Small dry flies for river fishing

[Ziggy]

Tied these today . Size 18

[REEFMAN]

Excellent work Ziggy! Those wings look so realistic!

[Ziggy]

Excellent work Ziggy! Those wings look so realistic!

The technical flytying term for those wings is "wally wings"

[WalkersKiller]

Very nice!

[bassbug]

very nice ties Ziggy, those will pull any fish from their lairs even those shy trout hiding under boulders.
the dun/mayfly you have opt for marabou tail, was it for xtra float or movement

[Ziggy]

very nice ties Ziggy, those will pull any fish from their lairs even those shy trout hiding under boulders.
the dun/mayfly you have opt for marabou tail, was it for xtra float or movement

Its not marabou - its coc de leon - better foatation

[bassbug]

cool thanks, would you ever consider cdc due to its properties
(on the joking side - "no need to bring the lions thing out")

[Ziggy]

cool thanks, would you ever consider cdc due to its properties
(on the joking side - "no need to bring the lions thing out")

I use cdc a lot on dry flies. The first pic above is made with one cdc feather. ....the tip being rhe tail and then wound on to the front

[Ziggy]

I don't get  the lions thing. ..maybe I am just an old dof ballie?

[bassbug]

sorry about the joke, i'm no french and guessing a direct translation to south african english it would appear to be in those lines as mentioned above by me.
i noticed the first pic was constructed of cdc then the second fly got me thinking "movement or buoyancy", if it was buonyancy i would of layed a few cdc fibres, the moving action wouldn't really work being a dry fly and dragless drifts would be my order of/for the day. so it got me thinking more, maybe the tail fibres (coc de leon) you used from the base of the feather had some characteristics/behaviour that attracted or enticed a strike from fish, that is, i was visualising those fibres inside the water film or dangling under the fly (for movement). as a norm, we all disgard those fibres and opt for singular fibres so we dont have any knowledge on those fibres, maybe i should tie a few and see how they buggy the fish's appetite

[Ziggy]

Haha. I get it. I used cdc because it floats on the water film and it creates a profile. The hackle keeps the front of the fly up. A mayfly only has three tails. Adding cdc would give it a busier tail

[bassbug]

cool Ziggy, would you add sink to the tail and floatant to the thorax before casting.
about the number of fibres on the tail, i to was made to beleive that mayfly had three and stonefly two and this is how we would distinguish the difference but in the last decade i have kept quite and allow fellow flyers continue with the conversation, not today hey, i have seen in some mayfly species with two fibres only but when it comes to tying the adult mayfly i always tie in a pinch (5 to 7 fibres) for good measure.
 
-extending the joke a bit : "imagen a south african tier collecting coc de leon fibres from the kruger park!" 
 
edited: found this info, have a look at the beetles larvae tails
http://www.yellowfish.co.za/index.php/component/content/article/38-general-content/articles/103-entomolgy-aka-yellow-food

[Ziggy]

I would only add some floatant to the hackle

Fish cant count - so a fly should present the shape and movement of the insect. So does not really matter how many fibres you use - as long as it is not too bushy . A size 18 fly should be as minimalist as you can go.
By the way, I visited a lion farm a year ago and managed to get some lion mane hairs, didnt work too well on flies!

[sardinella]

Very nice work there, good detail