Hawthorn & Heather

**palewatery** · 03-23-2010, 06:34 PM

Been tying up some early spring flies, don't know if you get these in the US but over here this Terrestrial is one of the earlier flies to be found on the water in good numbers.

I tie them in two sizes, this is a larger one that’s a bit oversize for the naturals where I use them but is good for hanging a weighted version or for faster broken water.

Hook: Varivas IWI T-2000 Terrestrial #12
Thread: Gudebrod 10/0 Black
Rib: UTC Ultra Wire Small Black
Abdomen: Condor Substitute (looks like Turkey to me) Black
Legs: Spanflex Black, 2 knotted then 1 strand cut from lower leg
Wing: TMC Aero Wing White
Thorax: Life Cycle Nymph Dub Black
Sight Wing: TMC Aero Wing Bright Green
Hackle: Black Cock. I’ve used a fairly poor quality black hackle as it’s all I have and all that’s needed for these flies.

Same fly as above but tied as a Heather fly rather than Hawthorn.

Dressing is the same as above except one of the upper Spanflex strands is red..

The other size I tie much more closely matches the size of the natural and utilises the butt end of the main wing as the sight post, this cuts down the bulk of materials tied in and as it’s used on slower less broken water is all I need to keep the fly visible. The sight wing can be left out altogether but the streams I use this on have dark stream beds and a lot of overhanging trees so the little extra sighting help comes in handy.

Hook: Varivas IWI T-2000 Terrestrial #16
Thread: Gudebrod 10/0 Black
Rib: UTC Ultra Wire Extra Small Black
Abdomen: Condor Substitute Black
Legs: Raineys Round Rubber Legs Fine Black (You can heat kink to add a bend/joint but I don’t find it necessary for a fishing fly)
Wing: TMC Aero Wing White
Thorax: Life Cycle Nymph Dub Black
Sight Wing: TMC Aero Wing White
Hackle: Black Cock.

The other Hawthorn I use is a sub surface version.

Hook: TMC 2487 #14
Thread: Gudebrod 10/0 Black
Rib: UTC Ultra Wire Extra Small Black
Abdomen: Condor Substitute Black
Legs: Single strand of Black Spanflex Knotted, this is over scale to act as a trigger.
Wing: EP Silky Fibre Silver Grey
Thorax: Life Cycle Nymph Dub Black
Bead: Black Metal 3mm, not Tungsten as I want it to sink slower.
Head: Life Cycle Nymph Dub Black

I’m not too fussy with the Dubbing or leg angles on this fly as I want it to look kinda scraggy.

Cheers.

**Danny S** · 03-24-2010, 05:05 AM

Nice ties! I'm also glad to see you use 10/0 on a #14 and #16. Many tiers would not do that, but I like small thread. You must have a good stock of 10/0; I don't think anyone makes it now?

Your Hawthorns look like the could also work as a cricket imitation.

**AndyBaird** · 03-24-2010, 01:58 PM

Lovely Jim - #1's a favourite, and would work well here... The black hackle looks great, and your photography and logo are super-cool.

Thanks,
Andy

**palewatery** · 03-24-2010, 06:22 PM

Cheers Danny and Andy.

Danny: I use 10/0 or smaller for 90% of my tying, there are some flies I'll use a bigger thread on but more often than not only for streamers. Small threads are pretty strong now and if I need more strength I can user power silk in 10/0. The Gudebrod I used on these is the the thread we were talking about on Andy's post, I still have some Black, Yellow, White and a little Brown... I'm out of the rest but the fine Benecchi and Sheer are good enough subs.

Andy: My next task is to try and get them tied on a sub #20 :shock:

**JockAyeTheNoo** · 03-24-2010, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by palewatery

Cheers Danny and Andy.

Danny: I use 10/0 or smaller for 90% of my tying, there are some flies I'll use a bigger thread on but more often than not only for streamers. Small threads are pretty strong now and if I need more strength I can user power silk in 10/0. The Gudebrod I used on these is the the thread we were talking about on Andy's post, I still have some Black, Yellow, White and a little Brown... I'm out of the rest but the fine Benecchi and Sheer are good enough subs.

Andy: My next task is to try and get them tied on a sub #20 :shock:

Jim are these threads you talk about actually silk or a cotton (a n other) substitute? ...all the thread types confuse the hell out of me!

Cheers
Jim

**palewatery** · 03-24-2010, 08:25 PM

They're all polyester Jim. The Benecchi thread I was on about before is the Ultrafine 12/0, with the Gudebrod not made any more the Benecchi is taking over for me. Sheer is great too, they just need to sort out the loose spooling.

I had a search about and while this link might not answer everything about strengths and materials it's a good a start as I've seen.
http://surreyflydresser.org.uk/surre...icle2_paul.htm

These make good reading too.
http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/thread_control/
http://ukflydressing.proboards.com/i...lay&thread=356

**JockAyeTheNoo** · 03-25-2010, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by palewatery

They're all polyester Jim. The Benecchi thread I was on about before is the Ultrafine 12/0, with the Gudebrod not made any more the Benecchi is taking over for me. Sheer is great too, they just need to sort out the loose spooling.

I had a search about and while this link might not answer everything about strengths and materials it's a good a start as I've seen.
http://surreyflydresser.org.uk/surre...icle2_paul.htm

These make good reading too.
http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/thread_control/
http://ukflydressing.proboards.com/i...lay&thread=356

these are a good help Jim, thanks for taking the time to look them up...

Cheers
Jim