Widely available material

[dizzy]

When I was younger I used go deep sea fishing with my old man.
The lures we used he used make "tie" himself! We used to collect our
chocolate wrappers from crunchy and pepermint crisp, which he used tie in to the head.

Then he would simply cut "strips" on the lure.

I was wondering if anyone has used a similar method to tie their flies and if this is an effective method?
Since I have limited access to the ocean (Wild Waters doesn't count), perhaps someone can tie up some and post some feedback?

[Gael]

Dizzy, I remember the one type that the “special edition” Crunchie that came out when I was young in a holographic gold wrapper, sure wish I had kept me some of those.

If you misses likes to use clear bra straps, they break sometimes (or you can buy them seperatly) and the strap can be cut narrower to make interesting body material for caddis patterns.

Foam that is used in packaging electronics goods, especially the really thin stuff, makes nice wings on dries and other emerger patterns.

Some of the coloured plastic shrink wrap on beer makes nice shell backs

Places like the CNA sell sheets of shiny crinkle plastic wrap which makes good flash backs for nymphs

The party places sell like a type of flashbou for cheap, comes in handy for saltwater patters.

Embroidery thread sold at haberdasheries make nice body materials for weaving

Pets can be an interesting source of dubbing, I remember the late Jack Blackman use to tie a trout fly called the Tabby if I remember correctly (dubbing from his tabby cat)

Some of the material places sell maylar tubing in pearl, silver and gold. Just ask for piping and it’s a really cheap.

Plastic chain beads (plastic beads moulded onto a nylon chord) from material shops make great eyes for dragon and damsel patters and it’s only a couple of bucks a meter. It’s exactly the same stuff that allot of the suppliers sell, all they do is to cut it into pieces

Take a wooden coffee stirrer from the office (looks like tiny ice-cream stick), stick a piece of Velcro to it and you have an awesome dubbing teaser

[dizzy]

Nice reply! Thanks Gael!

[Methos]

Dizzy\Gael

On the bra strap bit - The wife & I went to Fabric City on Saturday - They sell the stuff they make the clear bra straps from for about 5 bucks\m.

They also sell stuff that the put inside strapless bra's. It is a thin piece of clear plastic\rubber. It is about 5mm wide and very thin. I saw almost the same stuff at a flyshop. They flyshops stuff is in different colours. But the clear ones should also work. 80c\pm

They also sell very thin mono thread - Invisible stitching or something. It is very strong. I bought some to tie flies with.

At a craft and hobby shop close to my work I found some of the same stuff, just in black.

In a Arts and Craft Shop in Tableview I found some stick on foil. 2 A5 pages for R16.

Great for crease flies. They also sell quite thin foam at R2 per A4 page. Probably around 2.5mm.

Cheers

[chris williams]

All great ideas, guys. Haberdashery, hardware and hobby shops often have a myriad of stuff useful for tying that would probably cost you ten times as much if sold in a fly store. Last Sunday at Rosebank flea market I picked up about 500 clear glass beads 'hook-bend-friendly' for R2.50!

Feathers and fur from your and others' pets are also great. I always pick up feathers whenever I'm fishing - I have a huge collection some of which I dye. We have stacks of guinea fowl by the dams at my club - these dyed can often substitute for a whole load of more expensive shop-bought feathers, especially for guys just starting out tying for which bucks are an issue. Beginners can experiment on free feathers and make the odd mess-up without thinking, "there's ten bucks down the drain'. Some of the tertiary and saddles can be used for tying spider flies, or as the Yanks call them, soft hackles. They're great sparsely tied moved twitching imitating the wriggling baetis 'minnow fly' nymph action, also static as caddis pupae/emergers. Their action isn't quite as good as Hungarian Partridge hackles (the grey/cream barred have the best action) - but my boy, they're FREE! Appropriate guinea fowl feathers dyed the appropriate brown or olive can also adequately substitute at no cost for the many and pricy feathers needed to 'layer' Walkers Killers and Mrs Simpsons for those who fish with them.

My favourite is dying the guinea fowl saddle feathers turquoise to substitute for blue jay for the famous old Invicta. You can also buy these ready-dyed in the shops. The original blue jay stem was exceedingly stiff and a bgger to tie in anyway. The Invicta is one traditional fly that still has it's place as a 21st century caddis pupa/emerger imitation - yellows and trout love 'em - I've even caught bass and carp on them as well. It's also sentimental for me in that is was invented by a dude in the nineteenth century close to where I lived in Pommieland, and was the first wet fly I ever fished with (though that was in the twentieth century, I hasten to add!).

Mates with farms up the road keep me well-supplied with free feathers, especially various duck and geese species - and free CDC - big bonus! Some also give me various small animal pets which from bitter experience I make sure they've properly cured first! One guy sadly had to put down a klipspringer that was caught in a trap, but the poor thing's memory will live on, as my mate shaved off a whole load of the klippie hair for me. My daughter is keen on helping at SPCA and at aviaries - I now also have large stocks of exotic birds' plumage some of which are recipes for the old traditional salmon flies. Check out your local pet shop and give the owner a bottle of witblitz a month in return for spillage (feathery stuff I mean) from his birds.

I must have some Scottish blood in me somewhere....

Cheers guys, happy huntin' for the freebies!

[chris williams]

Read 'animal PELTS' not 'animal pets' in case you think I'm an animal sadist!

Cheers

[Chris Shelton]

[QUOTE=chris williams;12906]
The Invicta is one traditional fly that still has it's place as a 21st century caddis pupa/emerger imitation - yellows and trout love 'em - I've even caught bass and carp on them as well. It's also sentimental for me in that is was invented by a dude in the nineteenth century close to where I lived in Pommieland, and was the first wet fly I ever fished with (though that was in the twentieth century, I hasten to add!).
QUOTE]

I second, third and fourth that Chris. The Invicta also holds huge sentimental value to me. My very first trout was caught on one, and I went on to wipe my dads eye many a time with that fly. Every now and then, when I am feeling a bit nostalgic, I tie one on, just for the hell of it, and I catch something everytime I do.

Great post by the way! Keep them coming.

[chris williams]

Hey Chris

Thanks, yes, we're so lucky in flyfishing to have both the wonderful tradition of the past as well as the raw excitement of having dynamic artificial materials being invented and developed just about every day. If we only stuck with the traditional stuff it would in truth get a bit monotonous, and if we only had the new stuff it'd be incredibly soul-less.

Glad to hear you also have a soft spot for the Invicta - we must meet up and tie a couple and reminisce!

Please lemme know if you're in the Gauteng area, or next time you're in the vicinity?

Cheers,
The Other Chris

[chris williams]

Sorry just saw your 'origin' - think 'Bloubergrand' = 'Bloubergstrand'??!! Bit of a distance apart! How is the 'Blue Peter' pub by the way - an ancient drinking hole of mine.

Cheers

[Chris Shelton]

hehe, just great. It is still my favourite breakfast joint on the planet.

I would love to meet up with you sometime. Nice to have a few of the older generation flyfishermen on the site. Although most of the youngsters that I have met since being involved on the site are far more technology minded and scientific in their approach than I ever was, I still feel that us older guys have a lot to offer, and I am sure that these self same sh1t hot young flyfishermen welcome our ramblings from time to time