I haven't been tying much in the last few weeks. When I've found time and the effort to do so, I've been filling my fly boxes with caseless caddis.
Oliver Edwards hydropsyche and rhyacophila patterns are well renowned and I have had reasonable success when using them. The materials to tie the hydropsyche are easy to get hold off, the specified yarn for the rhyacophila is a little harder to track down. If you're not a fussy person you can use any wool or yarn of the right colour to tie them - being mindful that natural fibers darken when wet; I'm more of a fussier tier, I would rather use the specified materials.
A little bit of effort, has seen me source a large quantity of sparkle yarn that is probably equal to the original Oliver Edwards product. I have a small amount of the 1a rhyacophila sparkle and the new stuff is comparable to the original in its make up and the colour seems spot on. I also have a small amount of yarn in another colour; I have used this to make a variation on the hydropsyche using yarn for the body instead of nymph skin.
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| Oliver Edwards' Rhyacophila larvae |
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| Oliver Edwards' Hydropsyche larvae |
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| The two combined |
Love these and your simple killer bug, Utah bug etc. I hate complicated flies much prefer a general imitation. I'd be interested to know which of the wool tied flies you find the best? do you find much difference between the killer bug and utah bug for trout/graying? have the pink wool and shimp style wool been successful?
ReplyDeleteMark I find the UKB very good for grayling, I tend not to use the Sawyer's KB much for grayling although it does very well with the trout. As a rule I find scruffier, rougher wools better on a curved hook and finer, smooth wools better on straight shanked nymph hooks.
DeleteThanks Ben, very helpful. Will tie a few of these up with some shetland wool.
ReplyDeleteCan I ask which wool you use for killer bugs?
I have some genuine Chadwicks 477 that I have used but if you can find the colour number 454 it makes a very good substitute without costing you an arm and a leg, I bought a few cards for couple of quid. If you look through my old posts I did some about the Sawyer's killer bug and you'll see some comparisons with the two yarns.
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