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Atlantic Salmon Fly of the week – C. Z. Special

4K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  t_richerzhagen 
#1 ·
This is another fly that is very popular on the Penobscot river in Maine. It was invented by Claude Z. Westfall of Orono, Maine. Westfall is known for fishing only his own patterns on the Penobscot.


Hook: Up eye salmon hook.
Tag: Flat silver tinsel and fluorescent green floss.
Tail: Fluorescent green over black hackle fibers.
Butt: Black ostrich herl.
Rib: Oval silver tinsel over black floss only.
Body: Back half, black floss – front half peacock herl.
Wing: Dyed fluorescent green gray squirrel under four peacock sword fibers.
Collar: fluorescent green hackle.
Head: Black
 

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#2 ·
Charlie,

This "green" fly looks like it would be a good one to try for our west coast kings and chums, especially when they are in the lower river at or just above tidewater. It might also be of use when winter fishing in glacial rivers when they have a tinge of glacial till in them.
 
#5 ·
Guys,

Thanks for the complements on the heads. Some things you may want to keep in mind when doing them is, first, leave plenty of space in front of the body of the fly to make the head. This is one of the bigger mistakes I see people make. If you do not leave space for the head you end up piling thread on top of materials that have already been tied off and this adds bulk to the head.

Another mistake I see made is not to properly finish the head. A tier will make a nice fly with a fairly small head then they will be afraid to add more thread to smooth the head out for fear of increasing it’s size. Sure its small, but it looks lumpy and sloppy. The head on the CZ Special is not all that small but it looks neat because I added some extra thread to smooth it out.

And lastly, I usually put several coats of head cement on them. At least two coats, sometimes three or even four depending on how thin the head cement is and how many lumps I need to smooth out.

Charlie

P.S. Thanks for the tips flytyer, we don’t get chums in my area but I have been looking for some good flies for kings.
 
#6 ·
Another tip for having a smaller head on hairwing: tie in half to 3/4ths of the wing before the hackle and clip the butts, then tie in the hackle and wrap it, followed by tying in the final 1/4 to 1/2 of the wing. This means you are forming the head over a lot less material and also makes the wing look fuller without having more bulk; thus producing a sleek, swimming fly.
 
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