So above is what you can expect when tie long brushes in. I have always been nervous with tying with brushes but after a tutorial from David Nelson and Uptown Dave at the Squimpish booth I gained a little more confidence. My first brush fly was larger as I cut off a 3-1/2 section and tied it in. On this fly I only used about 1-1/2 inches.
When I was leaving the show on Friday Andrew and I were picking through Brad Buzzi's bucktails. If you missed the show and need tails Brad is your guy. You can see his site HERE. I also have to mention Joe Calcevecchia, at Saltwater Custom Flies, who processes his own tails and offers them only in white, HERE. I already had what I needed but he was looking for yellow. I had a yellow tail at home so I went looking through the bins for him. He mentioned how yellow is a "Jersey Color" and I couldn't help but think of
my Asbury Park Fishing Club buds and their "Chicken Scratch" plugs. So, he had me convinced. What that meant was a quick run to the Squimpish booth to see if Stephanie had a yellow brush and some yellow Boutique Blends. So this fly comes in at 8 inches, on a 6/0 Mustad 34007, not trimmed
and pretty much out of the vice. I am so tempted to "Chicken Scratch" the sides with a black marker but I always mess flies up trying to draw on them. It's yellow saddles (too short) and two Hollow ties of yellow bucktail, (which are flared out a bit and give the mid section a little "poof"), the short section of yellow brush (I didn't know they were spun on wire), then on the head some Boutique Blend in yellow and white, along with some Devlin Blend "Bunker Back" along the top. Now know I am no tyer like the consistently good ones and not in the same hemisphere as the top guns.
Every now and again I get lucky and something looks fishy and fishable. Now I may be on a little tear now, but it's all about consistentcy, which I am working on. Again, I am amazed how guys tie a bunch of flies that look exactly alike. Check out the below school of flies tieed up by Paul Monaghan
who hails from across the pond. As with everything else in fly fishing it is a process and a journey, and for me fly tying is no different. So I post this fly tying stuff to share my journey, not to advise or instruct, as I am not close to being there.
The good thing is you only have about a another solid month when things go from fly tying and getting ready to getting out there and getting busy with fishing.
