Hi Brian. I tie in and wrap the hen pheasant hackle first, then tie in the herl butt end and facing towards the eye of the hook. I then wrap the thread back to the bend. I wrap the herl towards the bend, tie off and cut. Then I wrap the thread from the bend back up to behind the hackle, then back to the bend in a criss cross type of pattern. Then whip finish at the bend.
Ive tried all different methods of reinforcing herl and have settled on this. It might not be the prettiest but its the fastest for me, it works and it adds some extra color and segmentation to the pattern. It’s cheap and easy to tie and the fish seem to love it.
What would y’all call this? Friller bugger with a tapeworm is too long; how about the “hitchhiker?”
Just working up some interesting, simple patterns with limited resources because, “why not?”
Ryan,
What materials did you use for this kebari? It looks really cool and buggy. I do see yellow silk thread
and peacock herl but what about the tail and legs? I going to try and tie these for mountain streams.
Thanks.
Tail: when I tied in the back reverse hackle, the tips stuck out the back slightly, and I liked the way it looked so I kept it.
Thanks for the kind words! This pattern is going to have a cool action in the water, and when that silk thread is wet it gets more of a brownish color. Great for giving lots of little twitches to get the fishes attention.
Wow cool! I think if I was better at Japanese, I might call that Futatsu no Kebari, (twin fly) but I’m just thinking out loud… I really dig your pattern either way!
PS— here’s my tying “bench” in case anyone is curious! I used to use scissors and extra hand tweezers but a pocketknife cuts the silk better and the tweezers actually feel more clumsy than just keeping a longer quill on the feathers and pinch wrapping…
I noticed that fish could be enticed to hit the fly if I pulled it through the current. To enhance this streamer motion I tried adding a bit of a marabiu tail.
After a bit more experimentation, I noticed that a flapping or pulsing motion could help the presentation too. I enhance this motion by adding a hackel.
Guenther,
Your flies are getting better and better every time you post them. Keep up the great work, you have a real talent in tying flies. Jalapeno also sent me some feathers but my flies don’t look nearly as good as yours. Awesome job!!!
A friend gave me a copy of Fly Tyer Magazine to read and there was not a pattern in it that I would care to tie. Why? They were all too complicated. The simplest pattern required 9 steps, the next two patterns needed 16 steps, then two patterns that required 18 tying operations, with the winner totaling 24 steps to tie an adult, extended body mayfly pattern. As Tenkara anglers, we are all well aware that you do not need complicated fly patterns to catch fish with - just a thread body and a feather hackle will get the job done.
Some of the patterns had no feathers at all used in their construction, being built with spikes and tenticles from rubber toys glued together and glued to tandem hook sets to make Soft-Lures 6 to 8 inches in length with Cone Heads and other weighting methods that I do not believe any Tenkara angler would want to try to cast on a Tenkara Rod.
Of course we need to realize that the purpose of publications like this is to encourage the sales of new fly tying materials and tying equipment than it is to aid anglers in catching fish.
Karl,
I have Fly Tyer Magazines from the late 70’s and I agree with you. Flies are getting way too
complicated. In the early magazines the flies could easily be tied but now you need a $100
dollars of special items to glue the stuff together. The KISS Method I think works the best
unless you are writing articles or selling fly material. The late George Harvey told a story of a Native Indian guide that told his rich clients all they needed was a gold colored hook. They became highly offended by his statement and wanted him to prove it. He preceded to
cut a willow branch, tie some string on, and add a golden hook. He caught a lot of trout but they couldn’t admit he was correct and they were wrong. I guess they had to use a lot of “Preparation H” for their butt hurt at the hunting lodge that evening.
Agreed. @T-stillwater what you note is a fair and true critism.
On top of it all a peeve of mine are folk who feel the need to make a variation of a common pattern then give it some finger gunning name or worse a name that includes their own…hahaha.
When I was on the west coast one of my buddies tied a couple cigarette butt flies and preceded to catch fish on them. Just an illustration that presentation and general size is a large part of the game.
Since I have migrated to saltwater fly fishing, the amount of tying material i have accumulated is embarrassing. I feel I have relatively good discipline…yet there it is and the cabinet I had to buy to store it all.
Yeah, I the “make a name” self-promotion thing doesn’t hold a lot of attraction for me either. But as kind of a lazy angler that wants to fish more than tie on different flies I do want my fishing log stats to show what is fooling fish for me (and when, under what conditions…). I’ll take an original name or a generalized descriptive name of the pattern and add the color or body material variation, or even combine two names for it in my fishing log; or when I mention it to someone else; ex. Takayama Pheasant Tail.
I am more talking about saltwater pattern with names like a teenager will dream up. Albie Whore or Pole Dancer fly are examples. Both are simply small baitfish streamers with extra artificial junk on them that has nothing to do with engineering or fish catching performance.
That is what is great about tenkara descriptors for flies. A few simple categories.
**[quote=“Peder, post:1, topic:198, full:true”]
Use this topic to share photos and patterns of the myriad flies, kebari, etc. that you use and want to share with others or think others may find useful. Think of this as a resource for sharing old or new patterns. They can range from patterns that you love and live by or new ones that you will be experimenting with this year.
[/quote]
**Where possible, I like using descriptive elements of design or functions in the naming of fly patterns. A few examples are the the Two Tone Foam Beetle and the Two Tone X Rated Ant, both of which are tied with glued together Tan and Black Foam sheeting cut into strips, so that the tan side comes out on top of the fly for better angler visibility. On the ant pattern, the X Rated refers to its 4 Madam-X style Rubber Legs.
On my Well-Hung Foam Spider pattern, the body segments are tied with Black Wool Yarn to absorb water and Hang the Hook under the water. The Over Body parts are Foam to float the fly. The Partridge Hackle is wrapped in between the over and under body parts, forming the Spider’s Legs. The FL- Thread color chosen for the Hot-Spot the fly is finished off with depends on the water color you are fishing: FL-Orange for Blue and Green Colored Waters, and FL-Chartreuse for Tea and Whisky Colored Waters.**
For patterns like Midge Pupa and Scuds, I name the Critter and It’s’ Primary Body Color - Red, Black , Yellow, and so forth, which gives a lot more information than something like - Lazzy Janes, that give no indications of Life Form or Color…Karl.
