Finally I'm starting to tie some patterns that interest the fisherman side of me as well as the student. Remember I'm not a trout fisherman (yes really) and for the most part once I get my feet under me I will be trying mostly for bass and various panfish.. polly caddis is a fly that I have had on-water success with in the past.. now if only i could tie one?
Fly #4: Polly Caddis
The Good: Tying this fly was a nice confidence boost for me, up until this point most of the patterns I had been tying were fairly basic, and a caddis has that little something extra and I expected to struggle with it more then I did . All and all I was fairly successful on my first attempt and by the second attempt I felt like an old pro.. the actual tying of this fly was the easy part compared to mastering a few of the new techniques like dubbing and proper trimming of wings and the head.. by the end I felt like Edward scissor hands and if I kept going the fly would end up being bald
(a pinch of dubbing, too little? too much?)
The Bad: I had some struggles when tying this fly for the first time, the majority of which were "dubbing" related (see the Ugly section below) but when it comes to minor hiccups there were only two. The first being that I actually broke my thread right as I was about to complete the finishing knots, this was the first time that had happened to me, and believe me it was the most frustrating thing I had encountered to date. The Second thing I was not all that excited about was trimming the wings, I found the material provided just didn't do it for me and it needed some working to make it look anywhere near realistic
(wrapping thread that contains dubbing)
The Ugly: I teetered back and forth on whether or not to put this in the bad section or here, but since I did kind of struggle with the dubbing I thought it should be listed as an ugly. Applying dubbing to your thread is not a hard technique but it is an awkward technique. I struggled at first with actually applying the dubbing it would break apart or separate into clumps while I attempted to tie the fly. This was overcome by simply using less and applying more pressure to the dubbing as I added it to the line.. the book explains the amount required as "a little" or "tiny" I find comments like this frustrating and would like to see them explained better to rookies like me.. the good thing here is that dubbing is not really wasted and can be placed back in the package
Tips & Notes: if it is your first time using dubbing you may want to practise applying it to thread prior to tying a fly.. get use to how much is required and how to keep it tight on the thread. Overall I enjoyed working with dubbing and I love the look of it on a finished fly, but i know now that i used way to much, and that a little goes a long way.. excess dubbing will effect the durability of the fly as it can not be as tightly wrapped
(This was my second attempt, other then not matching the thread to body material Im much happier with the overall tie)
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