Hempseed & Black Dog.

[wingman]

Not tied one of these Hempseed's (Kelson) for ages so long overdue. This is big for me as I'm used to tying on much smaller hooks which I find much easier for some reason. Also the small Black Dog I tied the other day. Tied at 6/0 and 1/0 respectively.

Tag - oval silver tinsel & yellow floss.
Tail - GP topping crest, green Parrot (subbed with Goose) & Jungle Cock.
Butt - Ostrich herl.
Body - one quarter yellow Seal's fur, one quarter claret Seal's fur & the rest light blue Seal's fur.
Ribs - oval silver tinsel & gold flat tinsel.
Hackle - grizzle cock hackle.
Throat - claret cock hackle then Teal.
Wings - two Jungle Cock feathers back to back, Amherst Pheasant tail, GP tail, Teal, Bronze Mallard & GP topping over.
Sides - Goose dyed claret, blue & yellow.
Cheeks - Blue Chatterer (subbed with Kingfisher feathers doubled up).
Horns - blue & yellow Macaw.

Tag - oval silver tinsel & yellow floss.
Tail - GP topping & Ibis (subbed with Goose).
Butt - Ostrich herl.
Body - black floss.
Ribs - yellow floss (doubled up) flanked by oval silver tinsel on each side.
Hackle - Heron dyed black from third rib (using a black cock hackle here as smaller fly).
Wings - two Jungle Cock feathers back to back, Amherst Pheasant tail, Bustard, Goose dyed red & yellow & two GP toppings over,
Sides - unbarred Wood Duck.
​

Thanks for looking.

cheers
mark

 

[colinc1978]

Just wow


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[baca157]

They just keep getting better Mark:thumbs:. That Hempsteed looks amazing. What hook did you use?

How did you get that GP/amherst wing looking so neat? I find those feathers really difficult to work with, especially when there is no Goose to break them up. Do you steam them before use?

Cheers,
Sebastian

 

[wingman]

Thanks colinc1978.

They just keep getting better Mark:thumbs:. That Hempsteed looks amazing. What hook did you use?

How did you get that GP/amherst wing looking so neat? I find those feathers really difficult to work with, especially when there is no Goose to break them up. Do you steam them before use?

Cheers,
Sebastian

Thanks Sebastian the hook I think its either a Phillips of Dublin Limerick or Playfair Limerick one of the ones I had left of Byron Bjerke's jobs but you have to be careful to not damage the coatings in the vice as he doesn't japan finish them so the paint job isn't hard enough but nice hooks all the same. They're both in the info I sent you on his hooks. I didn't wash or steam the GP tail or Amherst although I sometimes do but I got a full GP tail and two full length Amherst tail feathers from Cookshill so really good quality as per usual. Some GP tails I've had from other sources haven't married that well even after washing although I've had one or two decent ones from Veniards which after washing have married really well. Just the luck of the draw really, some you win some you lose.

 

[petevicar]

Fantastic flies as always.

Why is the top one called hempseed?

Is it my inexperience or is the wing on the black dog a little clipped?

 

[baca157]

Thanks colinc1978.



Thanks Sebastian the hook I think its either a Phillips of Dublin Limerick or Playfair Limerick one of the ones I had left of Byron Bjerke's jobs but you have to be careful to not damage the coatings in the vice as he doesn't japan finish them so the paint job isn't hard enough but nice hooks all the same. They're both in the info I sent you on his hooks. I didn't wash or steam the GP tail or Amherst although I sometimes do but I got a full GP tail and two full length Amherst tail feathers from Cookshill so really good quality as per usual. Some GP tails I've had from other sources haven't married that well even after washing although I've had one or two decent ones from Veniards which after washing have married really well. Just the luck of the draw really, some you win some you lose.

I must get some of Byron’s hooks. Really like the look of them.

All my GP tail and Amherst are from Steve too so I shudder to think what Veniards must be likemg: Can’t really get much nicer than the materials he sells. Must be my poor technique...

Cheers,
Sebastian

 

[wingman]

Fantastic flies as always.

Why is the top one called hempseed?

Is it my inexperience or is the wing on the black dog a little clipped?

Thanks petevicar not sure why or how the fly's name came about but it is an old Tweed pattern erm must look into that. No I never clip a wing once it's on the fly it's on and any clipping of fibre ends, which I do mainly with Goose, is done prior to marrying up the fibres. Sometimes the profile of the end of the wing is slightly different on each wing slip and sometimes the fibres can be prone to slip when tying in the wing with GP tail a prime candidate for that. On some flies the edge of the wings can look so straight you'd think they'd been cut with scissors once on the fly when in actual fact they haven't as it's just the way they've been tapered to form a straight edge.

I must get some of Byron’s hooks. Really like the look of them.

All my GP tail and Amherst are from Steve too so I shudder to think what Veniards must be likemg: Can’t really get much nicer than the materials he sells. Must be my poor technique...

Cheers,
Sebastian

It gets better, I've wasted a few tails in my time.

 

[tj hooker]

Re: Hempseed & Black Dog.

Beautifully tied flys Mark the Hempseed is a very impressive pattern i take it the wings not the easiest married up with the golden Pheasant tail on the Goose Mark is ok to trim the ends before mounting the wing some of my goose shoulders have an almost wispy ends not all mind you but some I didn’t trim them just because I thought it wasn’t the done thing to do it’s hard to marry the very fine ends.

- - - Updated - - -

Beautifully tied flys Mark the Hempseed is a very impressive pattern i take it the wings not the easiest married up with the golden Pheasant tail on the Goose Mark is ok to trim the ends before mounting the wing some of my goose shoulders have an almost wispy ends not all mind you but some I didn’t trim them just because I thought it wasn’t the done thing to do it’s hard to marry the very fine ends.

 

[wingman]

Re: Hempseed & Black Dog.

Thanks Grahame. Yes I nearly always trim the end of the goose as like you say it's very fine and wisp like and it's fine to do this and I know a few who even trim the ends of dyed turkey. I usually cut the section I need from the feather then snip at around a 45 degree angle which gives a nice straight edge. The thing about goose is it's so fine that even after cutting it it still looks ok and not to clipped looking like turkey might look if you snip it. I never cut the ends of any of the natural fibres though like GP tail, Peacock wing, White tip Turkey apart from Bustard sometimes which can sometimes have raggy looking ends. If you don't trim the goose the wing will have far to much taper at the end and usually you're only taking a mm or so off the ends but it's enough to make it more workable.