The R200-00 rubicon fly

[redhumpy]

When I bought a vice two weeks ago I never dreamed that my first fly would cost me in excess of R300-00.
I also named the completed fly - the Rubicon Nymph.

Story goes as follows: I trekked up to Solly's and got myself a vice and just enough material to make only the flies that I will need. There was a problem however in that Solly's did not have any lead wire in stock.

So last night I couldn't wait anymore and I decided to try and tie my very first fly. I took out the three billion step-by-step fly recipes I downloaded of the Internet and decided on a Czech nymph from the Mustad website. It looked easy enough to tie and the step-by-step guide made for quite easy instructions to follow.

Unfortunately step number 2 required threading lead wire around the hook shank in order to get some weight on your fly and assist the tungsten bead in getting your fly in the zone. With the flows we had so far this year this step seemed to be extremely important.

So I ditched the Internet fly recipe pages and brought out the 8 billion Internet pages on tips and techniques on how to tie better flies. Actually only 4 pages shows tips and techniques and the other 799999996 pages explains to you how to use the whip finisher tool. And there it was! Sticky lead, square lead, round lead - you name it.

But where to find a suitable substitute for shop bought lead? EUREKA! I whipped of the lead casing around the top of a bottle of 1994 Meerlust Rubicon, cut it into thin pieces, and wrapped it around the shank. The first effort looked a bit nasty and so I decided to open the bottle as this might take the whole evening to master. The second fly was starting to look better except that due to some unforeseen, uhm spillage; the fly had a hotspot at the front and a Rubicon stain at the back.

At about 12 'o clock last night I finished my first Rubicon Nymph and started on my Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2003 peeping caddis. SWAMBO didn’t find it funny and called me to bed. She now knows how the Wasatch Extended Whip Finisher works and promised to find me lead tomorrow no matter what.

[Gerrit Viljoen]

When I bought a vice two weeks ago I never dreamed that my first fly would cost me in excess of R300-00.
I also named the completed fly - the Rubicon Nymph.

Story goes as follows: I trekked up to Solly's and got myself a vice and just enough material to make only the flies that I will need. There was a problem however in that Solly's did not have any lead wire in stock.

So last night I couldn't wait anymore and I decided to try and tie my very first fly. I took out the three billion step-by-step fly recipes I downloaded of the Internet and decided on a Czech nymph from the Mustad website. It looked easy enough to tie and the step-by-step guide made for quite easy instructions to follow.

Unfortunately step number 2 required threading lead wire around the hook shank in order to get some weight on your fly and assist the tungsten bead in getting your fly in the zone. With the flows we had so far this year this step seemed to be extremely important.

So I ditched the Internet fly recipe pages and brought out the 8 billion Internet pages on tips and techniques on how to tie better flies. Actually only 4 pages shows tips and techniques and the other 799999996 pages explains to you how to use the whip finisher tool. And there it was! Sticky lead, square lead, round lead - you name it.

But where to find a suitable substitute for shop bought lead? EUREKA! I whipped of the lead casing around the top of a bottle of 1994 Meerlust Rubicon, cut it into thin pieces, and wrapped it around the shank. The first effort looked a bit nasty and so I decided to open the bottle as this might take the whole evening to master. The second fly was starting to look better except that due to some unforeseen, uhm spillage; the fly had a hotspot at the front and a Rubicon stain at the back.

At about 12 'o clock last night I finished my first Rubicon Nymph and started on my Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2003 peeping caddis. SWAMBO didn’t find it funny and called me to bed. She now knows how the Wasatch Extended Whip Finisher works and promised to find me lead tomorrow no matter what.

Ha ha leke story.

G

Ps.Still no lead I'm afraid.

[rory]

.. and so I decided to open the bottle as this might take the whole evening to master.

My kind of tying Good improvising!

[chris williams]

That's the second 'Rubicon Speech' I've heard in the past twenty years or so?

This one's definitely a lot more interesting and with further-reaching consequences!

[Jasper]

where did you manage to find THOSE wines for R200?????????

[redhumpy]

Same place I bought tungsten beads for 20 cents each.
And they call flyfishers elitest!

[Wade]

Fantastic

A story worth telling

[gkieser]

When I bought a vice two weeks ago I never dreamed that my first fly would cost me in excess of R300-00.
I also named the completed fly - the Rubicon Nymph.

Story goes as follows: I trekked up to Solly's and got myself a vice and just enough material to make only the flies that I will need. There was a problem however in that Solly's did not have any lead wire in stock.

So last night I couldn't wait anymore and I decided to try and tie my very first fly. I took out the three billion step-by-step fly recipes I downloaded of the Internet and decided on a Czech nymph from the Mustad website. It looked easy enough to tie and the step-by-step guide made for quite easy instructions to follow.

Unfortunately step number 2 required threading lead wire around the hook shank in order to get some weight on your fly and assist the tungsten bead in getting your fly in the zone. With the flows we had so far this year this step seemed to be extremely important.

So I ditched the Internet fly recipe pages and brought out the 8 billion Internet pages on tips and techniques on how to tie better flies. Actually only 4 pages shows tips and techniques and the other 799999996 pages explains to you how to use the whip finisher tool. And there it was! Sticky lead, square lead, round lead - you name it.

But where to find a suitable substitute for shop bought lead? EUREKA! I whipped of the lead casing around the top of a bottle of 1994 Meerlust Rubicon, cut it into thin pieces, and wrapped it around the shank. The first effort looked a bit nasty and so I decided to open the bottle as this might take the whole evening to master. The second fly was starting to look better except that due to some unforeseen, uhm spillage; the fly had a hotspot at the front and a Rubicon stain at the back.

At about 12 'o clock last night I finished my first Rubicon Nymph and started on my Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2003 peeping caddis. SWAMBO didn’t find it funny and called me to bed. She now knows how the Wasatch Extended Whip Finisher works and promised to find me lead tomorrow no matter what.

CLASSIC! hehehe.

[Korrie]

A little while ago I said I will sponsor a bottle of Bells for best story.

This defintely deserves the bottle of Bells for the best story in a while.

What is the opinion of rest of the forum members

[Cobus]

Brilliant story, loved the "the fly had a hotspot at the front and a Rubicon stain at the back" part!!