The Magpie And Starling FINAL

The Magpie And Starling

     Well now after some experimenting (wich will lead to other flies in the future) I've decided how I want my Magpie And Starling to look and behave. My intentions were to design a fly that could be fished either as a dry, emerger or wet fly. This summer will tell if it will be a successful pattern. Either way I like to tie it. The tying instructions are as follows:

Hook:                     

L4A Captain Hamilton Featherweight Dry Fly Down Eye #14

Thread:                   

Pearsall's Gossamer color Cardinal

Hackle:                   

Purple starling feather (each starling skin has some in a good size)

Tail and body:        

Magpie secondary wing feather (the iridescent blue part) 4 fibres

      

     This hook has been one of my favourite hooks since the early 80'ties. Sadly I don't have so many left, and they aren't produced anymore, so if someone knows where to find some I'd really appreciate to hear about it.

Kind regards,

Mats Olsson

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Tiny Stewarts Black Spider

Tiny Stewart's Black Spider

     I really like to tie this fly and as they say: "Practise makes perfect". Since I'm considering to sell some of my tiny golden Mustad hooks I post a picture below showing the size i mm.

     In this picture it's perhaps easier to appreciate how tiny this hook really is. 5 mm long including the spade and a hook gap of 1 mm. If you are interested in buying a pack of a hundred hooks just contact me at the email:  meo@spray.se  and if you have questions just fire off and I will answer as good as I can.

Kind Greetings,

Mats Olsson

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Is This The Tiniest Stewart's Black Spider Ever Tied?

Tiny Stewart's Black Spider

     Photo taken with the fly attached to a 10x (0.08 mm) leader gently hooked on my left thumb for comparison.

     Since this probably the tiniest hook available in some quantity now I think that this might be the tiniest Stewart's Black Spider ever tied. I saw it tied on a TMC #32 which has a much bigger hook gap but is shorter and that kind of instpired me to tie it on this old vintage Mustad hook. For comparison of hook see the picture below and judge for yourself.

     The hook at the bottom is the TMC 518 #32. The hook at the top is the one I used for this Black Spider and the materials are the original. Brown Gossamer silk and a Starling feather. To get the silk thinner and make this possible I separated the Gossamer silk into the 3 strands that it's made of. So to tie this fly I used a third of a normal Gossamer Silk thread and that wasn't too hard actually. It becomes similar to the Uni-Thread Trico 17/0. For another comparison I've put the Mustad inside the TMC 518 #32 in the picture below.

     This Golden Mustad hook measures like a 5:th of an inch long and the hook gap measures like a 25:th of an inch. Taking into account that it's a spade hook you have only about a 10:th of an inch of hook shank to tie on.

     I have given some of theese hooks to friends to try out and now I'm considering to sell some of my stash since I need some other tying materials. It comes in boxes of 100 each. So if there is enough interest I might sell some boxes. If you're interested contact me on  meo@spray.se and give a bid for the first box of 100 hooks.

     Have fun guys and I'd love some comments about the fly; if it might be the smallest Black Spider ever tied to satisfy my curiosity in the matter.

Kind Regards,

Mats Olsson

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Hot Dry Fly For The 2015 Fly Fishing Season???

The Magpie And Starling

     I have high hopes for this fly the coming spring and summer (perhaps even better in the fall). I have experienced that soft hackled dry flies are taken by the trout with much confidence. Therefore I've experimented with this pattern to see if favoring soft hackled dry flies will pay off. They have done so in the past and I don't think this pattern will let me down. Will post the tying instructions later including a nifty technique I learned by seeing Hans Weilenmann tying an old spider pattern. That's all for now while I get back to my experimenting.

Kind Greetings from Sweden,

Mats Olsson

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DRY FLIES - RECONSIDERED

THE STARLING AND MAGPIE

          What makes a fly either a dry fly or a wet fly? Isn't it depending on where you fish with it? Either on, or under the surface of the water. Flies designed to stay in the surface, partly submerged and partly above the surface, aren't this kind of flies called emergers? That arises the question: What do you call a fly that can be used as either one of the types of flies mentioned above? A dry, wet or emerger fly. I'll leave it for you to ponder over.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

Kind Greetings,
Mats Olsson