its catching powers .IMHO
Not bought any macaw for ages ,does fishermans feathers still exist ??

I appreciate all the hints and tips and will put them to good use.

Cheers

Mike

[rpsalmon]

www.cookshill-flytying.co.uk is best place for balance of quality/cheap Macaw Tail. Tell them what you want it for and ask for a price of a full tail as they used to keep a good stock.

[salmondan]

ibrox said:

Hi rpsalmon,

Salmondan kindly posted these flies on by behalf.

Sorry guys, should have made that clear, these flies were given to me when I met up with Mike on the Annan earlier in the year. I've not had the right conditions to send any of them for a swim yet , hopefully the back end of next week on the Tay will give me the opportunity to do so. If not, I can just do what I do normally and look at them with awe.

RPS, you have sharper eyes than me buddy, and obviously far more experience, I for one would appreciate it if you hung around this forum for a while so we novices can learn even more . I'm not sure whether you've read it but CLaG's series of posts (conditions, reading water etc) about the basic rules of salmon fishing remains unfinished, perhaps you may wish to add to this series with an insight into your methods?

Regards, Dan.

[rpsalmon]

Dear Salmondan

I've just found and read three interesting articles by CLAG. I note the references to Francis Grant and the J curve, I have to find my copy of that book in order to check something but when I do, I'll probably make a post to the particular CLAG article and so it'll come up to the top of the list.

What I will say at this stage, is that such posts should be copied into a thread by the moderators (a section where moderators can only start threads) to act as a "brain bank" of advice. That way such valuable articles won't be lost among other articles of "not so valuable content".

[acw]

rpsalmon said:

Dear Salmondan

I've just found and read three interesting articles by CLAG. I note the references to Francis Grant and the J curve, I have to find my copy of that book in order to check something but when I do, I'll probably make a post to the particular CLAG article and so it'll come up to the top of the list.

What I will say at this stage, is that such posts should be copied into a thread by the moderators (a section where moderators can only start threads) to act as a "brain bank" of advice. That way such valuable articles won't be lost among other articles of "not so valuable content".

Rps ,
like the idea though may be a lot of work for the mods and could cause problems with deciding whats worthy and what isnt .
Some of the finer things I find on the net get saved and printed out .seems my home computers seem to die on me ,and I loose stuff ,yes I know back it up ,but life is short and I do like stuff on paper