How do you improve one of the most versatile and effect fly fishing nymphs ever created? Just ask Torrey Collins – he’s done it!
It’s All in the Fly Dubbing
Torrey is a self-proclaimed fly dubbing fanatic and when asked recently he shared, on TroutPredator.com, his secret dubbing recipe that makes this fly so effective.
“It's sorta like a French cooking recipe- the proportions are not exact or absolute. I'll guesstimate the percentages, but feel free to tweak & make minor color adjustments.
-70 to 75% Hare's Mask fur- I shave pretty much the entire thing with an electric razor
-10% Hare's Ear Antron dubbing
-10% Grey Squirrel dubbing (for some extra "spike")
-5 to 10% Ice Dub and/or Prizm Dub, several different colors, I like shades of browns, grays & tans (favorites include Ice Dub in UV brown, chocolate brown, UV tan, gray, olive-brown, Hare's Ear Prizm Dub, etc .) Think of the different colors present in the Hare's mask, and add in at least 3-4 complimentary colors, I often blend in 6 or more.
The Ice Dub/Prizm Dub is mainly for highlights & subtle flash, so don't overdo it. I blend up giant batches of this Hare's Ear blend, because I use so much of it in my fly tying in many different patterns. And no we don't sell it in the store, nor do I sell it, it's too "labor intensive".
Obviously Torrey has put a lot of thought into his dubbing blend and for good reason – it works!
A Bit About Torrey Collins
Torrey was born and raised in Connecticut and has been fly fishing for 30 years. Currently, he manages the Housatonic River Outfitters in West Cornwall, CT located on the Housatonic River.
Fly tying classes and a friendship with master fly tier Dick Talleur have shaped and influenced Torrey's personal fly tying style. A recent friendship with transplanted Welsh fly fishing and tying wizard Davy Wotton has also opened his eyes to European wet fly and nymph fishing methods and patterns.
Torrey has recently experimented extensively with the Euro-style (Czech, Polish, French and Spanish) nymph fishing techniques, and is rapidly becoming a convert to these highly effective methods. We will be featuring a number of Czech nymphs in our Friday Night Fly Tying Video series in the coming weeks.
More Nymph Patterns
If you enjoyed this weeks fly tying video be sure to check out our New Nymph Fly Tying Video Gallery where we snuck in a few other new patterns this week. Can you tell which ones they are?
If you have or know of a fly tying video that you think would be a good fit in our collection please send us a link using the reply box below and we'll load it up.
Have a nice weekend and happy tying!
p.s. If you caught our Friday Night Fly Tying Video last week, we mentioned we would be moving our growing collection of fly tying videos to a new site dedicated entirely to fly tying videos called the Fly Tying Channel. Well we have hit a few technology speed bumps and as a result we will be keeping the video collection here on Fly Fishing Reporter a bit longer. We’ll keep you posted.
Related Articles:
{ 3 trackbacks }