Tom L Posted November 25, 2012 Report Posted November 25, 2012 Tom's Tom as in Tom's madTom, not the GPS TomTom. As I was toying around with the craft furs for the Shiner pattern, I noticed there were a lot of wasted butt-end trimmings. So I tried to come up with a way to make use of those trimmings. I thought of the woolhead sculpins, but the material did not clinged together as wool. I tried to spin them like deerhairs, but they didn't flared. Then I remembered Harry Murray's Madtom which used a rabbit strip as the tail and a dubbing loop of rabbit fur as the head. So that was how I came up with dubbing loop of craft furs as the head of this Madtom pattern. This fly is quite easy to tye. The tail is made of craft furs and a little bit of flash. The eye is a lead dumpbell eye. The only trick is the head. It is made out of a dubbing loop of craft furs and trimed to shape. The fly can be fished as a madtom, a sculpin or even a baitfish. It swims hook point up like a Clouser. When tied in lighter colors, it becomes a Baitfish Tom. Quote
Terry Dodge Posted November 25, 2012 Report Posted November 25, 2012 Those things are sick! Don't you have a restaurant or something to run? Very nice flies, Tom. Quote
John Gillio Posted November 25, 2012 Report Posted November 25, 2012 Tom, That is a fantastic looking fly. Could you explain the head again. Quote
Tim A Posted November 25, 2012 Report Posted November 25, 2012 Nice little fly, Tom. Very versatile and easy to experiment with different tail materials. John, he is using a dubbing loop for the head. You can google/YouTube this, but basically you leave a long loop of thread hanging off the fly, pull it taught, fill it with your material (in this case the clippings/underfur), and spin it to create a sort of "brush" or fuzzy rope that you can palmer forward just like you would chenille or any other rope-like material. Because this creates a messy fuzzball, Tom has trimmed it into a neater, tighter minnow head taper. I also use a dubbing loop in this pattern (with pics): http://illinoissmall...?showtopic=9662 Quote
Tim A Posted November 25, 2012 Report Posted November 25, 2012 Also check this out for better pics of dubbing loop, this time using craft fur & flash together: http://caseysmartt.com/2010/08/01/tying-the-deadhead-minnow/ Quote
Guest rich mc Posted November 26, 2012 Report Posted November 26, 2012 thats getting the most out your craft hair patch. great fly. do you like a certain craft hair sampleover another? rich mc Quote
Mike G Posted November 26, 2012 Report Posted November 26, 2012 It is great to see what Tom is doing with that free fur besides Float and Flies. It all started with a tip from rich. In case you want to review where to get it, see http://illinoissmall...?showtopic=9958 Tom, thanks for the tip on using that left over fluff in a dubbing loop. Next step is mixing colors in a coffee maker I guess. Quote
Tom L Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Posted November 27, 2012 Terry - Thanks. Coming from you, it meant a lot (I think?). Yep! Still putting in 6 days, 60+ hrs a week. But I don't have to be at work until 11:00am and with 2 hrs lunch breaks, I can get plenty of other things done. Tim - Thanks for posting the info on dubbing loop. John - I hope that help. If you need add'l info, let me know. Rich - All my samples were sparkle furs. They seems to be longest and finest. I really like them. Mike - Blending the leftover trimmings in a blender is a great idea. Thanks again, Mike and Rich for the tip. These free stuffs are fun to tye. Quote
Mike G Posted November 28, 2012 Report Posted November 28, 2012 Tom, thanks for the tip on using that left over fluff in a dubbing loop. Next step is mixing colors in a coffee maker I guess. Oops! Make that a coffee grinder. Quote
Tom L Posted November 28, 2012 Author Report Posted November 28, 2012 I'm cooking up a hellgrammite pattern, using craft furs. Almost done. Coming soon..... Quote
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