Beginning to tie flies

[poopdeck]

I'll get a better photo but you can see one on my fly patch in this photo of a cicada. It's a still grabbed from a video and not very good quality but gives you the idea.

That’s a great looking meal worm!

 

[[WR]]

IF it is latex, avoid it like the plague...

I'm guessing you are not old enough to remember the sheet latex craze in the 1980's for tying realistic segmented bodies...

However like rubber bands, after a spending some time looking all pretty & realistic in your fly boxes the latex breaks down and your flies fall apart, unravel and become a mess.


BTW - Ina pinch a rubber band makes a realistic "mealworm" that is cheaper to experiment with than strip or sheet latex, etc. but it too falls apart after awhile.

Oh I'm definitely old enough... just, I was elsewhere serving my country.
Good greif that must've made some guys seriously mad. Open up your box and had to deal with that mess . Sounds as bad as limberger on a school radiator in January.

 

[[WR]]

Never used or heard of worm thread before today. Now that I have heard about it I won’t be buying any. The great thing about fly tying is everything can be substituted. I caution you about going down the material, hook and thread worm hole. You will only overwhelm yourself if you buy everything needed to tie the bazillion fly patterns known to exist exactly how somebody else tied it. Plenty of materials can be used to tie realistic larva but to answer your question, the pictured “worm” thread looks like it would go through any old bobbin.

I get your points. And thanks for the cautionary advice. As many of you have pointed out, there are a lot of alternatives.

 

[ROVERT]

Here's a better photo.

 

[dudemanspecial]

Here's a better photo.

That is a good mealworm pattern. It also looks just like a......




















.....midge larve 😁

 

[tomgamber]

tied a lot of rubber band worms over the years. really cheap bluegill fly as well. They did tend to get brittle and rot if you had them too long but you could just wrap more on the same hook.

 

[shortrod]

... how far can I get with just pheasant and chukar feathers, and deer hair?

1. Add copper wire and you can tie the original Sawyer Pheasant Tail nymph. A great baetis nymph.
2. Add strung peacock herl and you can tie American Pheasant Tail nymph, A great all around nymph.
3. Add beads and you can tie bead head Pheasant Tail nymph. Also great all around.
4. Combine the Pheasant Tail nymph body with the right chukar feathers would give you a Chukar and Pheasant Tail soft hackle that would be very useful.
5. Using the peacock herl, copper wire and pheasant or chukar body feathers you can tie the Carey Special a larger soft hackle style fly.
6. Using the peacock herl for the body, deer hair for the wing and the soft feather fibers from the lower parts of the bird feathers as dubbing for the head. You could tie a simple but effective dry fly caddis imitation.
7. Add some microfibits or bristles from a cheap paint brush for the tails, use the pheasant tail or peacock for the body/head (dubbing would be better for the head, shoot a rabbit or collect a road killed fox). Use the right deer hair and you can tie Comparadun mayfly imitations.

I could fish with just these flies and do pretty well. Add some sparkle yarn and it gets even better.
I know you may need more details, just let us know what you don't know/understand.

 

[JoeE]

I always found KISS (keep it simple stupid) works best in most situations.