What have you tied today?

[Rabmax]

Lochan dub some with Fl Pink UV ice dub for the thorax if you have some.It's absolutely deadly on all the rivers i fish.I will often use one turn of white hen hackle slightly over-sized on some patterns.It's especially effective when the river is slightly coloured up.I think white must show up well in coloured water.I used to use lighter coloured Partridge feathers for this in the past.The trout seem to eat white hen hackle as readily as they did with Partridge.Do you not use any Tungsten nymphs Lochan.Cheers All

[Wildfisher]

I wouldn't worry too much about hiding the wire, beads etc. The fish have no idea what they are.  How could they?  What about the tippet and the hook?  How many insects have you seen with 1/2" of bent tempered steel wire sticking out of their arse?   :lol:   How do you hide that? You can't and it does not matter.

These embellishments are  just, as Bob Wyattt puts it,  "fly tying stuff".    The bead makes as a good thorax / wing case as anything. The most effective wet flies are very often the chewed up ones. The more chewed they get the more fish they seem to catch up until they fall to bits completely.  It may be because they are by that point sparse and mobile. I think the embellishments that catch fish are things like hot spots or tinsels / flash dubbing  to aid viability / catch the eye of the fish,  rubber legs / CDC / very soft  game hackles to give etc impression of life.

I love watching Oliver Edwards or Davie MacPhail tying flies, they are artists and the finished fly is a delight, but I don't think for a second that most of what they do has anything at all to do with effective or successful fly fishing.

[Lochan_load]

My dad doesn't fish much apart from the odd day with me spinning for mackerel but every now and again likes to tell me that the only fly fishing he has done was with a seagull feather tied to a hook with fishing line and brought across a pool in a big 'V'. This was up at Kyle of lochalsh area when he was a boy and used to catch loads apparently! I've heard this story hundreds of times but does serve to highlight that most of what we do at the vice is pretty redundant. I must admit though that I always want to improve my tying and my fishing. Id like to become better at both and all the wee bits of info that come through the forum helps loads.
Most of the flies I fish are a bit scruffier and bedraggled looking efforts because like you say the ones that get chewed up are often the ones that get hit again and again, i do like knocking out the sleek, glossy looking ones though

[Wildfisher]

The forum, people like Edwards and MacPahil are great aids to better tying. Being a reasonable tier helps you produce effective flies. Even simple flies require some tying technique.

I watched a MacPhail video the other day he was tying a " female Adams" . There is no natural fly called an Adams, so how can there be a a female?  This is nonsense.

What the fly really was was a general dun pattern with a hotspot. It has nothing at all to do with male or female. Fish cannot possibly understand such entomological concepts. It either looks like something they can eat or it doesn't.

Don't misunderstand me, fly tying is fun and I believe it is an essential skill if you are to be a complete fly fisher, but much of it has little to do with fishing. It has more to do with abstract art than angling. 

[Lochan_load]

Totally agree, my mums into crafty stuff; sugar craft, needlework etc and I think fly tying falls into that sort of category ( lot more manly of course! ) :gay4

[Lochan_load]

Trying to fill my box this year with flies that are actually useful and think the pennell dressing with a marabou wing falls into that category, love marabou and by all accounts so do the fish!
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[JimJams]

Love a pennell i do! I've just started tying some up over the last couple of nights, keep meaning to try a wee variation!

[Lochan_load]

Teal blue and silver, trickier to tie than I though and a pain in the arse to get a photo of  :x

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[Wildfisher]

Nice fly. The wing can be a pain to get right. How did you do it? Cut a wide section and fold it?

[Clan Chief]

Tonight I tied four more scruffy flees for my box