USD Flies *

[The General]

We are in danger of these excellent tips being fragmented all over the site.
Fred is there any way of keeping the info given by Mike in the same place for
easy reference. 
Excellent Mike, thank you very much

Davie

[Traditionalist]

My pleasure.  I would rather keep things on the site, but one or two of my fans collect my stuff!  You can find quite a bit of it here;

http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=513303

http://flytyingworld.proboards62.com/index.cgi?board=theories&action=display&thread=1144157533  but there is a lot more spread all over the place!

Also, if anybody is interested, and Fred can host them, I have a fair number of PDF files on various things.

After Fred and John Gray very kindly invited me to the forum, and everybody here is very welcoming, I feel quite at home here, and hope to stay for quite a while.

TL
MC

[Wildfisher]

Mike, I can easily host the  pdfs'  This site is hosted on my own leased web  server which is in a secure data centre  in Gloucester,  so there are no restrictions on what I can do (provided I can continue to afford pay the lease of course!) You are most welcome here Mike and we are all very glad to have you on board. Unlike most other forums there is no hassle here. That is not say there is never  cross word or a disagreement, but it is rare and we are all civilised, never resorting  to personal insults or  to  the kind of stuff all too often witnessed elsewhere. We do swear a bit  sometimes though!


OK, here is an  effort on a size 14 with rabbit fur. The bigger 12's I did were better but I am wondering about the proportions on these smaller sizes as I will use them more. Are the wings dense enough? I am having a bit of difficulty splitting the wing nicely but that I hope will come with practice


Sorry about the crap photos

[attachimg=1]


[attachimg=2]
It is remarkable how buggy these look from below

[haresear]

I would just like to echo others thoughts here. Your ideas are very innovative Mike and you are a breath of fresh air on the tying front.
I don't follow "patterns" at all, but tie using my own ideas and try to look at my dry flies from a trout's perspective, rather than in profile, which I think is irrelevant.

I'm really looking forward to your posts. I generally don't follow fly tying threads on this forum (with a few exceptions), but will make a point of checking yours out. I hereby award you a gold star

Alex

[Traditionalist]

Those flies will do fine Fred. You will see when you use them. Doubtless you will be pleasantly surprised. They really are extremely effective.

I will e-mail you some stuff. Up to you where you host it, link it etc. You can use it for Fish Wild or on here, or for any other non-commercial use.

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

I would just like to echo others thoughts here. Your ideas are very innovative Mike and you are a breath of fresh air on the tying front.
I don't follow "patterns" at all, but tie using my own ideas and try to look at my dry flies from a trout's perspective, rather than in profile, which I think is irrelevant.

I'm really looking forward to your posts. I generally don't follow fly tying threads on this forum (with a few exceptions), but will make a point of checking yours out. I hereby award you a gold star

Alex

Very kind of you , thanks! 

TL
MC

[Wildfisher]

Mike how long should the wings be – let’s say in relation  to the body length – which is in effect the hook shank length?  I have never used USD flies of any kind before and so am  unaware  of effects like leader twist – anyway I thought it too much faffing around but these are so easy and quick to tie they will be my top priority trial flies this season.   Just tied another few 14's and they are getting better. What is the smallest sizes you manage to tie? Sorry about all these questions, that's just me, I'm a nosy bugger! 

[Traditionalist]

Mike how long should the wings be ? let?s say in relation  to the body length ? which is in effect the hook shank length?  I have never used USD flies of any kind before and so am  unaware  of effects like leader twist ? anyway I thought it too much faffing around but these are so easy and quick to tie they will be my top priority trial flies this season.   Just tied another few 14's and they are getting better. What is the smallest sizes you manage to tie? Sorry about all these questions, that's just me, I'm a nosy bugger! 

I aim to have the wings about the same length as the hook shank.  These soft hair wings will not cause leader twist. You can easily try this, just tie them to a tippet and drag them around a bit.  They don?t "helicopter" like many other wing types.  The "V" wing only has to be enough to cause the hook to fall the right way ( like a dart flight), and give an impression of a wing of course.

I have dressed these flies down to a 32 for demos, ( people always want to see silly things like that at demos) but under normal circumstances, and for the majority of my fishing I rarely go below a sixteen.  These flies work extremely well in these sizes, 12 14 16, so why bother making things difficult?

You will discover that they work better than other flies. Fish are simply less suspicious. One hardly ever gets a refusal. Ninety per cent of the time I don?t even bother trying to "match the hatch" I just fling a hare fur fly at them, it nearly always works. 

No bother with questions. I welcome the chance to discuss fishing and dressing in my mother tongue for a change!

TL
MC

[nant_fisher]

Will definetly have to tie up a couple. These articles are brilliant, a gold mine of knowledge. Three cheers for traditionalist!

[Pearly Invicta]

Mike- this really is great stuff. I only tie flies occasionally and only easy patterns. I've just rattled off a few USD flies and it takes a really good simple fly to get me to the vice. Lang may yer lum reek.