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Icelandic-Attack

3K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  Dble Haul 
#1 ·
Simple pattern to tie...
Hook: I used Gamakatsu #2/0 Swash-eye
Body: Either a thread wrap on the bare hook or small Crystall Chenille
Winging: Attach on bunch of white Icelandic sheephair about half way up the hook shank, overtie this with some flashy stuff, I used Pearl Angel Hair (Thank's Juro), overtie this with another buch of white Icelandic sheephair. This leaves about 1/4 inch up to the hook eye.
Underwing: Tied on the bottom of the hook, just ahead of the last buch of white Icelandic sheephair, use red Icelandic sheephair
Head: Use some of the short wool on the patch of skin as dubbing and wrap off the head.

When this fly gets wet, it slinks right down to about the size of a pencil, after the quick pull, the whole thing pulse up to about 1 1/2 inches round.
Great imitation of an injured Lake Whitefish.

Shown here as I pulled on the wool.
 

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#3 ·
Icy Sheep!

Mark
My buddy and I have tried various color combos;
White60% & red40% = rating 10/10
Yellow & red = rating 8
Yellow & White = rating 4
Chartreuse & white = rating 7
Chartreuse & red = rating 7
Blue & white = rating 6
Blue & red = rating 0 (Bust!)
Blue & Chartreuse = rating 6 ( Walley seem to like this one best!)

Let me know what combos work for you in rivers and what type of flash you use/try out.

More experiments to come with various flash materials and body wraps although when the fly is wet, the body wrap does not show up much, so I've almost abandoned it as an additional "pretty" step but not effective as far as making a difference in hook-ups.

Looks like this will be an interesting winter of experimentation.....
 
#4 ·
Yellow/red and chartruese/white were the two others that I was thinking about. Also, I have plenty of orange that might blend well with the red in the red/white combo.

There's still some pike fishing to do here before the season is out. Maybe I'll have to whip a few of these up and try them out........:devil:
 
#5 ·
This picture is neat, but warrants asking just how much actual material is in the tie. Regardless of sheephair "bulk" versus consistency, or transparency versus visibility out of water, it looks very bulky.

The reason I'm even debating this in my head is Pete's comment about the body wrap not showing up much after it gets wet. If you want the body wrap to show through I think it should be more sparsely dressed. Another thought on the heading - if if blends down to nothing on the strip, what about separating the ties a little more, shouldering, to create a greater definition, or even wrapping ice chenille, estaz, etc., as a necking before the head goes on.

Mark - I may only be a 'virtual' fisherman, but if you're looking to get rid of some of your sheep hair, you know where to find me! :devil:
 
#6 ·
DFix,
Good obeservations. It's really hard to "describe" how much is in a bunch when dealing with this Icelandic sheep hair. For one, I have several patches of white and none are comparable to the other, some are longer, have more underhair/wool close to the skin, coarser etc. The fly, when dry is bulky looking, when wet and being stripped in, goes down to the size of 1 to 1 1/2 pencils in diameter, lastly when it "rests" in the water column it will bulk up again to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter at the head tapering backwards towards the tail. This all depends on the characteristics of the wool being used, so after some trial & error with various strands/bunches of material you can achieve the desired result. Bear in mind that I'm targeting a specific imitation of a bait so my "tie" is specific to a lake. I have a small (4 inch) medium (6 inch) & large (8 inch) version that I'll use on different lakes and or/different locations in the same lake. This also comes after "putting in time" on each body of water A.K.A. local experience...
As far as the body wrap issue goes, more experimetaion will be done. Your suggestions will be tested and if you have any others send them on..
 
#7 ·
Good points from both of you. One thing to consider is that the pulsing/breathing of the pattern created by the compression of materials as it's stripped through the water may be just as important a triggering mechanism as the color itself. Tinkering with the bulk may be worth it to have some flies on hand with a subtler action and fuller profile, but the pattern may have the best combination of action/color as is.

Of course this means field testing needs to be done. :D
 
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