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Charles Barton The Universal Spey - 16:29
Salmonid Flies, Streamers, Salt Water Flies, Warm Fresh Water, Bass Flies, By Fly Type, By Fly Tyer, Charles Barton Add commentsNOTE: I realize the spelling error in the titling. Sorry. It was late. I'll fix it.
From Charles:
I have been tying stuff onto hooks for a long time. It began with poppers and jig heads, which served the fishing I was taught to do by my father. By the age of twelve I was approaching burn out from fishing the warm water mud pit impoundments of central Arkansas. Dear ol` Dad saved me, though, when he took me on a float trip on the White River in northern Arkansas. It has taken all the years since to get enough fur and feather into my bloodstream to achieve the level of addiction I now have for fly fishing, and tying. I justify my habit by tying at conclaves and other events, from coast to coast. I am proud to be a Proteam member for Whiting Farms and on the Pro Staff for Daiichi. It is always good to use the best. I own and operate Tanfly, LLC from my home in Little Rock.
Have fun and tie one on for me!Also: It catches everything and anything, salt and fresh. Used a lot for smallmouth bass and large trout.
Recipe:
- Hook: Daiichi salmon fly hooks size 3/0 down to size 10
- Thread: Clear Mono
- Eyes: Barbell or bead chain (he uses Wapsi "Real Eyes")
- Tag: Holographic Tinsel wound down the hook bend and back up
- Body: Pine squirrel zonker palmered to just behind the eye.
- Collar: Whiting Spey feather, as many wraps as you can get.
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thankyou
Bob
The reason for the sparse tie with the long hackles was to get the fly to give a long profile and to undulate seductively in the long wide runs of the river Spey where there current is really not very strong. This fly would sink like a rock with it's heavy dumbell eyes and would only undulate it a very strong current. So I wouldn't be using this where I use a Spey fly either.
There are certainly plenty of steelhead flies tied in the Spey style that don't use any overwing, let alone bronzed mallard, but at least they still follow the characteristic style of the Spey fly and work in the same conditions. The hackling style for a Spey fly is very distinctive and nothing at all like you see here. If you want to tie a Spey hackle, you need to learn how to fold hackle and wrap it. Especially on the front of the fly, you need to fold the hackle and wrap each progressive wind directly in front of the one preceding it. That will make the hackles "cup" the body and still move easily and naturally in the current. The wiggle-waggle method that Charles uses here is a poor choice for winding Spey hackle but an excellent method for tying dry-fly hackle as it allows you to wrap through previous wraps without binding them down, and it helps to hold them up. Not a good choice for Spey hackle though.
Again, this is a fine fly and I'm sure it will catch fish, but it shouldn't be called a Spey fly because...it's not!