Green Highlander 5/0

First Green Highlander I've ever tied. I took the photo before the head was completely finished! Pattern is essentially from Pryce-Tannatt

Enjoy

Eunan

This photo is a little over colored. Mounted for its new owner in England.

Need vise, will work....

I've been lusting over this vise for the best part of a year now, and the time has come to finally take the plunge and get it - But, I need to sell some flies in order to do so.

The vise is a Cottarelli T-Rex - a beauty in my opinion.

Photo Credit to Cottarelli Website linked above.

So, what I'm offering is the following. 

6 Atlantic Salmon flies, tied by me, mounted exactly as the Rosy Dawn below. These are perfect displays for desktops or tying stations.

The patterns I'm offering are as follows

Tom Tickler 2/0

Durham Ranger 4/0

Lady Amherst 6/0

Variegated Sun Fly 4/0

Rosy Dawn 4/0 (ready for immediate shipment)

Druggist 1/0 (Vintage hook)

Each mounted fly will be $100 Shipped worldwide. Representative images of these patterns can be viewed here - The fly you will receive will be a brand new tied fly (except Rosy Dawn). I will tie the flies in the order the purchases are received.

You can complete your order here

Pattern

Tom Tickler 2/0 $100.00 USD Durham Ranger 4/0 $100.00 USD Lady Amherst 6/0 $100.00 USD Variegated Sun Fly 4/0 $100.00 USD Rosy Dawn 4/0 $100.00 USD Druggist 1/0 $100.00 USD

Thanks for taking the time to view this post and if you're interested in owning one of these flies, please complete the paypal transaction above.

Additionaly, in recognition of the contribution for each fly, i'll make a 10% donation from each sale the Wounded Warrior project.

Eunan

Franken Fly guest post!

Nice write up over at Franken Fly about a couple custom freestyle flies I recently tied 

Get on over and check it out here, and while you're at it follow Paul's Blog

Thanks to Paul  for the opportunity to share my work

Eunan

A couple of mounted salmon flies

I picked up these nice little mounts recently and they arrived in the mail yesterday. I put the two best salmon flies I've tied in them. 

Floodtide

Rosy Dawn

a rant, sort of

Now, I'm no expert, nor have I ever proclaimed to be one, at fly tying, but something bothers me lately with flies I see posted on forums etc, and its this....

The endless need to blow smoke up folks arses about their flies - and by this I mean bad looking flies that are prescribed by the masses to be 'works of art'

Maybe I'm getting old (34 this year) or maybe I'm just cynical. Probably both. But, there comes a time when we have to draw the line and lay it out straight to fly tyers that their flies look crap. I'm sorry if this hurts anyone, but that's how I feel, because when I started tying classic flies, the critique was laid on thick and heavy.

I'm a believer, that if a fly looks crap, its needs to be said. Not necessarily as I've just said it, because there are ways to positively critique items without causing offence.

What I hate is people of similar skill level, or even better skill level, than the tyer of a fly, stating that a fly looks amazing, is a work of art, when its clear as all day to anyone with eyes that can see, that the eye of the hook is crowded, there's varnish (or head cement), or worse, black varnish all over the hackle, or wings, the ribs are uneven, the body hackle is long enough to look big on a 10/0 shark hook,...yada yada yada. I could go on, endlessly. 

Do folks not realize, that by continually reinforcing poor work, the tyer gains little to no advantage? He continues on in oblivion, tying flies that fit the positive praise of his previous work, and wonders why he cant make the flies look like those on magazine pages, websites and online stores....

Fly tyers of the world - its time to get honest. If you don't feel like you can give a positive critique including some things to improve, then don't bother to comment on a fly. Think of it this way, would you go to a chemistry lab and tell the chemist you liked his experiment if he'd just blown up half a lab (not a dog)?? I doubt it. So, If you're not qualified to give critique, then don't give it. Just view the fly and move on.

If on the other hand, you are qualified, then give an honest critique of what you see. Dress it up, dress it down, but either way, give it honestly, to help the new comers to the craft get to where they want to be, and that is tying flies that look good.

Fish don't necessarily care how flies look, but sometimes they do. Flies, in my opinion, catch more fishermen, and they do fish, and maybe I've been caught, one too many times.

That is all.

Eunan

P.S. here's a fly - a redo of the Wild Irishman I posted last week, on a Sunday style Limerick - 2/0

Hope you like it, though there is plenty wrong with it (head is crap for a start)!!