Poxy-Fox

Veröffentlicht am 18/08/2012 von Holger Lachmann

When I first tied this pattern, I used epoxy for it. That’s why there’s „Poxy“ in the name of the fly. Today I use uv-resin for it, but I didn’t wanted to chance the name. ;-)

When you tie this pattern, it’s very important, that the resin soaks into the braid at the end of the fly to fix the marble fox, so it won’t tangle around the hook bend while casting. The materials used are:

Gamakatsu F314 # 2
Mono thread
3D Eyes
Marble Fox olive
Krinkle Mirror Flash
Ice Dub golden olive
Felix Cord olive
Permanent Markers
UV-Resin

You can also tie in some lead wire if you want, to create a jigging effect for example.

The Poxy-Fox looks really massive on the picture, but in the water it got some translucency. That’s the reason, why you should dub a thin body before slipping the flexi cord around the hook shank.

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

A closer look at: Bob Popovics‘ Fleye Foils

Veröffentlicht am 14/08/2012 von Holger Lachmann

Lutz Schepers from www.theflypeople.com asked me some weeks ago, if I wanted to test the new Fleye Foils by Bob Popovics. I always liked the flies and ideas of Bob Popovics, so I surely wanted to test his newest idea. The foils imitate the eyes, the gills, the silver belly and flanks on one side of the fly with just one simple tying step.

I don’t know the reason why, but when I got the foils, I didn’t felt the inner drive to test them immediately. Maybe I didn’t wanted to do the normal Sury Candy with it.

This morning, I did the first tests with the smallest „Bay Anchovy“ foils. The fly you see below is the first try. It’s a really simple fly made out of a hook, mono thread, different colors of Senyo’s Laser Dub, Fleye Foils and uv resin. It doesn’t look to shabby for a first try, I think.

The Fleye Foils are easy to use. You just have to tie in the „nose“ next to the hook eye and push the sticky backsides of the foils against the flanks of the fly. One or two coatings of uv resin and you are done.

After tying some patterns with Fleye Foils, I have to say, that if you want to make Surf Candy-style flies as fast and easy as possible, the foils are an enrichment. The only thing I would suggest to improve is, to give more expression to the eyes.

tl Holger Lachmann

Baltic Candy Step by Step

Veröffentlicht am 28/07/2012 von Holger Lachmann

Everybody knows Bob Popovics‘ famous Surf Candy. A really great pattern to imitate bait fish and sandeels. I always loved this pattern. The only thing I didn’t like was the stiff material, which is used for it. For my seatrout fishing in the Baltic sea, I wanted the pattern to move more like the real sandeel.

I was always a fan of soft materials, so I tried polar fibre which looks fantastic underwater and moves really nice. The big problem: It was wrapping around the hook bend while casting, which was annoying. The solution was to expand the epoxy body behind the hook bend. This prevents the tangling extremely well.

Another important feature is the weight in the front of the fly which causes a strong jigging effect. The natural behavior of a sandeel when chased by a predator is that it swims as fast as it can to the bottom to hide in the sand. The jigging effect imitate this behavior.

I think I tied now over 1000 Baltic Candies and they changed a lot over the last years. The first years I used 5minute epoxy for the body and I developed some tricks to build a perfect smooth body without a lot of efforts. I showed these tricks at a lot of fairs in the last years and there was always an „Aaah!“-effect for the audience and even for some of the other tiers, but I wouldn’t tell you the tricks! ;-)

Why? The answer is quite simple. I don’t use epoxy anymore. I was annoyed by the yellowing of the epoxy after some months. It doesn’t matter which epoxy brand you are using, everything turns yellow! You don’t tie a BC in 5 minutes, that’s for sure, so it’s hard to see your with love tied flies turning yellow. The other important point is, that epoxy is very unhealthy. So I changed to uv-resin, which means all my nice epoxy tricks were useless….but that was not to bad, because working with uv-resin is quite easy, especially when you are working with „tackfree“-resin.

A Baltic Candy wet and dry

My Baltic Candies becomes smaller and thinner over the years, because of a lot of improvement. It’s harder for the fish to find out if it’s real food or not, when the fly looks a bit blurry in the water. Another advantage is, that a slim sandeel pattern with weight in the front flies through the air like a dart. Even with your hand you can throw a Baltic Candy several meters! Try this little experiment with a normal fly….you’ll see whats happened. ;-)

Bernd Ziesche with perfect baltic silver. You can see my Baltic Candy on the cork handle. ;-)

This sbs is for a „fully dressed“ Baltic Candy. You can use less flash if you prefer it. Personally I got Baltic Candies with different amounts of flash material.

Two important tips: First, strip the Baltic Candy really fast through the water with some stops. You could never, really never(!), strip the BC too fast. We could never reach the speed of a spin fishermen, so there is no „too fast“.

Secondly, it could happen that the polar fibre is a bit disarranged after you caught a fish. Just use a velcro on your jacket or vest as a comb to brush the BC.

At last, I have to thank my buddy Bernd Ziesche (great guide, superb casting instructor and owner of the fly fishing school www.first-cast.de) for his tests and comments over the years!

Materials:

Hook: Gamakatsu SC 15 # 2 or 1
Weight: Lead Wire
Body: Twisted Flash silver/pearl
Bite Point: UV-Thread orange
Wing: Polar Fibre (white, misty blue, olive), Angel-Hair holographic-silver
Flash: Krinkle Mirror Flash pearl
Eyes: Stick-On-Eyes
UV-Resin: Bug Bond
Thread: Uni-Mono

Wind the lead wire around the hook shank and secure it with super glue.

Tie in the twisted flash.

Twist the flash and wind it to the front and catch it with your thread.

Tie in a little hot bite point at the end of the shank.

Tie in a bunch of white polar fibre on the underside of the fly.

Tie in the angel-hair.

Tie in bunches of blue and olive polar fibre.

Tie in two strands of krinkle mirror flash on each side and do a whip finish.

Pull the fibres with your left hand and apply the Bug Bond and cure it with your uv-torch.

Put the stick-on eyes on each side and apply the second thin coating of Bug Bond. The Baltic Candy is tackfree and now ready for fishing. If you are a crazy fly tyer like myself, you apply a third quick coating of Bug Bond, which gives really a smooth high end finish („black“ photo)! ;)

That’s it, the Baltic Candy, my modified version of Bob Popovics‘ famous Surf Candy.

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

Mayfly Flex Stretch Nymph – Step By Step

Veröffentlicht am 22/04/2012 von Holger Lachmann

Here’s the step by step tutorial for a mayfly nymph pattern, to imitate the BWO for example. This pattern is durable and looks quite like the natural, when drifting through the river. Don’t use too much material when tying these kind of nymphs. You should always keep the slim original in your mind.

This pattern is another example, how usefull uv-resin could be, when tying even small flies for trout and graylig. For this fly I used Clear Cure Goo Hydro, which is highly fluid like water. It’s perfect for smaller patterns and is soacked up by dubbing and feathers, what makes the flies really durable.

Materials:

Hook: Daiichi D 1270 # 14
Weight: Flat Lead
Tail: Pheasant Tail Fibres
Abdomen: Flex Stretch Olive
Wing Case: Pheasant Tail Fibres & Clear Cure Goo Hydro
Thorax: Oliver Edwards Masterclass Dubbing & Clear Cure Goo Hydro
Legs: Partridge

Put the hook into the vise and wind the flat lead on the hook shank. Do a second layer of lead on the front part like shown on the foto.

Tie in three pheasant tail fibres to imitate the tail of the mayfly.

Tie in a small piece od stretch flex and wind it aroung the hook shank.

Cut a piece out of a pheasant tail feather and tie it in for the wing case.

Take a partridge feather and cut a little piece out of the tip. Then tie the partridge feather in with the tip first.

Dub the thorax, then fold the partridge to the front and catch it with your thread next to the hook eye.

Put a little drop of Clear Cure Goo Hydro on the stem of the partridge feather to join the dubbing with the feather. Cure the CCG Hydro with the uv torch. The hackle stem and the dubbing are joined together now. Nothing will ever slip and the legs will stay as shown on the photo.

Fold the pheasant to the front and catch it with your tying thread. Put a little drop of Clear Cure Goo Hydro on the wing case and cure it with the uv torch.

The wing case is now very durable after curing the CCG Hydro. If you want a shiny wing case, that’s what I prefer, put a second drop of CCG Hydro on the wing case and cure it. Now, the mayfly nymph is ready for fishing.

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

Quill Body CDC Emerger No. 2 – Step By Step

Veröffentlicht am 21/04/2012 von Holger Lachmann

It’s the end of April and the trout and grayling season will start soon.

Here’s another very good emerger pattern, which imitates some different may fly species, depending on the colour and size. It’s tied on the new Daiichi 1167 Klinkhamer hook, designed by the famous dutch fly tyer Hans van Klinken.

The Daiichi 1167 got a stronger wire compared to the Tiemco 212Y for example, which makes sure, that the abdomen hangs deep in the surface. That’s really important and that’s the reason, why this pattern got no tail or a trailing shuck, to make sure, that the abdomen is hanging deep in the surface.

The quill body is covered with a thin coating UV Resin.

Materials:

Hook: Daiichi 1167 # 14
Abdomen: Polish Quills &Tack Free UV Resin
Thorax: Oliver Edwards Master Class Dubbing
Wing case: CDC
Wing: CDC
Legs: Partridge

Put the hook into the vise, do a layer of thread and tie in a stripped peacock quill. Wind the quill around the hook shank and catch it with the tying thread.

Put a little drop of Tack Free UV Resin on the stripped peacock quill and spread it on the abdomen. Cure it with your UV torch.

Tie in two CDC feathers for the wing case. Then tie in the tip of another white CDC feather as a crippled wing.

Dub the body and tie in some partridge fibres to imitate the legs. Fold each CDC feather to the hook eye and catch it with the tying thread. The CDC wing should be exactly in the middle of the feathers.

Cut the CDC feathers for the wing case and do some turns with your whip finisher to create a little head. Varnish the head, if you like. That’s it, ready for fishing. ;-)

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

Zonker-Fish step by step

Veröffentlicht am 06/03/2012 von Holger Lachmann

Zonker stripes are one of my favorite materials for tying streamers. The Zonker-Fish is a really simple pattern made out of a zonker stripe, which is very durable and, most important, it catches fish.

You can find a lot of color examples in my photo album Streamers.

Materials:

Hook: Gamakatsu F 314 # 4
Weight: Lead
Ribbing: Mono
Body: Flash Dubbing
Wing: Zonker Stripe
Flash: Krinkle Mirror Flash
Head: Flash Dubbing, Clear Cure Goo
Eyes: Clear Cure Eyes Solar Flare

Wind on some lead wire and secure it with super glue.

Tie in a piece of mono for ribbing.

Mix two colors of flash dubbing.

Split the thread and put the dubbing in the gap. Then spin the bobbin to twist the dubbing.

Wind the dubbing around the hook shank and brush it with your velcro brush.

Tie in a zonker stripe at the front and rib it with the mono from the back to the front.

Tie in a strand of krinkle mirror flash on each side and form a little head with flash dubbing.

Use some super glue for fixing the Clear Cure Eyes on each side and fill the space between the eyes on top and bottom with Clear Cure Goo to create a durable head.

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

Matuka Streamer

Veröffentlicht am 19/02/2012 von Holger Lachmann

Here’s a step by step tutorial for a matuka streamer. This type of streamer is very old and you don’t see it to often in the fly boxes of the fishermen today, but the truth is, that the feathers move nicely, especially when you put some weight in the front of the fly, which causes a jigging effect.

Materials:

Hook: Gamakatsu F 314 # 4
Feathers: Keough Saltwater Grizzly Hackle, Keough Saltwater Hackle
Body: SLF Saltwater Dubbing white and ginger
Eyes: Deer Creek Gator Eyes
Flash: Krinkle Mirror Flash
UV-Resin: Deer Creek Diamond Hard Tack Free Resin
Weight: Lead Wire
Ribbing: Mono

Wind some lead wire around the shank and secure it with super glue.

Create a little dubbing ball at the end of the hook shank, tie in a saltwater hackle and wind it around. The dubbing ball pushes the fibres to the sides.

Tie in a piece of mono for ribbing. Split the tying thread and put the dubbing mix in the gap. Spin the bobbin to twist the dubbing. Wind the dubbing around the hook shank and brush it with your velcro .

Take two feathers and pull some fibres from one side as shown on the photo. Tie in the feather at the front and secure them by ribbing them with the mono. Catch the ribbing with your thread.

Tie in some strands of krinkle mirror on each side and do a whip finish with your thread. Take two gator eyes and put them on each side. You should use super glue to secure them. The fly is nearly finished. Just take some Diamond Hard Tack Free resin and let it run between the eyes, then cure it with your uv torch. Repeat this till the gap between the eyes is filled. This makes the fly very strong and durable.

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

Cellphone Shrimp

Veröffentlicht am 15/02/2012 von Holger Lachmann

Last night I wanted to tie a CDC-Shrimp. I’d just done the first few wraps with the tying thread, when my cell was ringing. My buddy Aik was calling. So, what to do? Stop tying? No way! :-) I clamped the cell between my ear and my shoulder and continued tying with this „special“ posture…. When I finished the telephone conversation, the fly was finished too, including the back with Clear Cure Goo.

To be honest, I was concentrated on the call and was wondering, that the fly looked no too bad either. I should always tie without thinking! :-D

Quill CDC Emerger

Veröffentlicht am 02/02/2012 von Holger Lachmann

A simple, but quiet effective mayfly emerger.Tie it in different sizes and colours to match the hatch. The body of the emerger should hang deep in the surface. Never put some floatant on the body, only a bit on the thorax and the wings if necessary. With the amount of uv-resin on the quill, you can control, how deep the fly should hang in the surface.

This pattern often made my day, when other patterns were ignored.

Materials:

Hook: TMC 212Y # 13
Abdomen: Stripped Peacock Quill and UV-Resin (use tack free resin, if not, you have to coat the resin with nail polish)
Thorax: Alpaka Dubbing
Wings: CDC and for splitting some Yarn

Tie in a stripped peacock quill.

Wind the stripped quill around the hook shank and catch it with your thread.

Put a layer of uv-resin around the quill body to secure it.

Tie in a piece of yarn.

Tie in a bunch of CDC fibres.

Spin the dubbing around the thread.

Dub the thorax.

Fold the yarn to the front to split the CDC and catch it with your thread.

Whip finish the fly and cut the CDC in shape.

View from underneath.

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

Quill Body Parachute with CDC Wing

Veröffentlicht am 24/01/2012 von Holger Lachmann

Antworten

A superb all around mayfly pattern, which lies nicely flat and realistic on the water. Tie it in different sizes and colours to match the hatch. Personally I like to use CDC for the wing instead of polypropylen on the smaller sizes. It just looks more naturally.

Materials: