first attempt at tying

Here is my first, actually second attempt at tying. My first failed miserably, so I took it apart and restarted. This is what I ended up with. 

Excellent job Dick!  I don't think you'll be needing to take any classes.   

You'll find that it will take several flies before you're really proficient at tying any new pattern.  Tie a dozen.....then two.  You'll see there's a big difference on how your flies differ from your first attempts.  You'll also find that you're tying them faster.  If the first attempt was as bad as you make it out to be and this is your second one....all I can say is "WOW".  Looks like you're a natural at tying and learning fast.   

Just in case you had questions about the pattern and I haven't given you this yet, try http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/bobclouser/index.html.  The videos are of Bob, himself, tying his creation.

I also like http://globalflyfisher.com/ and http://www.virtualflybox.com/ for general info and for salmon and steelhead flies I like http://www.angelfire.com/wa/salmonid/index.html but there's a lot out there including YouTube.

Don't forget to save your skins this hunt season.  Some of them make great tying materials.  OH....that reminds me..... I still have a one or two pheasant skins from last year in the freezer.  Not sure it they're still good but if they are and if you want them, their yours.  You'll just have to cure the skins so you can have them out on your fly tying desk/area.  Just let me know.  I'll be there either the 25th or 26th.


Oh...and small suggestion on hook placement.  Make sure the hook crosses the center line of the vise jaws.  You'll get a better grip on the hook and put less stress on the jaws.  You might also want to place the hook further back into the bend.  With it being right at the barb, you can fracture the hook.  If it doesn't break then, it can when you have that once in a lifetime fish on.

  You need to get out and fish that thing! I think most of my flys still qualify for a posting on the daily laugh and I've tied off and on for a few years. Nice work. See you on the water.
  Chris

That's a pretty damn good second attempt!  As Em' said, you need to get out and fish that thing.

I'd imagine the same pattern in chartreuse would be a guaranteed Pink or Coho Salmon.  I'd imagine it would be the perfect rockfish fly as well.

-Spot-

Nice work. Looks pretty fishy to me.

Z

Nice tie. Howz it look in the water, when stripped? If it looks at all thick or bulky in the water, then it wouldn't hurt to go a little sparser. Never know until you see 'em in the water, though. Sparser will sink quicker if you're trying to get down deep, like when going after rockfish. Straight chartreuse or florescent lime green seem to work pretty good for the black rockfish.
I haven't tied any of those in a while.  I fished  'em more when I first started beach fishing for searun cutts. I kept banging them into my rod when casting (ouch!) and the heavy dumbell eyes were a challenge for me to cast with my 6 wt. without having the fly hit the beach rocks behind me. I need to practice my casting. Those Clousers that were a challenge to cast with my 6 wt gear were in size 6 (using the small painted lead dumbells), but were easy to keep in the air with my 8 wt rod and line, though.

I'm such a bad caster that I have been avoiding heavily weighted flies lately.   I need to make it easy on myself, or the frustration drives me nuts. The Clouser Minnow is one hell of an effective pattern, though.

As far as "Clouser Avoidance" goes, I had fun the other day fishing for searun cutts in a coastal creek, casting a hot-orange Reversed Spider on a floating line with my 4 wt setup. I paddled my U-12 up from the estuary and found a fresh pod of cutts holding in a large pool.  Eureka! Got some pretty good surface takes stripping the fly through the surface film. The cutts would often strike as soon as the fly hit the water, and spit it out before I could even take the slack out of my line. A couple of them came back and grabbed the fly again as soon as I started stripping it.  I ended up sore-mouthing over a dozen nice cutthroat that day. (Regs are strictly C&R for cutthroat in that stream).  A rare day it was!

Looks good.  Like CHM observed, you might want to try a bit sparser.  And make the tail a little more uneven.  The end is a bit "sharp".  It's getting close to fall stripers down here.  Going to have to get get the fly box ready.

-Allen

Thanks for all the input. The first failed because of a bad finish. I'm pretty weak on whip finishing by hand, but it will come in time. I thought I went a bit heavy on the material as well. I am going to fish it hopefully this week coming, and trim accordingly. I only tied a few for now, so I can adjust my patterns as need be. With any luck by the weekend I can post a pic of it as a piercing (and hopefully not on me).

Ravdakot, nice fly!

For anyone trying to tie Clousers, the video of Bob Clouser that Flytyer396 posted is a "must-see." Watch the way he leaves a space in front of the eyes, so that the eyes are glued to the hook shank. Before I saw this video a few years ago, I had trouble getting the eyes secured.

My favorite Clouser for winter fishing is a #8 with mixed pink & white bucktail on the belly and mixed pink & orange bucktail on top - very sparse, and with small eyes. This fly is really good on the resident silvers.

Tom