Emerger Dubbing

A new dubbing that I use for a few days is made by Trout Line and the name is Emerger Dubbing. I developed in a few years and I tested the mix proportion until I was pleased with the results. It is a mix of different hairs from hare, squirrel, opossum in different quantities. Right now only a few colors are available but in a short period of time the rest will be in troutline fly tying shop.:
super-emerger-dubbing-facebook
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Tying a simple emerger with CDC

Nothing complicated, only a bunch of CDC and dubbing. Any beginner can make this fly and seems that the trout love this fly especially on lakes.
The common mistakes made by others is: cutting the CDC, the wing is not long enough, not enough CDC feathers.
These flies are tied on size #12 Daiichi B155
I used for every fly 5 feathers – natural black Ultra Selected CDC
For hot spot I used red thread
For dubbing – I used emerger dubbing
For ribbing I used: UV ribbing quill
emerger1
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Fishing in Italy on river Serio

Because I’l living in Italy from more than half year I had to make a fishing licence like other fishermen from Italy. The bureaucracy is like in all countries, nobody know exactly what you have to do to obtain a regular licence but in the end with the help from a very nice fishing shop owner I obtain one. Costs 102eur/year – first year and will cost in the future no more than 60eur/year so is not expensive at all.
I decided to go out for my first day of fishing in the 2014 season on river Serio from North Italy. It is a nice river, unfortunately with a lot of small dams on it but with nice wild fish in it.
I arrived very early at 7.30 in the morning after a hour of driving from Monza. A lot of fishermen like me very excited to go in water and catch some fish. The river was low and the water was very clear, too clear compared with my types of rivers.
fiume-Serio-in-Ponte-Nossa-No-Kill
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A simple tying thread test

Hi guys,
I’m a tier and I decided to test all my range of threads that I use frequently. After me is not an easy job because all producers don’t use the standard charts: Denier(grams per 9000m) or Decitex(grams per 10000m). They use the diameter of the thread and this is very difficult to measure. Also all producers claim their thread is stronger compared with others. Depeding of the material, if is a multi fibers threads or mono fiber threads, depending is is twisted or not, all this particularities and characteristics modify the strength of the thread and of course modify the look of the thread on the hook shank.

I had a few days off from my family for tying so I decided to make a small article about fly tying threads that I use for my flies.
I tested Uni Threads, Gordon Griffith’s threads,Veevus, UTC and Textreme
I tested the thread from this point of view: how looks these threads on the hook shank compared with the diameter described by the producer.
I used a 5/0 Daiichi Pike hook and 6 turns of each type of thread.

I started with Caenis and Trico from Uni:
Caenis is a mono type of fiber ( white and black) 20DEN,
Trico is a multi type o transparent fibers non twisted, 40DEN:

fly tying threads trico and caenis

Bellow you can see how looks on the hook shank.
From the left to the right: caenis and trico. Caenis is fragile and I use it for small flies tied under #22. I find this mono cord type of thread difficult to use and apply dubb on it. But hey !, for small and delicate flies you don’t have to work so much :)
caenis and trico on the hook shank

The next is is Gordon Griffith’s Sheer.
The GG Sheer looks very similar with Trico and I noticed that is more resistant to the pressure. I buy this thread from Funky Fly Tying – Tobby Merigan – and I like it. One note – this thread is twisted.
caenis and trico and gg sher tying threads on the hook shank

The next threads tested on the hook shank are Sheer, Veevus 10/0 and Wisp 8/0. An observation : sheer and wisp from Gordon Griffith’s are twisted and Veevus is medium twisted.
I noticed that these threads that I use have the same colors:
gg sheer and veevus and gg wisp fly tying threads

For me these fly tying threads seems to be identical on the hook shank:
gg sheer and veevus and gg wisp on the hook shank

gg sheer and veevus and gg wisp fly tying threads

So 10/0 from Veevus looks like 8/0 from Gordon Griffith’s. To check the size for these thin threads is not easy, but I have a friend who is professor at University of Physics and I will try to make a measurement in the lab.
In my opinion the correct way to classify the threads is to use the standard Denier or Decitex chart.
Anyway lets go further:
The next tying thread is a white Uni 8/0 of 72DEN and seems to be thinner than Veevus and GG Wisp. 8/0 Uni is twisted and not waxed. This is another interesting surprise from the diameter point of view declared by the producers. Anyway it is difficult to check exactly but I will ask my friends from University if he can make a RMN test.

The fluo orange UTC 70 thread is very flat on the hook shank. very shinny and semi transparent with a nice translucent effect. I like this tread because has parallel fibers in composition. The colors are very nice and you can make bodies for beautiful flies. One note, due the fact that the fibbers are not twisted is not easy to work with and some tiers hate this thread. In the end is a matter of taste . This thread is the next “tested”
sheer and veevus and wisp and uni and utc threads on the hook shank

The following threads are Uni 6/0 with 136 DEN and the italian thread 6/0 from Textreme.
Wow, another surprise!. Uni 6/0 seems to be more thinner than UTC 70 and Textreme 6/0 seems to be more thinner compared with Uni 6/0
sheer and veevus and wisp and uni and utc and uni and textreme fly tying thread

And bellow you can see all these threads that I’ve tested

tying threads ready for test

I invite you guys to tell me your opinions and share your experience from these threads and of course with other brands .
cheers and all the best,
Lucian

PS
for those who are looking for these fly tying threads you can by them also from troutline fly tying shop . The prices are competitive !

Anyway will prepare soon another article where I will measure the diameter of each thread from this small article and the breaking strength also.

cheers and happy tying :)
Lucian

A simple thing

Back to fly tying desk :) Moving in other country for a period of time and having a second baby  is time consuming. I’m very anxious to gout for fishing  on river Adda here in Lombardia  it is raining a lot and  all the rivers from this area are ugly.

So  sometime staying in house, go out with children, making bread for fun and watching  the beautiful green-yellow- brownish leafs falling down from the trees gives you ideas hot to tie easy and fast and improve flies. This morning an idea about tying a CDC fly comes through my head: “why don’t you make an X with thread under the hackle? In this way you’ll spread nicely the CDC barbs and the silhouette of the fly will be very clear for the fish. Beside that the fly can by tied  on small hooks  very easy, can be  cast  a present easy on the water, only nice things!

My friend here is my idea and I’m sure that you’ll like it :)

Materials used: Maruto D04 #12-18

Thread: I prefer Uni 17/0 but any  thin thread can be used

Tail: Coq de Leon Indio in light brown- dun color

Body: body hearl or condor substitute in different colors to match the hatch

Hackle: Ultra Selected CDC  from Trout Line in natural tan color

Lets start:

I prefer to use a dubbing loop for CDC because in this way  the CDC barbs will be more dense and will sit nicely on the hook shank. More than that is used with hackle only a small length of the hook shank. Using the entire feather you’ll use  a big part of hook shank for making the hackle because the stem of the feather is not very slim.


You can see how I make the “8” shape with the thread and I spread the barbs on the sides

I hope that I can give you a nice burst for sit down and tie a few flies like this one :)

cheers,

Lucian

 

Super Floating Sedge

The Super Floating Sedge is a fly that I love to use  in  big rivers or big lakes for large trout and grayling. This fly  is easy and funny tot tie  and I recommend it for any  beginner fly tyier in using CDC for making bodies or wing for his flies.

Materials:

Hooks: Demmon DSD 100BL for very big and strong fish or Maruto D04 BL for  small and medium fish.

Thread: 17/0 Uni or 8/0 Uni is great. For me 17/0 is one of the best thread that I use  and I like it very much because is very thin and easy to work  with

Body: Top Grade CDC in light grey brown or Khaki Campbell CDC

Wing :Wing CDC in grey dun or Khaki Campbell CDC

I prefer to use “Wing CDC” instead of other type of CDC due the  high density of the barbs.

 

 

UV Pink Bug – simple and sexy

This fly is very easy to tie and very effective  in Winter time for  grayling. In UK rivers this nymph is deadly and tied on very small hooks can be used  for French style of nymphing. If you tie this fly  on large and medium hooks you can use it forCzech nymphing

Materials used:

Hooks: Demmon DGS 900BL or Demmon DGH 900BL #14

Thread: Demmon Hot Spot Thread -fluo orange or any orange thread

Body:  UV Pink/Hot Pink Peter’s Ribbing Quill

Wire: Hends Red wire – optional

Torax: Troutline nymph dubbing –  hot pink or any  pink  dubbing

Bead: Bidoz   Pink bead or Bidoz  Orange bead

 

Buzzers and catgut

Ok, I’m not an expert in buzzers but  from time to time I like to tie these flies. So today I tied a few  buzzers using catgut as a body material. It was easy and fun and took only  a  3min to tie one.

Material used:

Grub type of hooks :Daiichi D900 #12

Thread: red or black depending of the final color of  the buzzer

Body: Catgut dyed red or natural colored with a red marker

GRHE My Way

Nothing special, only just  my approach:

Material used:

Hook: Daiichi D1180 #12

Thread: Uni 8/0 Black

Lead: lead wire -0.3mm

Underbody: Devaux yellow  body thread

Body: Special Spike Dubbing

Tail: Guard European Hare

Tinsel: Oval Gold Tinsel from Uni

Back: Guard European Hare

Torax: Mad Rabbit Dubbing

All material can be found on www.troutline.ro or can me prepared by any fly tyer at home :)

cheers and happy tying!

Lucian

 

Caddis Emergers

Because the Caddis flies start to fly all around here is an emerger that work here  in Eastern Europe and I have no doubt that will work everywhere:

 

For tying these flies I use:

-Demmon BL hooks

-Trout Line Super Selected CDC in olive and tan for body

-Underwing: TroutLine Khaki Campbell CDC

– Deer Hair for wing

-UV Ribbing quill for ribbing the body

 

Happy tying :)