The usual suspects and a few others

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:53 pm

Hi all, thought i'd post up a few pics of some of the ties I've been doing in better detail. Some are the usual suspects and some are my ideas for alternatives. Hope you like them, be nice to see anyone else's ties as well, been a while since there were any on the site!

all the best

Chris

Sandeel version with all material tied on the inside of the hook

Gurgleish

Fry pattern

Flatwing Deciever

Night Crawler

Baby Pollock

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:14 am

few caught on dodgy camera.

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:02 pm

Nice tying both winking

Looks like the Bass are going to have a tough time this season.

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:53 pm

Ooh yes Colin, they certainly are big grin

Nice to see you busy as well Mick winking

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:13 pm

think this little baby will work.

comes in blue /white ,chartruse/white,red/white and dark green /light green with added weight for pollack.
camera phone is not that good but iam getting the knack on posting pics now .
tight lines mick.

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:19 pm

Looks good Mick what size hook is that on?

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:36 am

size 6 bronze long shank,photo dosent do it justice,with a bit of bucktail and some eyes i found in the tying box.

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:00 pm

he hey, wish i'd seen this before i had my first bash at tying the other week:)
nice work chaps!! Bit new to this lark, think i've probably gone a bit nuts on the decoration front.. i'll post some pics wen i get a mo, could do with some pointers.. no laughing!! devil

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:03 pm

only way to learn skuffa.not the best tyer in the world ,but they catch and there aint no better feeling than catching on a fly that you have tied yourself.look forward to your photos.
tightlines mick.

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:21 pm

We all have to start somewhere Skuffa, I expect many peoples first ties weren't quite what they were hoping for, I know mine weren't! Practice makes perfect and after three seasons of tying I'm still learning and I bet Mick will say the same, and as he says there is no better feeling than catching fish on a fly you have tied yourself, their not that fussy as long as it resembles food they will eat it! Everyone on this forum is helpful and friendly and only too happy to give good advice so don't be shy winking

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:37 pm

ok chaps here goes..
as i said a total newbie to the salt fly, only had my first few chucks at the end of the last season with a some shop bought clousers. I had bass hitting them straight away but couldn't connect with one. Needless to say i was intrigued and keen to get a bit of action.
Obviously these do look a bit like Christmas decs and i'll try to make some resembling the bait fish/shrimp in my area. I'm a bit limited to materials at the moment, chasing squirrels around the garden etc:)
Anyway, its a start and i will catch on one of these Thanks for looking guys.

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:09 pm

hi skuffa,you want to put a couple away and look at them at the end of the season and compare with your latest ties,you will see a differance.ive found that sparsely tied flies produce better,and alot easier to cast.atleast youve started ,keep up the good work mate.
mick.

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:19 pm

Good effort Skuffa, looks like you have the basic idea, If I may be so bold as to offer a few pointers to help you along.

Less is more as far as the amount of material you should include in your flies goes, as Mick said as a rule you should try and make your flies 'sparse' , the reason for this is twofold, first the less material the easier the fly is to cast and secondly we are aiming to imitate, for the most part, small translucent baitfish or fry that the Schoolies are feeding on. Most of the time we are using hooks in the sizes 6 to 2 range, so the flies are reasonably small. It is possible to use flies larger than this when targeting larger specimens, but again these are tied in such a way as to give the impression of a larger prey while still utilising a minimalist technique in the tying. Most of the flies we use are tied from some kind of Hair, either natural or synthetic, designed to shed water easily for casting. Feathers do feature as well, but tend to be used sparingly as they make casting any distance much harder as they tend to hold up in the air.

When I first started tying I watched numerous video's on u Tube and found that very helpful, search 'Saltwater fly tying' on there. The easiest to start with are Clousers, and once you have got the hang of those then you can have a go at something else using the same basic principles when selecting the amount of material to include in any fly.

Your bound to have lots more questions so feel free to fire them in our direction and we'll do our best to help winking

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:39 pm

Thanks for the advice guys, as my casting improves hopefully so will my tying. I'm definitely getting the more sparse approach. I know we get the sandeels on the beach in the summer so i'll try to mimic something along those lines. Loving your sandeel and baby pollack etc wightfish.. Oh, where can i get some eyes from??? I'm using a bit of old plug chain at the mo.
Anyway the real proof will be in the catching, roll on the warmer weather some top reports and my first salt fly caught fish.. happy

hopefully!!

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:54 pm

Skuffa, you can get dumbell eyes as seen in my pics from here http://www.uksaltwaterflies.com/

or here http://www.funkyflytying.co.uk/

as well as other materials like Bucktail or Slinky fibre which are ideal for Clousers and are cheap enough.

Chris