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2. Fly Tying
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3. any new tying material?

On my way home from the fly shop the other day I started thinking (usually a bad thing) and was amazed by fly fisherman, and how we have found a way to re-invent the wheel so many times. The amount of material available to tiers can be mind numbing at times. That being said I am a complete sucker and my ever increasing stockpile of misc. treasures are the proof. My question to you is...Have you tried anything new worthy of mentioning? This year I tried a few things I think will stick. The first being web wing, i bought it first to tie barrs web wing caddis, i then found with a little imagination it's pretty cool to have on the desk. I also tried thin skin for the first time, again I find myself using it for more and more patterns. last but not least I picked up some polar chenille to try on some streamers. That stuff is great! I'm sure there is more i'm forgetting but that'll do for now.
Jeff

medallion sheeting made my favorite beetles even better. thank you A.K.Best for the article in Fly Tyer that suggested we add wings to beetles. up until i read that, the translucent, veined sheet just sat there cluttering up the drawer like a lot of stuff i think i'll try some day. the sheeting has just the right texture and shine to match the wings of a newly crash-landed beetle.

In their book on terrestrials, Steeves and Koch argue that wings are a very prominent feature on beetles, more so than legs.

They like Kreinik braid (Mallard in particular) picked apart for the wings. Check Flies for Trout by Stewart and Allen for examples.

All that said, I prefer legs to wings on my beetles, and it is hard to beat a good ole Crowe Beetle from The Book of Trout Lore by Pennsylvanian John Crowe.

I am not a fish but there is just something wrong looking about a bug with no legs.

For foam beetles I use different flavors of ice dub for the bodies and pick out the dubbing for a combo of legs/wings. Peacock in particular is a good one.

If I spent as much time (usually while driving, or working) on solving work problems as I do thinking about tying problems I would be rich now.

absolutely right! the legs on the beetles i tie are purposely long and knotted. also new this year: bright little bucktail wings on top to make the little black things visible.

tyvek and masking tape, for nymph shell casings and legs on larger nymphs. tyvek can be touched with a hot needle to kink legs,and holds color well; masking tape laid atop tyvek sheeting can be run thru an inkjet printer to mass produce the intricate design on golden stonefly wing casings (I know, what a loser right? what a waste of time? Leakywaders nailed it in his comment).

Hi,
Don't know if it's new or not, but I suspect it's fairly new. It's called Legs Alive. Instead of legs, I've used it for body.


I've used it for Green Caddis Pupa Soft-hackle, shown here. I comes in lots of colors.

Mark

Hi Mark: Is there a difference between Legs Alive and Floss Flex or any other similar material?

Actually, I'm not sure. The Legs Alive material was sent to me by someone to try. I had not used it, yet, as legs. It is quite fine, and is similar to a very fine rubber band. The color just struck me as perfect for this fly.

Mark

nice looking fly mark, funny i see this fly on here, I have been tying something similar. I recently started using green ribbing for a body like this. I first tied nymphs but then I saw a caddis on the au sable this last year w/light green body like that and tied a dry caddis pattern with ribbing material & undersize hackle and polytron wing. I like it cause its easy to see. I took trout with it but not during a caddis hatch.