On The Fly
"Fly tying is a school from which we never graduate"
TYING NEWS
The Southern Oregon Fly Tiers met Tuesday, October 9th
at the Madrone Hill community building near Gold Hill. We encourage
novice and experienced tiers alike to drop by the second Tuesday of each
month for a fun evening. We have plenty of room for everyone. At our
last meeting, we began a monthly series of guest tiers in a tie-along
format. Our first guest was Phil Hager who put on an outstanding program
for the RFF on Central Oregon fishing, then agreed to show us his most
productive flies. In November we have scheduled John MacDiarmid to
enlighten us on Caddis in the Rogue River. If you are interested in
participating in this educational experience, contact me and we will add
your name to the e-mail list, and then we can let you know who, when,
and what materials to bring.
The Northern California Council FFF is holding their
annual fly-fishing conclave in Redding, California, October 19th and
20th and it’s definitely worth the drive. Many members will be
demonstrating their tying skills. I hope to see you there.
PATTERN OF THE MONTH - Spade
Hook: Standard salmon/steelhead, size 10-4.
Thread: 6/0 black.
Tail: Very fine deer hair.
Body: 2/3 peacock herl & 1/3 black ostrich herl
Collar: Soft grizzly hackle.
Head: Black thread.
Tying Instructions:
1) Start the thread two eye-widths back and wrap a thread base to just
above the hook point.
2) Select a small bunch of deer hair for the tail, measure one
body-length and tie the deer hair to the top of the hook. Bind down the
butts to the shank up to the tie-in point. Tie off and trim the excess.
3) Tie on 4-5 peacock herls at the base of the tail, wrap them one turn
over the hook shank, then 3-4 turns counter clockwise around the bobbin
thread. Wrap this herl rope forward 2/3 the body length. Tie off and
trim the excess.
4) At this point, tie in 2 herls of ostrich plume, take one turn over
the shank, then twist the ostrich plume onto the thread and wind this
combination forward the last 1/3 of the body. Tie off and trim the
excess.
5) Select a soft grizzly hackle feather with barbs long enough to reach
the bend of the hook. Tie it on by its tip, fold, and wind 2-3 turns
while stroking fibers to the back. Tie off, trim the excess, and tie
back on the hackle forcing it back against the ostrich material.
6) Form a nice neat head with thread and cement.
The Spade fly was developed by Bob Arnold of Seattle, Washington, during the late 1960s. His purpose was to design a simple, drab, and more buoyant pattern that would not hang up on the bottom thus spooking the steelhead. The fly is relatively easy to tie with common materials. Peacock provides the attraction while the soft hackle provides the movement.
Variations on the original Spade by Alec Jackson were developed in the 1980s using a variety of color and material. He added a fluorescent red butt and a claret guinea hackle for the Spade, Claret Guinea fly. Another version features all-purple materials and is called the Spade, Whaka Blond. All of Alec’s flies are made of peacock or ostrich rope. This process takes more time and involves twisting the thread or tinsel with the herl. Maybe the steelhead can’t tell the difference if you use chenille, but Alec does. So, tie some up, give them a test flight, and let me know how you did.
TYING TIPS
1) Be sure to get a thread base under the tail. Deer hair is slippery
and turns easily on a bare shank.
2) When you twist the herl around the tying thread you add durability
to this fragile material. You may also add tinsel to add flash.
3) The hackle barbs should end up cocked at a 45-degree angle. The
ostrich herl just behind the barbs returns them to this angle as the
water current pressure changes.
Tie One On,
Dan Kellogg (you can contact me at FLYGUY@EZNORTHWEST.COM)