USD Flies *

[Traditionalist]

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.

Glad you like it!  Rule number one, keep it simple!  If it takes longer than three minutes for a beginner to dress it, then it?s no bloody good!   These flies are in any case far easier to dress, far more effective and far more durable than many complex dressings.

TL
MC

[The General]

My wee mate John gave me half a hare pelt yesterday and I have just tied my
first upside down fly with it.   Bloody WOW.
I do not need any smart arse coming up now and bursting the bubble.  Just
give me time to catch my first hundred trout with it and a couple of salmon for
good measure before throwing in any negatives.
What an easy material to use compared with deer hair.  It certainly looks like
it will be replacing my DHE.
Very many thanks again Mike.

Davie

[ChildOfTheMist]

Spare a thought for us poor wee souls that have never tied a flee in our lives  I suppose we'll have to wait for Fulling Mill to catch up  :shock:

Mike, the USD's look immense. Although I haven't a clue about tying flies, I'm finding the threads thoroughly enjoyable. Many thanks.

Daibhidh

[Traditionalist]

Spare a thought for us poor wee souls that have never tied a flee in our lives  I suppose we'll have to wait for Fulling Mill to catch up  :shock:

Mike, the USD's look immense. Although I haven't a clue about tying flies, I'm finding the threads thoroughly enjoyable. Many thanks.

Daibhidh

My pleasure!

As good a time as any to start dressing then!    It really is quite easy to produce excellent flies easily and cheaply.  You just have to ignore the glossy magazines, and indeed anybody else who tries to tell you different!  You don?t need anything exotic or expensive. Just using a hare skin, and a few bits and bobs, you can dress hundreds of excellent flies that are very good fish catchers. If you get a squirrel skin and a few coloured wools, you can dress thousands!  You can make most tools yourself quite easily.

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

My wee mate John gave me half a hare pelt yesterday and I have just tied my
first upside down fly with it.   Bloody WOW.
I do not need any smart arse coming up now and bursting the bubble.  Just
give me time to catch my first hundred trout with it and a couple of salmon for
good measure before throwing in any negatives.
What an easy material to use compared with deer hair.  It certainly looks like
it will be replacing my DHE.
Very many thanks again Mike.

Davie

I missed this post, and only just saw it now. One of my other strict criteria before I show people flies, is that they must have caught  at least one hundred fish.  The flies I have shown you here exceeded this marker many years ago!

There are a number of people who use my patterns, and also have contributed to various improvements. One dresser of note who has only been dressing for three years is Thomas Zuellich, ;

http://www.danica.com/flytier/tzuellich/tzuellich.htm

but there are many others.These people also actually fish with the flies, and don?t just sit winding bits of flashy plastic around ever more complex hook patterns!   These flies are also designed for wily wild fish, and not for "pellet pigs".

If I show you any of my "new" ideas, I will tell you that it is new and unproven.  There is absolutely no point in showing people "duff" flies. When they try them, and they don?t work, they just think you are a bloody idiot!

Although I have been dressing flies for a very long time, and am indeed quite well known in some circles, I am not interested in publicising things generally, or selling anything. On a number of occasions I have been asked to submit flies and patterns to lots of places, but I am simply not interested in doing so. I get more pleasure out of seeing and hearing about people having  success with them. Dressing and fishing!

Apart from which, I have hundreds of patterns, for all sorts of applications. It gives me immense pleasure to design and use such flies myself. I won?t entertain rubbish, or superfluous nonsense.

Over the years, very many people contributed to my angling education, mostly selflessly and very generously. I hope I can repay them in some small way by passing on what I have learned to other ANGLERS!  Not to magazines and commercial websites. I am very pleased to hear you are enjoying yourself dressing them, and I wish you a mighty bagful of fish on them.  That is what it is all about!

Incidentally, the USD hare flies are indeed relatively new, ( I dressed the first such flies about six years ago), and my article on this board was the first time the idea has been published anywhere. My intentions were to dress something durable, which floated well, was a good imitation of various upwinged flies, and could be easily dressed. It has proven to be so.  I have used hare fur for other fly wings for a long time. Nothing against Bob?s excelellent fly, or indeed others which use deer hair, but I find it a pain to work with, and beginners in my classes never get on well with it.

Of course I also dress a large variety of other "conventional" flies, but there is no point in showing you how to dress a "snipe and purple", or  a "Red Quill",  there are hundreds of people doing that already! ( Often badly!   ) And it?s bloody boring anyway!

TL
MC

PS (Perhaps I ought to change my nickname to "Progressive Traditionalist"  ?)

[Traditionalist]

QUOTE ADMIN
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
UNQUOTE

Just a small point which actually occurred to me when I read the post, but being engaged in something else at the time, I forgot to mention it Fred. Sorry!

You will find that if you use Rabbit, it will be an improvement to make the thorax a little darker than the abdomen. This is a feature on very many flies. If necessary, just add a little mole or dark rabbit underfur etc, to the last turn or so of dubbing. This also makes the fleis look "buggier".

TL
MC

[haresear]

Traditionalist,

I agree that your USD hare is easier to tie than Bob Wyatt's pattern. To me however what sets it apart, apart from hiding the hook (remember I haven't fished with it yet) is that it is more aerodynamic.
My local river has the prevailing gale howling downstream, so Bob's pattern with its forward facing wing catches the wind. This is why I am excited about your pattern. The wing faces downwind when casting into the wind until the leader turns over. Just like an F fly, but USD too.

I can't wait for the Ides of March.

Julius.

[Traditionalist]

Traditionalist,

I agree that your USD hare is easier to tie than Bob Wyatt's pattern. To me however what sets it apart, apart from hiding the hook (remember I haven't fished with it yet) is that it is more aerodynamic.
My local river has the prevailing gale howling downstream, so Bob's pattern with its forward facing wing catches the wind. This is why I am excited about your pattern. The wing faces downwind when casting into the wind until the leader turns over. Just like an F fly, but USD too.

I can't wait for the Ides of March.

Julius.

We will need photos of the fish!

TL
MC

[haresear]

We will need photos of the fish!

Ah!
Houston, we have a problem :lol:.

Alex

[Wildfisher]

your USD hare is easier to tie than Bob Wyatt's pattern.

I agree. The fly is also far more aerodynamic and the whole "no negative trigger"   concept is  more logical  and easier to relate to than the esoteric  positive trigger counter argument. Yes, most fish will take just about anything but  for spooky, hard to catch fish not having a hook hanging from the flies arse must surely  be a plus.  Can't wait to try this out, a really innovative piece of fly design.