Easy Tie Beetle Part 2

[albannachxcuileag]

Part 1 that way <------

 

Fold the foam back over the shank and secure with tight loops holding the foam in place with your other hand to prevent it spinning on the hook

 

 

Run the thread and the fritz to behind the hook eye leaving a little space that you need to secure the head

 

 

Bring the foam over again and secure above the space you left with tight turns before whip finishing

 

 

Trim the excess foam carefully at the rear and head of the beetle

 

 

If you have used black foam here then miss this step. Colour the foam with an indelible black marker

 

 

Not forgetting the underside!

 

 

Finished under view

 

 

To increase the attractiveness of the beetle, give it a single coat of SHHAN, this will slightly melt the foam and will give a better colour spread as well as a gloss finish

 

[dryfly]

albannachxcuileag (what ever THAT means! )

 

Thanks for the tie. A great idea for legs on a beetle. Most worthwhile--will use that.

 

Cheers!

 

Clive

[ladystrange]

like the pattern. i think it would work well. certainly looks simple'

 

but AL... what's a straggle fritz? or can i just call it sparkle/tinsle crystal-flashy kind of spiky wrap threadish stuff in black and irridescent blue for sake of argument?

 

will my darling friends at the local fly shop know what i'm asking for when i walk in and ask one of them to point me to the closest rack of straggle fritz or look at me as though i have 3 breasts on my forehead and just fell out of a picaso painting

[albannachxcuileag]

like the pattern. i think it would work well. certainly looks simple'

 

but AL...(As Paul Simon says, You can call me Al!) what's a straggle fritz? or can i just call it sparkle/tinsle crystal-flashy kind of spiky wrap threadish stuff in black and irridescent blue for sake of argument?

 

Ladystrange,

 

Straggle Fritz is a version of Cactus Chenille that we use across here, it is not as densely packed with fibres as normal Cactus is and hence the name, Straggle Fritz. I have had a few enquiries from your side of the puddle about that and micro fritz, what I can do is get a hold of more and mail some across to you. One to look out for is a brand called Vampire, they have a plain coloured straggle fritz called Vippy and a UV micro fritz called Hippy (or is it the other way around, Hippy and Vippy?)- this is becoming well known here along with the excellent Electric Range from Artifly from whom I get my micro UV fritz. Another good supplier this side is Dave Downie, the Scottish Internationalist who has his own range of materials. These are small outfits and everything is hand dyed to get perfect colouration. Artifly stopped producing micro UV fritz because he could not get a good enough white base material and therefore was not inclined to market an inferior product. Currently he is producing the Electric Range which is similar in quality. The best to get a hold of is Black UV Micro Fritz followed by Olive and Claret and possibly the bright Orange.

 

TLs

 

will my darling friends at the local fly shop know what i'm asking for when i walk in and ask one of them to point me to the closest rack of straggle fritz or look at me as though i have 3 breasts on my forehead and just fell out of a picaso painting

 

More chance of them looking you in the eye then!

[albannachxcuileag]

In fact, here is a photo of some different types

 

 

Hope this indicates just a few of the varieties we have available to us here.

 

Right to Left - Veniards Trilobal Red, Olive, Vampire Hippy Claret straggle, Vampire Vippy UV micro straggle, Artifly UV micro straggle, Generic UV micro straggle

 

You will notice that on the Vampire samples, the core material is quite thick and this is unsuitable for small flies whereas the micro straggle is perfect for down to size 16s.

 

(pulled the image from our forum posting)

[Flytyer]

With a little modification this could be a good boatman pattern.

[ladystrange]

well then, AL or AC. lol. now i'm just confused so i will stick with AL.

 

that is beautiful material... how much does a package cost. i would gladly be interested in a few of those colours if i cant find it over here. i'll head the fly shop tomorrow night and ask to take a look at their straggle fritz selection, and hope they look me in the eye, without laughing, and pick up some. i'm sure i could use red olive and black

 

besides, i need some orange badger hackle while i'm there anyway