[Sandy Nelson]

Well Alan.............. I don't know about that.................how about a caenis version




To get some perspective its a size 28 Marinaro hook



Inspired by Guinness, but i guess its all getting a bit daft now

All good fun

Sandy

[Eddie Sinclair]

I am definitely going to bed now, f***k me that is tiny.

Eddie

[Iain Goolager]

was that the missus that wrote the last bit

[Iain Cameron]

This is turning into a 'My DHE's smaller than yours'
...
Iain look and see if Maplins are still doing the desk magnifier lamp for £20.

Ah, good call. I could probably do with a telescope to view these 26s...
cheers
iain

[dryfly]

Nice caenis but imitation is not the big issue when these flies abound and the logic of nearer the better is flawed.  Sheer numbers mean that even if your imitation is perfection it is highly unlikely  the fish will pick it from the masses. Safety in numbers is one of nature's most basic  survival strategies.  Just watch how the fish behave. Much better to go the other way. A size 8 muddler very often works.

[Sandy Nelson]

Hi "dryfly"

You will notice the fly came curtesy of Guinness .
In a snowstorm i tend to use a Sugar Cube shipmans, although the hatch seems to interest the trout more if its on one of our stillwaters, rather than the river  .

Sandy

[dryfly]

You will notice the fly came curtesy of Guinness .

Love it even  although I'm more of a Murphy's man! You certainly tie a mean looking fly, I wish I had your tying  skills.

[Sandy Nelson]

 

Where about are you based? The DHE is fast becoming my goto pattern as well, so yes a big thanks to Bob, and quite a few of the guys on here who have persuaded me to keep trying with it. Now it floats , i'm happy

Sandy

[dryfly]

Where about are you based?

Dundee (yes I know).

I love good design and the DHE  is a design classic.

There are far too many flies “designed” for the wrong reasons,  like ego for example,  that  contribute nothing to fly fishing. Guys sit at a vice and “doodle”  with materials then give it some naff name like “The Cairngorm Killer”  or something equally daft.  These flies make no impact at all  on fishing other than further clutter your fly box when you are bored on a winter's evening.   They are fun to tie of course and if they help fight off cabin fever then fair enough, but really that's about all that can be said for them.

On the other hand every now and then something really useful like the DHE comes along. Wyatt has put thought  into this based on experimentation, skill and decades of  fishing experience all over the world, not just some hill loch packed with starving trout that will take anything you throw at them. Have you seen how his tying method has evolved? He now ties the wing in last, does not even bother hiding the clipped wing buts because why would you? He ribs with the thread and can knock up a DHE in a minute. That is real innovation. It's an education and his laid back presentation is a delight  to watch on the video.  I am told he is a helpful and quite modest man and says his DHE is really just a floating hares ear nymph! .  Respect!

[Sandy Nelson]

Cool nice and close to Perth and some good fishing

I hear you as regards cabin fever, for me it either means rod building,fly tying or armchair fishing on the computer.
Flytying usually wins out, as you say it fills boxes and keeps an industry going but it's better than gettin frustrated stuck behind a screen, dreaming about it i think we all probably feel like that though

I reckon fishing with Bob would probably be pretty cool too, his books are good.
I saw him on the Telly once and he struck me as being just like a lot of my tutors were at college.
Chilled

Sandy

[dryfly]

Sandy,

I don't  know if you have seen this, but here he is tying the snowshoe version. The deer hair version is done the same way.

I am just blown away by the simplicity of the tying method – the efficiency – the speed – slick – down the hook and back up – it flows just like  the river.

He regards the flies as ammo.  You could fill a box in a sitting. I just wish I knew where he gets that dark hare fur!

[Sandy Nelson]

. I just wish I knew where he gets that dark hare fur!

Off the ears

Nice we video, I notice that's one of Carl's films, I took my lead from the DHE's in his box

Sandy

[Iain Goolager]

There are far too many flies “designed” for the wrong reasons,  like ego for example,  that  contribute nothing to fly fishing. Guys sit at a vice and “doodle”  with materials then give it some naff name like “The Cairngorm Killer”  or something equally daft.

Allan,
so what's wrong with my 'Kintore Katcher'? You would not believe the amount of fish that have had a really good look at it before admitting that they were already stuffed.

Andy F asked aquestion earlier about the difference in DHE Version I & Version II and I was going to comment but forgot until you brought it up. Forgetting the aesthetic aspect (or should I say possibility of someone thinking that you couldn't finish a fly properly) I don't think that covering up the stubs makes any difference to how it fishes or how it is seen by the fish so why bother indeed.
I often cut the CDC stems at the front of Duns/ F-Flies leaving a bit of a 'head' (snipping the corners to give a rounded profile but even this might be anal). The CDC & Elk is a prime example of what I mean (only with deer/Elk hair obviously) and who knows may well have started out as a fly with a dubbed over head.  
Fancy flies are nice to see and a way of developing/practicing tying techniques especially during the close season but I like to keep things reasonably simple as I'm quite happy to see flies destroyed by fish & certainly don't mind losing them.

Sandy is that Danvilles spider web your tying the small stuff with?

Iain

[dryfly]

so what's wrong with my 'Kintore Katcher'? You would not believe the amount of fish that have had a really good look at it before admitting that they were already stuffed.|

Yes I have a few like that too and you know what? As they sat in the vice jaws back on that wild January night they looked the biz, but then I also dreamed of warm spring days, mild upstream zephyrs and rising fish.  We do don't we? We have to.

But getting back to things DHE and Wyatt-esque;  I have fond memories of following  his articles in Fly Fishing and Fly Tying, the evolution of his ideas. Sadly missed spirit lifting stuff.  That magazine certainly misses Wyatt's input and much of the recycled where to trite that has replaced it means I seldom buy it any more.

[Jim Eddie]

Dundee (yes I know).

I love good design and the DHE  is a design classic.

There are far too many flies “designed” for the wrong reasons,  like ego for example,  that  contribute nothing to fly fishing. Guys sit at a vice and “doodle”  with materials then give it some naff name like “The Cairngorm Killer”  or something equally daft.  These flies make no impact at all  on fishing other than further clutter your fly box when you are bored on a winter's evening.   They are fun to tie of course and if they help fight off cabin fever then fair enough, but really that's about all that can be said for them.

On the other hand every now and then something really useful like the DHE comes along. Wyatt has put thought  into this based on experimentation, skill and decades of  fishing experience all over the world, not just some hill loch packed with starving trout that will take anything you throw at them. Have you seen how his tying method has evolved? He now ties the wing in last, does not even bother hiding the clipped wing buts because why would you? He ribs with the thread and can knock up a DHE in a minute. That is real innovation. It's an education and his laid back presentation is a delight  to watch on the video.  I am told he is a helpful and quite modest man and says his DHE is really just a floating hares ear nymph! .  Respect!

Yes Ego is a terrible thing Backwater but Jealousy and Small Man Syndrome are even worse 

[Marc Fauvet]

but Jealousy and Small Man Syndrome are even worse 

even worse, it often leads to incessant yapping and barking for no apparent reasons... 

[Sandy Nelson]

Iain

It's not Allan so don't get confused

And yes it's spiderweb


Sandy

[Eddie Sinclair]

was that the missus that wrote the last bit

Maybe

[Mike Barrio]

It's not Allan so don't get confused

Hi folks

New member Dave "dryfly" has agreed to change his username to "Backwater", so that there is no confusion between "dryfly" Dave and "dryflee" Allan.
Thanks Dave

Best wishes
Mike

[Iain Goolager]

If I had an hour or so to fill in I could attempt to tie this onto a tippet

Iain

it's a 24 next to a 14

[Eddie Sinclair]

Iain,
nae bad but if you could get half a dozen in 14 16 and 18 to me by Sunday then I could test them up North and West next week as a favour and let you know how they work up there.

Eddie

[Iain Goolager]

I take it that's you just out of bed Eddie?

Aye, I've been hearing about your tying prowess so I know you will have well stocked boxes.

Iain

[Sandy Nelson]

If I had an hour or so to fill in I could attempt to tie this onto a tippet

     Nice flies ... , funny how threads take on a life of their own.

On the original topic ,i've received the Grey coloured Comparadun hair today, so BWO's here we come

Pleased we now know Dave's name, nice to know who you are talking too

Spent all day building a shed never buy a good value Metal shed unless you have a day to kill, its taken me 7hrs mind you the weather was crap for fishing and i have lots of brownie points now At least i know why it was a good price

Sandy

[Iain Goolager]

Looking forward to getting comparadun hair, if you look closely the wee fly has the black tips cut off    but it was only ever meant as an experiment.

I need to see a dry on the surface to fish it with confidence so I'm wondering realistically how small I could go from a fishing standpoint?

I recall many moons ago fishing size 19 Klinks tied on 212Y's to very picky fish at Waulkmill and being pleased with the result, perhaps I'll get a chance to throw some 18 DHE's around the margins of a local fishery to find out.

Iain

[Sandy Nelson]

Iain

I've a box full of microflies but the only one i ever use is a size 20 black klink (well almost ). Never feel the need to go smaller, in fact Hamish proved to me a long time ago that there were much better ways to get a trout to take, when they appear to be taking small stuff, It took a good bit of beating round the head but eventually he got me half canned and i gave in Funnily enough he was right and i've never really looked back and i tend to hook and land the buggers too.

As always there are a couple of exceptions

Sandy