Christmas Eve Fly Tying
David, my “wee man,” has come down with a bit of a bug and Colleen (still seems weird at my age to call her my “girlfriend”) is visiting her mom in Nova Scotia for Christmas. So, I’ve been tying flies. David came down with a cough, a bit of a fever and was feeling lethargic all day. One of his gifts was a new bobbin for his fly tying as well as some other new materials, and I let him open that gift this evening. I thought a smaller bobbin in his hands might be easier for him.
When he opened the gift, he thanked me like I had just handed him a million dollars! When I asked him if he wanted to try out his new bobbin, he replied, “Maybe later Dad.” He then promptly crawled back under the blanket but tried to reassure me he was “feeling fine.”
I also decided to pick up a new bobbin for myself – a “rite™ bobbin” which I’ve heard some guys talking about. I’ll post a review of it shortly. I’ve been using it this evening but can’t say I’ve exactly put it through its paces.
I’ve got this interest in chironomid fly patterns as well as scuds lately. Tonight, it was scuds, and I decided to tie some olive ones. I’m not sure how poor they are yet – I’ll have to give them a try sometime. They are quite basic – used Olive Uni thread, medium olive dubbing for the body, gold wire for ribbing, and clear plastic bag trimmed to fit for the back. I tied them on a Knapek scud hook, size 8 – a bit too big but the only scud hooks I have at the moment. And at that size, I think I need to dub a bit thicker around the middle body area.
Speaking of dubbing, I recently managed to get my hands on the complete 48 colour series of “Traditional Irish Dubbing” by Frankie McPhillips. If you like to experiment with a lot of different shades, you might want to give this a try. I haven’t counted up the different shades of olive that are available, but quite a few. There’s even a “Cow Dung” colour in one of the boxes. Not sure if there is anyone in North America that carries this dubbing, but I got mine from Stevie Munn in Northern Ireland.
Bed time for me, and hoping the “wee man” is feeling much better!
Merry Christmas to you all, too. I hope you have a great holiday.