27 in 27, Day Four: The Royal Humpy

Day Four was a challenge.  Four days into the 27 in 27 experiment, I've tried to answer the first part of Key Question #3.  I'm not sure if I managed, so I'll leave the ultimate answer up to you, the reader.  But I'm reasonably happy with it.

 
















Tying a good quality Royal Humpy isn't easy to begin with, and for a rookie like me, it's even harder on a size 20 hook.   I'll take it.

Hook:  Size 20
Tail:  Golden Pheasant Tippets
Body:  Red floss
Hackle:  Grizzly, with white Antron
Wing case:  Elk Hair

27 in 27, Day Three: GO2 Prince

I've read so much about this fly on the Poudre that I had to try and create something approximating Tak's GO2 Prince.  Here's the first effort.  I'll have to return to this one to refine it (my tying, that is - not the pattern)

Hook:  Size 16
Head:  Diamond bead
Body:  Peacock hearl, gold wire rib
Wing:  White antron
Tail:  Pheasant tail fibers

27 in 27, Day Two: Big Hairy Gold Stonefly Nymph

Day Two complete, inauspiciously and a day ahead of time!  OK, so it might be 28 in 27.  It's a gold stonefly nymph, sort of.  It's heavy on the peacock hearl. 

It's big and hairy and ugly, and I love it!  I'm also confident that the dumb cutthroats on the Poudre will see it as a delicacy, not to be passed over.  So there!   

Hook:  Size 16
Thorax:  Peacock hearl
Legs, wings (?), and tail:  Brown goose biots
Body:  Gold wire

27 in 27, Day One: Pheasant Tail Nymph

Day One completed.  Obviously a variation on Sawyer's original.  It's a fat one, I'll admit.  Hope it captures the essence, however. 

Hook:  Size 18
Thread:  Micro Olive
Thorax:  Blue/green peacock hearl
Tail/Body:  Pheasant Tail

An Amateur Tier's Holiday Experiment

27 flies in 27 days.  

I know, I know...it's nothing monumental.  Nothing in my life is right now.  But since I have a lot of hooks and way too much time, I'm conducting an experiment.  The experiment contains a couple of interesting variables and will hopefully answer a few key questions:

1)  Can The Flywriter truly master a few go-to flies that have served him well on the Poudre?
2)  Can The Flywriter branch out in new directions and tackle some midges and streamers?
3)  Can The Flywriter not only tie one professional-looking Royal Humpy, but can he tie more than one in a reasonable amount of time?
4)  Can The Flywriter create reasonable replicas, or at least reasonable variations, of patterns developed by the masters?
5)  Will anybody even notice?

The answer to question #5 will be interesting and entertaining.  The answer will largely depend on the readership of this blog, which has been up and running for well over a year now.  So far, by my count, I have one very loyal follower, a few master fly fishermen and tiers who occasionally send a word of encouragement, and somebody in Russia who occasionally pops in for a view.

Why 27 days?  The experiment ends on Christmas Eve, when I will wrap up a few holiday boxes I'm putting together for folks who are special to me and are perfectly willing to fish with flies that fall well short of perfection.  Then again, the price falls well short of expensive! 

The experiment will be hilarious to many of you.  It's modeled very loosely on a concept conceived by someone with far more talent than me.  All I have to do is tie a different fly every day for less than a month.  This guy creates works of art every day of the year, and they're really cool.  In any event, I hope to develop my tying skills and maybe even impress a few people, but I'll settle for a few good-natured laughs from the wisemen in flyfishing blogdom.

The fun starts today!  Come along for the ride.