Tying Tips: (not so much) The leaden mayfly
I became fascinated with fly fishing and fly tying in 1984 at the age of 13. I have been fishing all my life, but by chance, got to try out a fly rod for a brief second and the action of the rod had me hooked for some reason. It was a magical, if only fleeting moment, that has influenced the rest of my life. I ordered a Dan Bailey mail order catalog and loved going over and over the photos of gear, but most especially the flies. I had their names memorized and dreamt of learning to tie them. I got a fly tying kit for Christmas that year and proceeded to teach myself how to tie flies. The first ones were really bad and I still have most of them. I didn’t get the notion of starting at the tail and working forward in reverse. As you can see in the image below, they are pretty sad specimens.
I started tying before I understood really what was going on with fly fishing. One classic pattern that I tied for a contest in Fly Fishing magazine was a mayfly. I wanted to make it look realistic so I fashioned an extended body and even was able to get 6 legs and cut wings. The only problem from a design standpoint was that I used lead wire for the body and legs. It was about the size of a hex mayfly. I think I tied it on a size 6 hook, with a cream woolen yarn body and brown hackles which I had cut for wings. I can only imagine the reaction that got when the person at Fly Fishing magazine offices opened that one up. Hopefully someone set it aside and stuck it in a cork board or something. I’m sure it got plenty of laughs. The leaden mayfly is indeed a classic and would also make a fantastic name for an English pub.
UPDATE: I have drawn, to my best recollection my leaden mayfly as part of the drawing flies weekly challenge in which I am participating. You can see that image here.
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Drawing Flies 52: Week 7 Hex Dun – The Leaden Mayfly » Under the Aspens said:
Feb 25, 10 at 10:13 AM[...] masterpieces, the deadly, Leaden Mayfly. There is a back story to this fly which you can read here. This image tries my best to document and lampoon that fly I tied so many years ago. The fly is [...]
webexponent.com » Week 7: Hex Dun – The Leaden Mayfly said:
Mar 10, 10 at 11:33 PM[...] Drawing of fly is a pencil sketch, scanned to Fireworks to add text. There is a backstory to this fly that can be read here http://www.undertheaspens.com/blog/2010/01/tying-tips-not-so-muc…; [...]