Sparse with blended color March 2002

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Date: December 22, 2002 at 00:55:52
From: ken, [pool-64-223-39-246.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: Sparse with blended color March 2002

Sparse is a term that many people think of as skinny. This idea is not always the description of a sparse fly. A sparse fly may be skinny but it may also be full. I like to tie flies that are sparse but full.
I like to blend color with bucktail both in the wing of bucktails and in the collars of flatwings. If you tie with a controlled fixed amount of hair you can blend different colors into the wing or collar or multiple collars along the shank and produce amazing effects if they are tied in sparsely. It is the sparseness of the hair that allows these effects to become visable. The light passes through the hair and creates the illusion of life through the movement of the colored hairs and the color effect of shifting hues. The silouette of the fly is formed by the outline that the hairs and or feathers produce. This is a softer outline than is created by a lure or a heavily dressed fly that is opague, stiff and does not let light or water pass through. If you flair the bucktail through mechanical means with the thread or by using the body material as a shoulder to flair the hair against with the thread or through manipulation with your fingers to flair it and then run hot tap water over the fly and let it dry the fly will take a fusi-form shape that it will retain and when it hits the water the fly will expand and come to life. You can tie many types of flies incorporating these methods and if you do you will be pleased with the way they look and perform in the water for you. All these techniques are well known and available and have been for several years. Jungle Cock is a nice touch that is traditional and adds to any fly. This way of tying has been used by salt water fly tyers for many years in New England especially in Rhode Island and is a part of the New England fly tying tradition and has a long, rich and fully published history with copyrights pointing the technique/techniques out and describing how to do it/them in newsletters and magazine articles and books back at least to the eighties. It is not a new development in salt water fly-tying although it has been dismissed as outdated and not worth the effort in other parts of the country until very recently. Sparse flies and blending color is just an old New England technique that has been known and used for years by those old fashioned fly fishermen who have always prefered to tie and use unweighted flies with natural materials that have the look of life tied into them. The technique of sparse tying and color blending with natural materials in salt water flies comes from New England despite recent published claims to the contrary, and the old traditional technique does make outstanding flies that are quite beautiful. All flatwings are tied this traditional way and so are all the R.L.S. Bucktails. None of these flies were designed to be tied skinny - sparse with blended color - yes, skinny, no.
Take a look at the flies thied by John Kelsey on the old flies and innovations board and the flies under the post of "Final Version" on this board to see the technique used to dress traditional Salmon Flies in a 'fishy' salt water style.

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