Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The RS2-Revisited

My posts on the RS2 have been getting a lot of looks ever since they were posted.  It seems like there is a lot of interest in tis fly especially the further East one goes.  I wanted to share another tip that I use to tie one style of the RS2.  By using Whiting Farms Chick-A-Bou, this makes a great wing for the fly.  I tie this fly many different ways but have settled on using this style for the flies I tie for my box and for others.  I am not posting a complete step by step here, but just a few photos of what I do to get the wing sized and tied in. Please excuse the blurred photos.  I was in a hurry to get this completed with the time I had to get it done.  :)
The product.
This is a natural color as far as I can tell.
A single feather from the skin. Strip the short fibers at the base of the feather and use the longer fibers for the wing.
Pull a few fiber from the stem.
Gather the fibers and pinch off the tips.
To get them to look like this.  
Tied in bundle.
Make sure you do not leave a big space behind the eye.  Otherwise, you will have a long front portion to your flies.  I like a short, nice taper in front of the wing.  
I use a half of a double sided razor blade for a very close cut.  Make sure you break the razor in half because it's very easy to get cut as I found out.  
This makes a very close cut that scissors cannot make.  
See, what did I tell you?  A clean, close shave.  
Not the same fly, but the finished fly.  Lots of movement in the wing for below the surface use.  

6 comments:

  1. Nice tie...I fish this pattern alot. I have only used chickabou when experimental soft hackles. Thanks for a new use..


    http://brooksbrownsandbows.blogspot.com

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  2. I have tied this fly but with the trouthunter brand CDC. the really thick stuff.

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  3. Good looking bug! Actually if you go back to the beginning when Rim was first messing with this pattern he used the fluff from the base of a hen's hackle for the wing. The Chic-a bou should give an identical action and I'd be willing to bet it will out fish the synthetics.

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  4. Those things don't work, you should probably just give those to Gunks.

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  5. The CDC wing is also a good choice for these flies. I tie them tha way also but this is cheaper:)
    MM-I think Rim is still using his hen necks for the wing. I noticed a well plucked skin last time I saw him tying. I like this material as it is basicly the same as the fluff and it has great movement in the water. Kinda like having a short bugger tail up there as the wing.
    Anonymous-I don't think Gunks will fish those. They are not tied on a TMC 2488 or TMC 2499 hook. He's kinda weird that way if you know what I mean. And they are not a completely synthetic material fly. Not sure how they will fit in in his box?

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