The Challenge of Tying Humpies

Humpies are way harder to tie than one might think! Randall Kaufman once said that the humpy maybe the most popular dry fly in existence. I always thought that a stimulator would have that distinction but a humpy would be one of the top two. Now tying one can be a real challenge. You would think that a fly pattern with two or three materials would be easy to tie. Think again. Getting the proportions and sizing correct is a real challenge. As AK Best said in one of his books about tying flies in mass production, you have to tie a couple of dozen of the same fly before you get good at that particular pattern. 

Well a humpy is tough to tie proportionally properly. The fish love it and it floats like a cork!

Next week Dr. Bill Young is our guest fly tyer. It will be our last session before we take a break for Christmas!

Remember to get signed up for the All Day Phil Rowley Seminar on February 2nd. Several club members have already signed up! Just drop me a note to sign up. (bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca)

Humpy

Hook: Standard dry fly sizes 10-16

Thread: 6/0 colour to match body

Tail: Moose body hair or deer hair or elk hair

Body: Thread or Uni-stretch

Shellback: Deer hair, elk hair, foam or polypropylene 

Hackle: Brown

Deer Hair Humpy

Creative Thinking in Fly Tying Construction with Ralf Kuntzman

Ralf Kuntzman is a very creative fly tyer. He thinks about fly tying construction almost as a craftsman. He likes simplicity, being frugal and often he uses unconventional material. Today we tied 5 flies. Most used a type of pipe cleaner for the main ingredient. There are so many types of pipe cleaners that have a very cool chenille like outer cover that can be used in fly tying. Tonight the 20 plus fly tyers used thicker chenille to make a mouse fly, thinner chenilles to make dragon fly nymphs, cased caddis, articulating leeches and ice minnows. You can tell that Ralf sets himself up to fly fish with a host of materials that includes markers to get the right colours in his flies. Most of Ralf's flies that we tied tonight take mere minutes to construct. I bet there is going to be a run on chenilles at Michaels in the next few days. Great workshop Ralf! I am glad that I was there!

Next week we are going to tie Humpies! Bring orange, yellow and chartreuse 8/0 thread (70 denier). It will be a fun evening!

Finally we will open up the sign up for Phil Rowley's All Day Tying Seminar that will occur February 2nd.

See you next week! 

Ralf's Mouse

Hook: Streamer 4 XL Hook size 2-6

Bead: Gold

Thread: 6/0 colour to match body!

Body: Plush chenille (pipe cleaner style)

Ralf's Articulating Leech

Tail: Rabbit

Body: White chenille(Pipe cleaner style)

Hook: stinger hook

Note: body attached with monofilament 

Ralf's Case Caddis

Body: chenille (pipe cleaner style)

Ralf's Dragon Fly Nymph

Body: Chenille (pipe cleaner style)

Eyes: Bead chain

Legs: Pheasant

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