Flicking feathers

  Head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers to support the channel, get access to the monthly zoom tying sessions and be entered into the giveaways. Here's another old one I wrote for sexyloops Golden Oldies I've recently been spending a lot of time looking through old tying and fishing books which has been thoroughly enjoyable.  One think it's made me do is start thinking about older fly patterns and how the profiles and materials have changed.   I like a lot of aspects of the old school streamer patterns, not least the simplicity of many of them.  Although many old flies like the Mickey Finn have fallen from favour with most anglers nowadays they still work.  The problem I think, is that they don't look as natural in form as some more modern patterns and don't have the modern mobile materials that have replaced bucktail for many.  The first one I think is a legitimate  issue with these flies , stacked wings, clean cut tails and prominen...

   Head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers to support the channel, get access to the monthly zoom tying sessions and be entered into the giveaways. Here's another old one I wrote for sexyloops On me 'ed A while ago I wrote an FP that touched on the topic of streamer heads (https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/beware-the-Confuser) but never got round to doing one that actually covered it properly... So here it is.  I think that the best way to get a handle on streamer heads and how they effect the fly's behaviour is by testing them on the water, and I hope that even after reading this you still will experiment and actually see how things work. I find it helps to split head styles into 4 main groups;  slow, jerk, fast and jigging. Each head type will produce a different action on both articulated and unarticulated flies. So let's look at each of them individually.  "Slow" heads are the big hair, wool or dubbing heads that you see on a lot of modern st...

Step by step instructions for a variation on the double deceiver.  A modern classic, this fly will catch any predatory fish, just adjust the size to suit. Materials Used Hooks: Gamakatsu B10s (rear) Varivas 2500V SE (front) Thread: 6/0 flymaster Tail: schlappen or saddle hackles Flash: Sybai Sparkle Hair Body: Polar Chenille Belly: Bucktail Back: Bucktail Articulation: 26lb beading wire and glass beads. 3D eyes UV resin

Step by step instructions for Kelly Galloup's Zoo Cougar. This streamer is a modern classic and really deadly for large trout, bass and others. Tie some and try them. Find me on Twitter or Instagram @flickinfeathers for more fly tying and fly fishing content. Materials Used Hook: streamer 2-6 Thread: GSP Tail: marabou Body: pearl braid or dubbing Under wing: Calf tail Wing: Mallard flank Head: Deer hair