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Damsel dragonflies

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piffilus
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Damsel dragonflies

#51

Post by piffilus »

Paul asked for an sbs for my dragonfly pattern, so here goes. I'll give this one to Paul when I get to Temenggor.
Actually I made the body strip 8 mm wide on this particular fly but it didn't really cover the front hook. It probably won't be a problem but I revised the width for that in the sbs.

Piffens Dragon
Materials used:
Hooks: 2 Prologic XC3 hooks
Hook connection: 0.30 mm braid
Legs: 0.80 mm waxed Tiger Thread
Wings: 10 cm Dyneema hollow braid (Lash-it)
Body: 2 mm thick yellow foam
Thread: Veevus 140 denier in black
Vision tippet ring Stealth
Super glue and UV-glue


Cut the foam in one 7x1 cm strip for the body, a 2x2 cm square for the tail, a 1,5 cm long strip for the thorax, 5mm strip for the head.

Put a hook in the vice and measure where on the foam you want the front hook to be.
Tie the hooks together with the 0.30 braid. I use the Eugene bend for the end hook and tie a nail knot on the front hook. In my case the front hook came a little far forward so I wound the braid til it got right. I make a knot in the eye of the front hook and last I tie on a sheep girl ring.
20190227_193208.jpg
Glue the body on the rig. The square piece for the tail is rounded on three corners and glued on from the top with the pointy end forward and folded down.
Make a triangular cut in the thorax strip and glue it on the under side and around the body with the cut out towards the hook. Glue the head on.
20190227_201008.jpg
I made legs by knotting the Tiger Thread and melt the ends to stop it from fraying.

Make sure that the Dyneema hollow braid is clean cut in the ends with a sharp knife. Scissors are useless for this, it will only give you frayed ends and believe me you don't want that.

I pull two strands out of the Dyneema and flatten them out and split each lengthwise in half. Here is where you like the clean cut ends. Fold them in half and mess with the strands to make the wings as you like them.
20190227_202231.jpg
Due to limits of three pictures per post it continues in the next post
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piffilus
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Damsel dragonflies

#52

Post by piffilus »

Piffens Dragon continued

Tie on the legs and wings. I whipfinish and superglue each pair to he body because however hard you pull the thread, the Dyneema is slippery as hell and is easily pulled out. Paint the wings with a marker. It's actually easier to do before tying them in but I missed it this time...
Put UV-glue on the wings to 10 mm outside the body and cure it
20190227_211413.jpg
I used Paul's picture of his first attempt as a guide to paint the body.
20190227_213116.jpg
I haven't made any casts with this yet but the wings fold back outside the glued part to keep wind resistance to a minimum.

Well, this was my first sbs ever. I hope you get the grip of it.
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piffilus
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Damsel dragonflies

#53

Post by piffilus »

Updated version with foam folded from the overside and downward which eliminates the square piece in the tail.


This is how I guess it will look while casting.
Attachments
20190301_204118.jpg
20190301_204415.jpg
flickingfeathers
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Damsel dragonflies

#54

Post by flickingfeathers »

So after fannying around with riffle hitch tubes for a bit and not getting it quite right I decided to go for a shank/detached body with a free swinging hook. Image
Image

I also moved to baitfish emulator flash for the wings as it's soft and shouldn't cause the fly to spin or flap noisily when casting but still provide a nice wing imprint when viewed from below.
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Paul Arden
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Damsel dragonflies

#55

Post by Paul Arden »

Looking forward to some campfire fly tying soon Martyn! Fantastic looking pattern :cool:

Cheers, Paul
It's an exploration; bring a flyrod.

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Paul Arden
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Damsel dragonflies

#56

Post by Paul Arden »

I shall try to get an underwater shot next time I find one. From above the wings look quite dark. Spent wings I think is probably the trigger for Cicada, Termites and Dragonflies. I’ll have a go tonight and see if I can make something a bit sexier than my last fly!

Cheers, Paul
It's an exploration; bring a flyrod.

Flycasting Definitions
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piffilus
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Damsel dragonflies

#57

Post by piffilus »

Very nice pattern you have made!
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