What have you tied today?

[Lochan_load]

You definitely won't sink that Jim! Like you other than a foam daddy I've not really used these at all. look ideal for that set up.

[Lochan_load]

Couple of variants on a #12 the ever deadly teal wing butcher and a sunburst Kate[attachimg=1]

[Lochan_load]

Trying to get better at these dry flies! Finding the cdc difficult but think the stuff I've got is mince so does anyone know of a good supplier where I can get nice bushy stuff? Blue dun turkey biot body on this[attachimg=1]

[rannoch raider]

That's an interesting fly Andy. I've never come across blue dun biots before. CDC can be a bit of a pain. Looking at your fly I'm guessing that you have stripped the fibres from a cdc stalk to build your wing ? The reason I say that is that it's pretty sparse and is in different lengths ? Am I right or wrong ?

[Lochan_load]

Nope that's two feathers doubled over but the hackles are pretty sparse hence the need for some decent ones, I've watched a couple of videos to see if I was going wrong somewhere and noticed the feathers getting used were much fuller than mine.

[rannoch raider]

Have you left the stalks on the feathers Andy ?

[Lochan_load]

Yeah was thinking about trying taking the fluff off the stems to try and get more volume

[rannoch raider]

It's fine to use the stems but depending on the size of hook you are using you would probably need three and often four tips to give you enough to float your fly. If you are going to take the plumes from the stalk you really need to be looking at the Petitjean magic tool and a stacker or it will become a real struggle to control the CDC.
The best cdc I've come across is the Packets marketed by Petitjean like all his stuff it is great quality but also very expensive. Cookshill and Lakeland also do good quality CDC a wee bit cheaper.
Have a look at the vid and you will see the benefit of the tools he uses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsuXuHneG9k

[Robbie]

I recently bought some CDC from Lakeland, its reasonable but not as good as Petitjean stuff I bought a couple of years ago. Trout line (https://www.troutline.ro/) also doo some excellent CDC, but it does cost a bit.

Nice flies by the way.

[Lochan_load]

I've got a dubbing  loop that I could do a similar effect with Jim but I'd prefer the 'wing' on top. Robbie that stuff looks decent so I'll provably get some of that, if only I'd thought ahead and bought it at the same time as the dubbing earlier in the week I could've saved myself a fiver delivery  :roll: