Tying some streamer flies lately

[JeffinNZ]

Team.

About 20 years ago I was given some fly tying gear but have never really used it. This season just gone I started fishing streamers targeting sea run trout (steelheards I think you guys call them) and using spinning gear with either a float or small weight. I bought the first few then thought "hey, I can make these" so have been. Here are some recent attempts:

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Top to bottom (grainy cell phone photo sorry):

1) Parson's Glory.
2) Yellow rabbit (with my own home tanned rabbit fur)
2) My own adaptation of a local lure but I used possum fur and not black marabou. My own tanned possum fur. Our possums are the brush tail from AU and not like that horrible beast from the US.
4) My adaptation of a 'Taupo Tiger' in red.
5) Hope's Silvery.

I really like the 'rabbit' style lures as I can supply my own fur, they are quick to produce and most of all they catch fish well as the fur slicks down to look just like a fingerling.

[Wayne Smith]

I am inordinately proud of the first #22 fly I tied! It's still on the vice, I haven't taken it off. Just a nymph, but, to me, a triumph.

[PbHurler]

Jeff,
Are you "sandbaggin" us? It looks like you HAVE been tying for years, those are some good looking flies!

[Gliden07]

They look pretty good to me!! I tied when I was younger havnt done it in years though! Still have all my equipment though.

[gnoahhh]

Darned nice streamers! I've been tying for 30 years and doubt I could do any better.

I regularly tie, and use #24-28 midges (on 8x-9x tippets). Sometimes that's all that'll take persnickety browns on a couple of the streams I fish.

[waksupi]

Nice work!

[Blacksmith]

I expect to be reading about how the new fly pattern Jeff's Bunny Tail is decimating the fish stocks in New Zeland.

[Beagle333]

Wow... Them's good lookin!!
I just give a hank of squirrel tail a few twists at the top with some sewin thread and dab it with clear nail polish.

Yours look like a magazine photo!

[JeffinNZ]

22's and 24's!!!! I think I'll stop now. That's amazing. Still astounds me that a trout can see something that small.

Thanks for the kind words. I am finding the tying very satisfying.

[Longwood]

They look pretty good to me!! I tied when I was younger havnt done it in years though! Still have all my equipment though.

Yeah but,,,, It ain't you he has to fool.

They look mighty pretty to me too.

[Longwood]

22's and 24's!!!! I think I'll stop now. That's amazing. Still astounds me that a trout can see something that small.

What astounds me, is how fast they will take it, if they like how it looks.
Too me, placing that fly on the water in the right place and getting that lightning quick strike, is what fly fishing is all about.
I leave the fish there for someone else to catch again.

[popper]

I buy anything smaller than 22. Me thinks you need a 12 rod to go with those. OK now we need a pool (poll?) on which he catches the most with.

[UT Phoneguy]

Those look great- I almost think it is addicting as boolits... #2 looks kinda like a "zonker" without the flash body- they are killer on Browns out here. Nothing more relaxing than zoning out tying flies- and the satisfaction that comes when the fish attacks your fly. (I buy anything but the Griffith's gnats under size 20 too...)

I am kinda' surprised nobody mentioned that none of the flies are purple- you should have thread or lint from a certain pair of pants...

[Longwood]

I buy anything smaller than 22. Me thinks you need a 12 rod to go with those. OK now we need a pool (poll?) on which he catches the most with.

If he ties a mosquito dry fly, that would be my vote is he is fishing for Golden Trout.

[UT Phoneguy]

What astounds me, is how fast they will take it, if they like how it looks.
Too me, placing that fly on the water in the right place and getting that lightning quick strike, is what fly fishing is all about.
I leave the fish there for someone else to catch again.

Or how Cutthroats come up slooooooow and then smash the fly- I think I enjoy the thrill of missing the hookset almost as much as the catching...

I had the opportunity to show some Scouts how to tie and use their flies for a merit badge. The first thing I told them was that everything we catch lives to fight another day- I hope they pass that on to the next recruit.

[Longwood]

Wow... Them's good lookin!!
I just give a hank of squirrel tail a few twists at the top with some sewin thread and dab it with clear nail polish.

Yours look like a magazine photo!

I love your Avatar. I would put it on my facebbok page if I had it.

[Longwood]

hope they pass that on to the next recruit.

Frying up a bunch for breakfast may ruin that wish.
I need to go visit my sis in Myrtle Creek Oregon.

[Houndog]

Them thar flies are too purty to go fishin with! Come on up an pay us a visit an I'll take ya fishin Tennessee style. Jes let me know a little ahead of time so's I kin go out to that new road buildin project an dig us up some of that Austin Powder bait (Dynamite) an get the sane ready.

Seriously, those flies look GREAT! My Son-in Law owns Rattlehead Baits (mostly Bass fishing spinnerbaits, plugs, spoons and jigs) and I know how much work goes into hand tied flies.

[UT Phoneguy]

Frying up a bunch for breakfast may ruin that wish.
I need to go visit my sis in Myrtle Creek Oregon.

Hey, I am not judging- fresh trout are great eating. Especially from those cold mountain streams. I took them to one of my "secret" spots that everybody seems to know about... You should have seen the looks on their faces when I told them they would have to be blindfolded! (I was kidding of course, but that is what the guy who taught me said too...)

By the way Jeff, I once saw a an episode of "Fishing the West" when I was a kid and they were fishing for Brown trout in NZ. I will never forget how beautiful it was and dreamed of going there- too bad I wasn't born rich instead of so dang good lookin'... It was the first time I had ever heard of anything besides my cheap fiberglass 5/6wt fly rod- they were using 2wt rods and using some "exotic" orange colored Hare's Ear looking nymph. Wow, I need to go fishing... Sorry for the drift...