President Claude found this video – here linked via Youtube. Neat how he lifts the body deer hair to move the thread along. Keeps the body segments ties a true circular wrap. Be a useful technique on other flies.
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See below for the recipes from Lachy (our tying lead for the night) for; Olive Flash Perdigon, Sunken Ant and Euro Nymphing Leaders.
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Olive Flash (or Gasolina) Perdigon
Sunken Ant
Euro Nymphing Leaders
Leader Recipes
Here is a diagram of the leader setup and a material that Lachy found at Boss that is ideal for the Perdigon.
John hosted the tying of the GFA Foam Hopper. This is a great all-around attractor pattern in late summer when larger terrestrials are out. This is a great searching pattern with a dropper underneath. It’s also very buoyant allowing for heavier droppers to be used.
Ingredients:
Hook: 2 or 3 X-long hopper hook – Sizes 6-14
Thread: UTC 140 Denier – Tan (or equivalent to suit the foam colour)
Underbody: Dubbing
Body: Craft Foam, 2-3mm – Tan/Yellow
Wing: Elk hair, cleaned and stacked
Hot Spot: Bright Craft Foam or other indicator material – 2mm
Legs: Striped round-rubber legs – Medium
References if you wish:
How to Tie a GFA Hopper (Step-By-Step With Video) – Into Fly Fishing
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Below are the recipes and some links for viewing, these are for the fly tying that was led by Lachy.
Pheasant Tailed Nymph
Unweighted version
Hook: Hanak H 230 or H 280 or sturdy wet fly hook sz 12 (but can go down to sz 20). Tiemco TMC 100SP-BL also works well
Weight: lead wire optional or use unweighted as a dropper with a weighted nymph or split shot
Thread: brown or rusty coloured thread in 70 Denier. I prefer Brown Semperfli nano silk in 50D
Tail, Abdomen, Wingcase and Legs: Natural Pheasant Tail fibres
Thorax: Peacock herl
Rib: Copper wire in size 0.2mm or UTC Brassy size
Video link – can be used as a guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXG_0bcrWBE
Blue Collared Pheasant Tail Nymph (aka The Blue Ninja)
Hook: Dohiku HDJ in size 14, 16 and 18 or your preferred jig nymph hook
Bead: Copper coloured tungsten bead. Normally go 3.5mm on sz 14, 3.0mm on sz 16 and so on. But it also works well sizing up the bead on a smaller hook eg 3.5mm bead on sz 16 hook, 3.0mm bead on sz 18 and so on.
Tail: Coq de Leon (CDL) preferably in Ginger Speckle, but any CDL will do
Rib: Copper wire in size 0.2mm or UTC Brassy size
Collar: Uni mylar 1/32” in Holo lt Blue, alternatives Semperfli Holographic Tinsel 1/32” in Kingfisher colour, or Wapsi/UTC Holo Tinsel medium in blue
Resin: Solarez UV bone dry thin or your preferred thin, clear UV resin
Video link – mine uses slightly different materials and works well in our region but this is a useful guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHu1eTdqeR0&t=104s
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The corn fed caddis was the subject of a previous evening that clashed with a footy match. https://canberra-anglers.asn.au/blog/fly-tying-23-apr-sunken-ant-corn-fed-caddis/
For sparkle gnat, see https://www.flyfishfood.com/blogs/dry-fly-tutorials/sparkle-gnat
Colours for sparkle gnat depends on what material you have and personal preferences.
Some examples from the night
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Zebra midge
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Initially saw a clip on dubbing loops which popped in my YouTube feed https://youtu.be/1LonbwRq8kM?feature=shared Some good hacks. I couldn’t work out what was happening at 4:00 but it is simply that instead of spinning with loop vertical, he drapes it over his finger so the part of the loop with material comes off the shank horizontal but then turns vertical to the spinner. If you go to https://youtube.com/@flyfishfood?feature=shared and go to playlists you can go through each clip of skill builders.
Here someone has used AI to take the mickey out of Cheech and discuss the reason we fly fish 😊 “the podcast where we pretend standing in freezing water at 5AM makes us outdoorsmen” – out of the mouth of babes it seems. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKaQWvES88w/
Tips and tricks. The idea here is all our experienced tiers would come prepared to describe and demonstrate a tip or trick that they have learnt over the years. We’d also demonstrate some of the basic skills of fly tying. Members who have not participated in fly tying, thinking it is all too advanced, might care to come along and see the principles.
This month will be more about a technique rather than a particular tie. In the US it seems to be known as ‘hackle stacker’ whereas in UK it is known as ‘paraloop’. We’ll explore the effect together. You can choose to follow one of the patterns offered here, or make something up yourself.
Here are some examples where the central idea is implemented slightly differently:
none of the above use a gallows tool, but I might get lazy and use my dodgy/handmade one a bit like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzZY9v-JzoQ&t=25s
nothing like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmVCRdyDP0g
This fly seems overly complex with the wing and tail, but it shows really clearly the way to hold the loop in the absence of a gallows. https://youtu.be/E9HTjiQBEy8?feature=shared
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Featured in issue 117 of Fly Life and can be found on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhGn0Nx3pC0&t=1s
See also https://flylife.com.au/flylife_article/joes-shrimp … works best on desktop computer.
Ingredients are:
Ahrex SA250 Shrimp Hook
Veevus 6/0 Thread – White
Joe’s Stretch Cord
Joe’s Flat Cord
Crystal Flash
Arctic Snow Dubbing Orange
Loon UV Fly Finish – Thick
Bead Chain Eyes – Black
We were lucky to have the ‘Joe’ from the fly name come along and show us all the tricks. Fuller report in July 2025 Newsletter, but here are some of the results.
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