Dai, all of the above will be fine. I don't think it's necessarily the colour; more the shape. Use what you have to hand. Pine squirrel sounds good to me.
Cove did vary the dressing a bit. In “My Way with Trout” he specified rabbit fur, but in some of the articles he did for Trout Fisherman he listed hare & seal suitably dyed (including hot orange). Since he didn’t use weighted flies, to achieve the weight he wanted he used fairly big hooks (6, 8 & 10 either standard or long shank, depending on depth and amount of drift, dressed straight on the long shank variant). Curiously, he didn’t cross rib or varnish the head. (Bob Carnill did the same thing for his naturals, simply polishing the head with his thumb and forefinger.) For his other Chironomid type imitations, he specified goose shoulder dyed an appropriate colour (black, grey, orange, olive, etc.) with an appropriate wire rib, or used spider patterns dressed on sizes 10, 12 & 14. [I wish I still had the original articles to quote from, but I don’t have them any more. I don’t even know if they’re available in back issues or on PDF.]
I know what you mean about the back issues! They were a goldmine of information. You just had to be astute enough to pick out the nuggets. I took the dressing from Bob Church's Guide to Trout Flies published in 1987. But even so, I'd still recommend tying the nymph with what you have to hand as opposed to slavishly following any dressing that I've mentioned. As you point out, 'Cove did vary his dressings.' Thanks for the positive comment. It all adds to the knowledge base, keeps us humble and moreover gives recognition to those guys that ploughed the furrow for todays anglers. Cheers!
@@AlunReesFlyFishing your tying is one of the few I’ve seen with the “correct” proportions; not too far round the hook bend for the body, and a relatively short, ball-shaped thorax. His sedge pupae representations had very similar proportions, with the body being a bit thicker of dyed seal’s fur. I agree with the “use what you have” sentiment. Pine, grey or fox squirrel should all work, as should possum or a suitable synthetic. One could even have an “American” variant with a peacock thorax 😉 In the interest of authenticity, some would argue that if a dressing specifies a feather from the bum of a lesser spotted juju bird, having more delicate markings than the more common greater spotted species, then that is what one should use. What they forget is that such exotics were specified because that is what the originator had available to them at the time. E.g., how any people have actually held in their hands a “correctly dressed” Greenwell’s Glory? Not many, I would venture to guess, and I know I certainly never have. One usually finds paired starling (or teal) wing slips rather than from the inside of a hen blackbird. For that matter, why use paired wing quill slips at all? Why not use a bunch of suitably dyed hen hackle fibres, which is arguably better as it provides a bit more movement? Of course, from an historical perspective it is good to know the originator’s specification, that is, if one can find them as most have been lost due to the vagaries of time.
This dressing is as close to the original as I have ever seen. When I first watched the clip I was gnashing my teeth and foaming at the mouth while screaming 'What about the tails?' The original dressing of course did not have tails. My bad 😊 Been looking through your videos and all are of course exceptional. Now stop messing around and start posting your salmon and sea trout patterns. I believe there is a fly somewhere called an American Express. Never use it myself (LIE) as I don't think it would suit my purposes (LIE) I wonder whether it would be any good in Northern England (LIE) PS just subscribed to make sure you post a video double quick. You owe it to the fly fishing world 😊
🤣😂😂....trust you! Thanks for subscribing Geoff and for the mention of the American Express. As the phrase goes, that'll do nicely! I'm on an agenda....Reservoir Trout flies until the new year to support some of the Welsh Youth Team and then onto sea trout and salmon flies.
@AlunReesFlyFishing I would suggest to anyone and everyone watching your videos or reading this reply that they really should stick with your channel. I have caught more fish on your patterns than the rest of my own put together. The help you freely gave me when I was stuck with a useless mentor while trying to qualify for my first assessment I will never ever forget. As I frequently tell you , I will never be able to repay you. I would never have passed without your help and I passed with flying colours. You do know that a phrase you quoted to me which I quoted to my then mentor, he stole and started using it as his own? Funny how he never quotes his source.
When it all starts to go wrong......stop. Shorten your line, and get back into a rhythm. Once it's going well, add line, add line until you're back in the groove. I regularly use it to remind myself not to practice mistakes 😂
@@AlunReesFlyFishing Every client I have ever had has had that line from me. The curious thing about it is that everybody and I do mean everybody that has ever held a fly rod can immediately relate to it. I do however always quote you as my source of reference. I try never to be as self important as most of my peers.
Nice bit of tying Alun.
The oldies are still goodies.....and catch fish.
I will try this at Crynant on Thursday 😁
Let me know if you catch!
Nice alun enjoyed that i don't have any moles fur would possum or pine squirrel do it looks like a fine fur mole would seals fur be too thick mate
Dai, all of the above will be fine. I don't think it's necessarily the colour; more the shape. Use what you have to hand. Pine squirrel sounds good to me.
Cove did vary the dressing a bit. In “My Way with Trout” he specified rabbit fur, but in some of the articles he did for Trout Fisherman he listed hare & seal suitably dyed (including hot orange). Since he didn’t use weighted flies, to achieve the weight he wanted he used fairly big hooks (6, 8 & 10 either standard or long shank, depending on depth and amount of drift, dressed straight on the long shank variant). Curiously, he didn’t cross rib or varnish the head. (Bob Carnill did the same thing for his naturals, simply polishing the head with his thumb and forefinger.) For his other Chironomid type imitations, he specified goose shoulder dyed an appropriate colour (black, grey, orange, olive, etc.) with an appropriate wire rib, or used spider patterns dressed on sizes 10, 12 & 14. [I wish I still had the original articles to quote from, but I don’t have them any more. I don’t even know if they’re available in back issues or on PDF.]
I know what you mean about the back issues! They were a goldmine of information. You just had to be astute enough to pick out the nuggets. I took the dressing from Bob Church's Guide to Trout Flies published in 1987. But even so, I'd still recommend tying the nymph with what you have to hand as opposed to slavishly following any dressing that I've mentioned. As you point out, 'Cove did vary his dressings.'
Thanks for the positive comment. It all adds to the knowledge base, keeps us humble and moreover gives recognition to those guys that ploughed the furrow for todays anglers. Cheers!
@@AlunReesFlyFishing your tying is one of the few I’ve seen with the “correct” proportions; not too far round the hook bend for the body, and a relatively short, ball-shaped thorax. His sedge pupae representations had very similar proportions, with the body being a bit thicker of dyed seal’s fur.
I agree with the “use what you have” sentiment. Pine, grey or fox squirrel should all work, as should possum or a suitable synthetic. One could even have an “American” variant with a peacock thorax 😉
In the interest of authenticity, some would argue that if a dressing specifies a feather from the bum of a lesser spotted juju bird, having more delicate markings than the more common greater spotted species, then that is what one should use. What they forget is that such exotics were specified because that is what the originator had available to them at the time. E.g., how any people have actually held in their hands a “correctly dressed” Greenwell’s Glory? Not many, I would venture to guess, and I know I certainly never have. One usually finds paired starling (or teal) wing slips rather than from the inside of a hen blackbird. For that matter, why use paired wing quill slips at all? Why not use a bunch of suitably dyed hen hackle fibres, which is arguably better as it provides a bit more movement? Of course, from an historical perspective it is good to know the originator’s specification, that is, if one can find them as most have been lost due to the vagaries of time.
This dressing is as close to the original as I have ever seen. When I first watched the clip I was gnashing my teeth and foaming at the mouth while screaming 'What about the tails?' The original dressing of course did not have tails. My bad 😊
Been looking through your videos and all are of course exceptional. Now stop messing around and start posting your salmon and sea trout patterns. I believe there is a fly somewhere called an American Express. Never use it myself (LIE) as I don't think it would suit my purposes (LIE) I wonder whether it would be any good in Northern England (LIE)
PS just subscribed to make sure you post a video double quick. You owe it to the fly fishing world 😊
🤣😂😂....trust you! Thanks for subscribing Geoff and for the mention of the American Express. As the phrase goes, that'll do nicely! I'm on an agenda....Reservoir Trout flies until the new year to support some of the Welsh Youth Team and then onto sea trout and salmon flies.
@AlunReesFlyFishing I would suggest to anyone and everyone watching your videos or reading this reply that they really should stick with your channel. I have caught more fish on your patterns than the rest of my own put together. The help you freely gave me when I was stuck with a useless mentor while trying to qualify for my first assessment I will never ever forget. As I frequently tell you , I will never be able to repay you. I would never have passed without your help and I passed with flying colours. You do know that a phrase you quoted to me which I quoted to my then mentor, he stole and started using it as his own? Funny how he never quotes his source.
When it all starts to go wrong......stop. Shorten your line, and get back into a rhythm. Once it's going well, add line, add line until you're back in the groove.
I regularly use it to remind myself not to practice mistakes 😂
@@AlunReesFlyFishing Every client I have ever had has had that line from me. The curious thing about it is that everybody and I do mean everybody that has ever held a fly rod can immediately relate to it. I do however always quote you as my source of reference. I try never to be as self important as most of my peers.