Several people have asked me for a step by step of this. It has evolved over the years and no doubt will continue to do so. This is the current manifestation.
This fly is nothing more than a modified foam cicada / foam beetle that I have tweaked as I have learned more about how it fished, what works and what does not. There is nothing much new in fly tying, anyone who claims they have invented a new fly probably has a massive ego that needs fed. The only real changes in recent years have been adaptation of new materials, sometimes to do old things better and, more rarely, to do new things altogether.
I tie Naomi in black and in olive. This is the black tying.
First the materials
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1/8 inch Evazote Foam Sheet - black or olive Evazote is fairly soft and easier to tie in than cross-link foam. Anything will do though.
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McFlylon Yarn for the post. I use white or pink. This, with its crimped fibers, is the best yarn I have used.
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Flexifloss this is for the legs. Black or olive (bright red may be useful at heather fly time). I have tried lots of different leg materials, but nothing has matched flexifloss for smaller flies like this. It has a small diameter and is very mobile. This is exactly what you want.
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Kamazan B170 hook I use 12 or 10
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Black or Olive 8/0 thread and Superglue The glue is essential.
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Veniard Glister Dubbing - Peacock (black) or Dark Olive. You can use any dubbing, I use this now as it adds a bit of sparkle / translucency.
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Close up of Peacock Glister dubbing.
Tying Steps
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Prepare a strip of foam as shown. It should be about 4 mm wide and 3 - 4cm long. Do not scrimp on the length you need it to make the tying easier in later steps. Round one end as shown - this is not essential just aesthetically pleasing.
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Run the thread from the eye to level with the hook point, run back up, stop where shown, run a generous bead of super glue right along the thread wraps. The glue is essential to stop the foam and the rest of the dressing spinning round the hook shank. Do not miss out the glue!
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Tie in the foam as shown so the rounded end is just about level with the hook bend - it's not critical, just get it thereabouts. The body should lie quite flat, but don't worry too much as long as it's not cocked at too much of an angle. More glue helps. It will also flatten out when you pull the front foam back later in the tying sequence. Leave a squashed down thorax area as shown right up to the hook eye.
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Add the legs, tie in the ones farthest from you first, then the ones nearest. It's not possible to show how this is done with only one person involved, but it's easy enough. Just keep the legs very long for ease of handling, loop them round the thread then pull them into place with the thread. You can trim them to length later.
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Dub the thread generously
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Wind on the dubbed thread evenly. This positions the leg pairs exactly right, front and back
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Take the tread back to the left side of the dubbed thorax then pull the foam back over, tightly, as shown and tie down. Don't cut off the excess foam yet.
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Tie in the McFlylon post. Now take the thread to the eye and whip finish as normal. Pull the foam tight, trim it off, then trim the post to the around the length shown.
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Trim the rear legs as shown
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Trim the front legs as shown
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The finished fly
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The finished fly
It's worth picking out some of the dubbing with your needle to add to the overall straggly-ness of the fly. :D
Thanks for that Fred :D
Thank you very much for that :D
Oh and I forgot to add (in FF+FT tradition) in order to realise the full fish catching potential of this fly it's essential to add some guard hairs from a Yeti's scrotum to the dubbing mix. It just so happens I have limited supplies and can offer this precious material at £250 / packet. :lol:
Quote from: admin on March 11, 2013, 04:27:21 PM
Oh and I forgot to add (in FF+FT tradition) in order to realise the full fish catching potential of this fly it's essential to add some guard hairs from a Yeti's scrotum to the dubbing mix. It just so happens I have limited supplies and can offer this precious material at £250 / packet. :lol:
Nobody is going to fall for that one! We all know that due to the extreme cold in the Himalayas the yeti's testes have evolved and retracted into the body cavity and the scrotum has ceased to be. You are probably thinking about the yeti's eyelashes that have lengthened and strengthened to keep to keep the snow out of its eyes. These are used to provide the legs on the original Nepalese Naiomi pattern, used in masheer fishing, that you have plaigiarised.
Quote from: Roobarb on March 11, 2013, 04:45:56 PM
How many yeti pubes in a packet?
Two in the packet the barsteward sold me!
I fancy some of these from the boat, off to the vice, report later in the season. Thanks for sharing.
Quote from: Roobarb on March 11, 2013, 04:45:56 PM
I don't know why but I always assumed she was a really big girl,
You can make it as big as you like. I sometimes use them as size 8. all it is then is a foam cicada, so I use those too. On a windy loch or well into the dusk I'd use the big fella. You can tie in a wing just before you pull the foam back over the thorax. Again I use McFlylon for that.
Fred
Thanks for that demo - it's very clear. Do you ever use these on the rivers ?
T
Sorry Fred pictures are all fuzzy,you'll have to send me half a dozen so I can copy them...................................
Quote from: burnie on March 11, 2013, 06:34:09 PM
Sorry Fred pictures are all fuzzy,you'll have to send me half a dozen so I can copy them...................................
Doh, why didn't I think of that :lol:
Quote from: Teither on March 11, 2013, 06:21:58 PM
Thanks for that demo - it's very clear. Do you ever use these on the rivers ?
yes in summer
QuoteIt just so happens I have limited supplies and can offer this precious material at £250 / packet.
Urine stained Polor Bear fur can be an added attraction................ bugger getting it though. Last person that was going to get me some I have not heard from him for a while.
:roll:
Tight Lines
Just wondering what you use for the Dolly Parton version or is that where the rest of the yeti scrotum gets used. :roll:
Ive tied something similar, not with a scrotum or anything resembling one, but with a long bright blue foam for damsels. I'll maybe call it a Jordan.
Billy
Cheers for the dressing looks great, will be trying this on those Iberian Barbel when I go to Spain in May.
Thanks Fred, you put a bit of effort went in to perfecting the materials.
It would make a good bob fly on a windy day as well !
If you have a Ponden Mill near you they have a small craft section and you can pick up a sheet of foam for about 60p or there abouts.
Various colours and sheet size is between A3 and A4. I bought a blue and a tan coloured the last time I was in. I'm not sure what you would pay for the same through a fly tying suppliers.
Billy
I notice you keep the body on the small side - the fly looks 'all-hook'.(And legs of course)
Makes sense - I tied a batch of foam-bodied cicadas last year, used a much bigger, wider body, and while it brought plenty of takes, I failed to hook up a single one!
They may have been doing the 'drown - then - eat' thing , I've never been able to hold my nerve long enough to see if it's true.
That's right Dave I like to keep the hook predominant for that very reason. This fly hooks up really well with medium to big fish but only the most eager parr gets hold of it.
On rivers I like to fish this fly in pocket water on hot sunny days in summer so keeping parr off is essential. It's what I am using in this video (olive version). You can see the fly at approx. time 1:45 you'll see it has an even shorter body so even more of the hook shows. I'm still trying these things out and vary the fly quite a bit.
A Peaceful Place (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-U3FnJoHww#ws)
With the foam cicada you sometimes get a lot of leader twist - due to the body being wider than the thorax. I think. Naiomi (skinny with long legs :lol:) is more streamlined and I don't get the same bother unless she loses a leg and becomes unbalanced. The folded back foam head helps streamline it too.
I tied a few up yesterday, my first couple didn't pass muster with the float test. I reckon I had too much body forwards and the "The folded back foam head" pulled too tight, compressing more of the midriff and positioning the folded head with a looser fit seems to have sorted it, the latest couple now float on a more even keel, even in a cup full of water I'm liking the leg twitch myself.
Can't wait for the snow to shift :8)