Introducing the Squassie

[Gwydion]

I fished them in the past and they produced nicely. Nothing wrong with those. I think I like a lot of work instead.

Post a pic of your fly plz.

Attachment 7796 Attachment 7797

Now thats a flippin nice brassie!! I never thought of adding flash to my brassie`s thorax... Ima tie some of these buggers tonight!

Thanks chinas

[Gerrit Viljoen]

You shouldn't thank the Chinas, we should all bow down to Gene Lynch.

[Gwydion]

You shouldn't thank the Chinas, we should all bow down to Gene Lynch.

ok .. Just a question.. Will the fish refuse a brassie if its not a specific colour?? I tie all my brassie`s with gold or copper coloured wire.. I just change my thorax and bead colours.. Iv always had a fair amount of success.. ?

[Gerrit Viljoen]

They will def refuse "wrong" colours,fact! Your gold and copper are too closely matched and attractor beads only work SO long hence I try and mix things up with 6 colour combos and lots and lots of contrast.The latter being my "go to" feature in most fly patterns.You don't have to use "my" colours,the world is your oyster but I know what works and what not.

Ps. A dark thorax in most cases is the norm. My advice to you is to keep the thorax as is,say dark tan,brown,gray,black,peacock,or hot spot,etc and change other elements.

[jock0]

Here are some pics of the fuzzle flies I was talking about Gerrit - apologies for the apparent lack of quality but trying to get the wire/rib and the "fuzzle" in focus is a little beyond my ixus's abilities... Macro, tripod, light ring and all

The technique is to sparsely dub the rib/wire with a fine dubbing material with fairly long fibres. I prefer the caeli, light olive or tan UV materials mixed mixed with some very fine cahill dry fly dubbing for my vaal fuzzles.

The first one is the fly I typically fish in the afternoon. The second one is my weighted interpretation of a pupae that I often pair the first fly with.

[Scythe]

I prefer the caeli, light olive or tan UV materials mixed mixed with some very fine cahill dry fly dubbing for my vaal fuzzles.

Very nice, my only suggestion, try dumping the dry fly dubbing in favour of a courser alternative, if you want the fuzzle appearance, dry fly dubbing isn't the right choice, once it gets wet, the characteristics change dramatically whereas the courser 'metallic' dubs keep their look better.

My ZAR 0.02, YMMV.

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Thanks David, nice idea! Saw something similar from this Romanian guy.

[jock0]

Very nice, my only suggestion, try dumping the dry fly dubbing in favour of a courser alternative, if you want the fuzzle appearance, dry fly dubbing isn't the right choice, once it gets wet, the characteristics change dramatically whereas the courser 'metallic' dubs keep their look better.

My ZAR 0.02, YMMV.

I want it to collapse around the fly like a shuck, similar to the original la fontaine pupae. I'll tie a couple with some coarse material though no harm in experimenting.

[Scythe]

I want it to collapse around the fly like a shuck, similar to the original la fontaine pupae. I'll tie a couple with some coarse material though no harm in experimenting.

Think you'll find the courses dubs do this .... my experience the very thin dry fly dubbing goes a little too pap and smooth when in the water.

Tie one and dunk it in a glass, then compare and see which one you prefer, I like the courses dubs ... similar to how the guys use Antron or Flash to suggest trailing shuck in their dry flies.

[Shamwari]

Another little trick is to tie up these flies in batches/steps and I'll tell you why.I do it quicker but here is a simple example;

Monday = Debarb hooks and add beads.
Tuesday = Prepare bodies and add varnish. This is a very important step for two reasons. One, you add stability to the segmented wraps cause it can slip. I know it's not glue but it's better than nothing and two, the varnish aids in producing proud segments.Tie up one with varnish and one without and compare the difference.Big one! Let it cure.
Wednesday = Antenna
Thursday = 3 in 1 (Collar/legs/wings).

I tie in 6's and don't stop untill the 6th one is done and dusted.I completed those 144 flies in 2 days ontop of prep work i.e. steps of other flies. I never tie one by one except when I lost 3 or 4 flies on a day trippie.Those lost flies would normally be done by Monday and ready for their next voyage whenever.

So how many wraps are you on now?...he he he he(evil laugh)