Lots of flies

[patgreen]

couple clousers



Mrs. Simpson


Assorted buggers




fun with zonkers



some version of ADKflytyer's brown


midges/scuds






i think i'm getting better...rolling on

[NickConwall]

I am by no means a great fly tier but it looks like you got the idea & your well on your way.... Overall the nymphs look great, my advice on the clousers would be to work on getting the heads smaller & neater, try by stacking the hair so you have even but-ends and then trimming them at an angle so they taper down more where you bind them down tight; as far as the buggers & zonkers go try to keep the tails a little more proportionate as far as length ( to avoid short strikes) & amount and try & use less dubbing & hackle so the body doesn't get all bunchy looking... Keep on tying & trying & soon you will be amazing yourself with what you will be turning out.
For help on proportion, how to wrap hackle & make nice heads and all the other little nuances check out Nick P.'s tutorials, they've done wonders for my boxes....

[SteveKowalski]

The ADKBrown will be disappointing for you (BUT could be cool) - the lead eyes tied on top, are going to make it swim upside-down so you have a clouser with yellow on top. Maybe, can you grab all the material and twist it around? then hit it with some super glue to resecure it?
and try and get peacock swords with tips intact fish don't mind the herl with blunt/cut ends but the swords that taper to a tip look nicer.

[DaveSiejka]

In addition to the lead eyes point GI Steve made, tie in the belly of the fly and then tie your eyes in on top of this and head cement/superglue into blace so they dont move. Doing this will hide the tie in point a bit better. Then advance your thread ahead of the eyes (between hook eye and eyes) and tie in the material you want to be the top part of your fly on the hook shank on the opposite side your eyes are on



But they are lookin good ...... just a few things i would do ....

[johnjarosz(jj)]

PG..the 1st clouser I ever tied, I tied the same way as yours. I guess great minds think alike, however, like others said, a clouser needs to be tied "upside down" (ADK's brown), i.e., with the hook point up, the dumbell eyes down, & the colors opposite of what you & I had. With the hook point up, the peacock herl should be on the opposite side of what you have. The darker green imitates the back of the fish so the green herl should be on the the hook point side.
Otherwise, they're all a good start.
A couple of other points & this also took me a while to get there; I think the flies could be a little sparser (IMO). There was a good demo at the shop & the tier talked about the "translucency" of bait fish in the water. If you look at pics of fish in the water, you'll see that they are somewhat translucent, for protection from predators. When the flies are wet, they'll have a shimmer & it's like you can almost see thru them.
one more thing; try not to crowd the head. That's a very common mistake. Makes tying the tippet a real B*t@h. Hairs, feathers, & epoxy always get in the way, especially on cold, finger-numbing days.
I hope you don't think I'm pickin' on ya', but most of us have been there, done that, and still do that.
best thing?....take a razor, cut everything off, & try again, and don't worry about wasting material. You've got enough for years. best of luck to you & keep these pics handy so you can compare others in later years!!..And can you please post more?...thanks muchjj

[johnjarosz(jj)]

PG..I didn't want to make my previous post too long, so here's the 2nd one:
1. The Mrs. Simpson, in the feathers near the head, has that translucency I mentioned. I really like that! You can almost see the background behind it & I'm still trying to get there.
2. I'd fish any of those buggers in a heartbeat. They're big, bushy & look like they're ready to pick a fight with the first steelie that comes by..and the steelies will fight back, for sure, along with any bass in the vicinity!
3. With the midges & scuds, those are all real good. I especially like that scud with the shiny back & legs that hang down. That one, in my opinion, is the best of your ties!
By no means, am I anywhere near good, but, like a lot of others, I tie, cut, snip, take out the razor, re-tie, don't like it, & try again & again & again. But I like to read up on tying, techniques, tips, & tricks. All good fun stuff..jj

[patgreen]

thanks guys for the honest critique. i can't get better unless i know what's wrong...so for that i salute you.

i'll change what you recommended and let you see the fixed versions.

i appreciate everything.

jj...i can't post more if i don't have anything to say! i'm just a lowly freshwater dynamics expert...not much of a fisherman. just love going outside and playing.

[Justin Damude]

good call listening to pandora i do as well while i am tying