What's in my fly box !

[Black-Don]

A wee thread for the flies I'm tying and fishing. I try to choose flies these days that will be useful in a variety of conditions and waters, whether river or loch. If anyone wants any more info on any of the flies or whatever then please let me know.

Thought I'd start with the Adams upwing dry fly, a few of which I tied last night.







Hook              size 10 - 20 ( I used a Fulling Mill Living Larva )

Thread           Black No. 8 Uni Thread

Tail               Brown and Grizzle cock hackle

Body             Grey rabbit fur

Wings            Grizzle cock hackle points

Hackles         1 each Grizzle cock and Brown Natural cock hackles 3 - 4 turns

Although now almost eighty years old this is still a very modern looking fly that catches fish around the world in a wide range of water types. Although called the Adams, this fly was actually created by Leonard Halladay for an attorney from Lorain, Ohio called Charles F.Adams who commissioned Halliday to tie the fly in order to fish the Boardman river.

The historically accepted story regargding the Adams says that on a summer's day in 1922 at the impoundment of Swainston Creek known as the Mayfield Pond, Mr. Halladay said: "The first Adams I made I handed to Mr. Adams who was fishing in a small pond in front of my house, to try on the Boardman that evening. When he came back next morning, he wanted to know what I called it. He said it was a 'knock-out' and I said we would call it the Adams, since he had made the first good catch on it."

The rest as they say is history as it is generally accepted in fly-fishing circles that if most fishermen were to choose just one dry fly it would be " The Adams " or one of it's variations.

[Malcolm]

Great all rounder Donald. I've usually got a couple of 14s and 16s in my box. I tie mine with a shorter hackle and also a couple more turns of hackle but I've no idea which is right or wrong.

[Black-Don]

Great all rounder Donald. I've usually got a couple of 14s and 16s in my box. I tie mine with a shorter hackle and also a couple more turns of hackle but I've no idea which is right or wrong.

If they work for you Malcolm, I reckon I'll give that a try. The above are 12's I think but I based the tying on some dry daddies I've had a bit of success with so I'll try the smaller hackles with a few more turns when I do some smaller patterns.

Nice looking flies Donald, try some of them with a clipped hackle so that it fishes in the surface rather than on top of it.

Davy.

I swithered over whether to cut the hackles down Davy as I've been doing this with some other dry flies I use so will give this a try on the Adams flies too !

[shad]

Nice flies Donald, I like the look of those hooks too,will be giving them a try for emergers this season.

[Robbie]

Very nice flies.  I have some of those living larva hooks, couple of days ago I was wondering what I could do with them...better check what size they are.

[Black-Don]

Added some parachute Adams flies tonight. A more modern version of the Adams upwing.



Photo could be better but it's done under flash so can't get quite as much detail.

I tried this with various grizzle cock hackles and found hackles from the Cookshill cape at £8.50 worked best but am waiting on a Hebert/Miner pro grade cape from America at the moment.

Looking at this fly, I reckon it would work as a substitute for quite a few naturals so once again a great all-rounder from the Adams stable.

[haresear]

 The Adams. It is a great fly. Looks like nothing in particular, but is suggestive of so many upwinged flies.

I've tied a few Adams variants (emergers) over the last few days too. Because I tie infrequently (and poorly) , they look rough, but will catch fish.

The parachute Adams is a real favourite of mine (and much more importantly, of the trout), especially early season when the large dark olives and march browns are about.

Alex

[Wildfisher]

i much prefer parachutes to full hackled high riders

Me too. American dries like these, especially ones with split hair wings like the Royal Wulff always seem to drift with one wing on the water. The design is top heavy and unstable.

[Black-Don]

nice fly don, i much prefer parachutes to full hackled high riders, i find on the whole there much better fish catchers but theres always a few exceptions.

I was going to ask how many folk still use winged dries and wet's these days as I can't see me having too many in my revised fly box. There's no doubt the parachute style flies, klinks and emergers give you everything you need in a dry fly these days with much better presentation. I still liked winged daddies and similar representations though but have had more success stillwater fishing when they sink and you strip it back for a re-cast with brownies coming right up to hit just as you come over a drop off.

personally i would sparsen down the tail just so it  cuts the surface on presentation, and sits right as it's tied on a slightly curved hook , or tie it on a standard hook.

That's a fair point Col, it's easy to develop bad habits and miss things other folk see with a fresh pair of eyes.

Something about those hooks ( Fulling Mill living larvae again ) is that I have put a slight bend in them but I'm going to stop this because a few of them broke while I was doing this which doesn't bode well for hook up's on a decent sized trout if I ever get one  :lol:

[Black-Don]

Here's a couple of flies from last night.

I've called them Wooly Dancers as they're not really Dancer's and they're not really Wooly Buggers. Both flies are leaded which is something I don't do a lot of but will be hoping to use these early season and a bit of depth won't go amiss.

Olive Wooly Dancer



Black Wooly Dancer



Both are tied on No. 8 Kamasan B800 Extra Long lure hooks and have quite a bit of material on them. Variations of both have been very succesful for stocked fish and I've had some success with a variation on the black with wild fish but intend to give both more water time on rivers and lochs for wild trout this season.

Pattern

Hook                   No. 8  B800 longshank

Thread                6/0 Olive or Black

Beadhead            4mm Hot Orange                     

Tail                     Marabou + 4 strands of that pearly stuff ?

Rib                      Small gold oval tinsel for olive / silver for black

Body                    Lead foil with rayon chenile wound from tail

Body Hackle           Palmered black or olive cock hackle

ShoulderHackle       Soft Black or olive hen hackle