Tubeology flies

Here are 2 tube flies I tied using the tubeology system. In my opinion this is the best system available for tying Pike and Saltwater flies.

Happy new year to all!!!

FLYZ......

Tied a simple little fly today on a size 3/0 wide gape circle hook.

Materials used are.
Tail. Krinkle flash
Body. Mirage tinsel (large)
Wing. Blended blue and green bucktail and 8 saddle feathers
Under body. Kustom fibre
Throat. Arctic fox

Head. Deer Creek UV resin with Kustom_flyz eyes.

simple perch pattern tutorial

A nice simple tutorial showing you how to create a very successful pattern for Pike. This can easily be adapted to Saltwater and other species..

1: Tie your thread approx half way between the hook eye and point.

2: Tie in a length of white/cream Kustom fibre on top of the hook. You can make this as long as you want.

3: Take another length of fibre the same length as the first and tie this in the middle on the under side of the hook.

4: Fold the fibre over and divide equally either side the hook and secure with a couple of wraps.

5: Tie in a length of bright green fibre on top slightly longer than the white.

6: Tie in a length of light green blend on top of the bright green.

7: Take a bunch of peacock angel hair and tie in making sure the hair evenly spread on top and slightly down each side.

8: Tie in a lenngth of dark green blend custom fibre allowing it to spread slightly doen each side.

9: Flip the hook over and tie in a length of red blend kustom fibre approx half the length of the fly.

10: Take a tooth brush or comb and brush all the fibres together to blend and remove any loose hair. Using either UV resin or epoxy, build up a small neat head.

11: Attach eyes and mark stripes with Pro marker or Sharpie pen.

12: Trim to desired shape.

Scoobie fly...:o)

Whilst clearing my 8 yr old daughters bedroom I came across a packet of coloured plastic laces. I seem to remember them being called scoobie's (or something like that) and where used for making bracelets. There are some very interesting colours in the pack and they looked ideal for fly bodies!

The one I used for the fly is clear with a colourd rope running down the middle and when tied on looks very similar to beads.

Tight lines.....Rich

Squid skin. Like sili skin

If anyone would like some Squid skin please drop me an email at m4dc4t@gmail.com. I will be doing a mixed sample pack of various colours selected from those pictured for £3.99 plus postage.

New Sparkle fibre colours. Like SF flash blend.

I used Steve Farrar flash blend for nearly all my baitfish patterns but was dissapointed with the quality being so inconsistent, especially the amount of flash and the way it is blended. Personally I find the price to be far too expensive as well.....

Recently I decided to develop my own range of flash blend and after many months of testing materials I finally found what I was looking for. I have been testing this new range of Sparkle fiber for around 6 months and I am very happy with the results. I blend the fibers myself so I can control the amount of flash and so far everyone who has tried it loves it!!

Here are a few new colours I will be selling on ebay.

Tight lines......Rich

December competition news.

I will be running a free competition this month to win a selection of materials worth over £50.00!
Simply email me and I will add your name into the draw.
Dont forget to follow my blog as I will be adding details of the prizes over the next few days.

Good luck!

super simple Pike fly

Easy to tie and fishes very well. I caught quite a few Pike, Perch and even a chub using this fly!

I tie it in sizes 2, 1 and 1/0 using either baitfish body or E-Z body in various colours, the most successful being pearl, silver and chartreuse. The one pictured is tied with peacock E-Z body.

Can be fished in a variety of ways by adding foam to the hook before putting on the tubing making it into a surface fly or even a quick sink fly by adding either dumnnell eyes or some solder wrapped around the shank.

Tight lines......Rich

bead fly for Pike or Saltwater.

These beads make a great body on any fly. They are light weight and have a fantastic reflective pearly finish. Tied on a size 1 stainless hook with ostritch hearl and bucktail.

Tight lines.........Rich

Hybrid flies.

A friend of mine rang me the other day asking for a couple of my "hybrid" flies. These are his favourite patterns and nearly all his fish have been caught using these in various colours and sizes.

These patterns have a nice slim profile when wetted and the natural materials they are tied with give excellent movement when retrieved.

Tight lines....>Rich

Diamond Hard UV resin shrimp.

A quick shrimp pattern tied with EP fibre and Diamond Hard resin. The resin is excellent as you can put a nice thick layer on and the torch will still penetrate and cure it perfectly. This simply is the best resin you can buy!

Tight lines........Rich

New fireflash material

I have been using this material for a few weeks now and am really impressed with it. The flash in the material is slightly coarser than angel hair and has a slight crinkle to it giving a nice "fish scale" appearence.




Tight lines..........Rich

New Dumbbell eyes.

I have just bought in some great dumbbell eyes. They are approx 7mm in diameter and are perfect for Pike and saltwater flies. They also have realistic 3D eyes ready attached making them THE best looking dumbbells out there.....:o)

Tight lines.......Rich

squid skin and kustom fibre flies

Here are a couple of flies I tied recently. I really like how the squid skin one turned out, the colours are nice and understated.

The kustom fibre was tied in EP style and coloured with pro markers. Kustom fibre is slightly stiffer than EP fibre and lends itself really well to this pattern.

Tight lines........Rich

Nice simple Pike fly tutorial.

This is a fly I have been using for a while now and is one of my "go to" flys when I first visit a water. I call it the firework bunny as it uses rabbit strip and Deer Creek firework braid. It can be dressed in many different colours and sizes and has a fantastic action when retrieved.

The hook is a new pattern I am testing, it is similar in style to the Varivas 2600V and is certainly strong and sharp! I am positive this hook will be a huge success with the Pike fly tyers so keep posted for more news on price and availability.

I want to talk a little about the UV resin I am using. This is Deer Creek's UV resin kit and unlike a lot of other resins this dries absolutely tack free in about 5 seconds! I used Bug Bond for a while but found the quality of the resin was not as good as the Diamond hard. For example, the adhesion properties of BB are not as good as DH, BB does not cure as quick as DH and if you drop some marabou or CDC onto cured BB it will stick to it where nothing sticks to cured DH!

I will do a side by side compariosn of the 2 resins as soon as I can

Materials used are as follows.

Thread. Danvilles flymaster plus
Hook. Size 2/0
Olive rabbit strip.
White marabou
White bucktail
Deer Creek firework braid
Deer Creek diamond hard UV resin kit (awesome)
Eyes. 6mm pearl mirage eyes

The new hook I am trying. Similar pattern to Varivas 2600V .

First tie in a length of rabbit strip at the back of the hook.

Run a bead of UV resin under the bunny strip where it meets the hook and cure it. This helps to kick out the strip and prevent tangles.




Advance your thread about 3mm and tie in some marabou all the way round the hook



Advance your thread again and tie in a bunch of bucktail spreading it evenly all around the hook. Carry on to the eye of the hook with the thread then wrap back to the bucktail tie in point. This ensures a nice even head.

Tie in a few strands of crystal flash and the firework braid. Palmer the braid to the fook eye and whip finish.

Add some eyes and build up a head using the UV resin.

Tight lines......Rich

Squid Skin. Pike pattern

The material I have sourced is now called squid skin as it is very soft and some colours are transparent just like a squid....:o)

This is one of my favourite squid skins as it actually looks like a pikes skin! Perfect for making small pike patterns and other baitfish.

Squid skin is 1mm thick which makes it thicker than sili skin and much easier to use. I have found squid skin stretches nicely so you can use a smaller amount and stretch it around the body tubing skeleton.
More pics to follow soon!

Its been a long time!

After a much needed time out with my family I decided to close my website as I could not devote the time needed and still have enough time left for work/family commitments.

I now have the time to concentrate on my ebay sales and this blog. I have had many people contact me asking to start posting again, and for this I am very grateful.

My first topic will be Sili Skin and its uses, alternatives, and cost!

Ever since Metz launched its range of Sili Skin I have been a huge fan. It lends itself especially well to Saltwater and Pike patterns and when used correctly can make some very realistic looking baitfish patterns. My main issue with the material is its cost! It is bloody expensive and can be difficult to use causing mistakes and wasteage.

After seeing a few baitfish patterns using this material I decided to have a go at creating a fairly easy to tie yet realistic looking perch pattern using my own version of Sili Skin (more about this later). My main problem was creating the "bulk" of the body as the skin material is basically flat. I did not want to use foam as this would create a boyount fly so after much messing about and trying different things I finally came up with using the range of body tubing I have recently sourced as a skeleton for the skin.

This tubing is similar to E-Z body as it retains its round shape when tied in and creates a perfect frame for the skin. The actual skin itself is basically the same base material as Sili Skin but I have had my own custom finishes to allow a variety of fish patterns to be tied. The skin will be available shortly so anyone who is interested please drop me a line to kustom.flyz@googlemail.com

I will try and do a step by step for the fly I designed but for now a few pics will have to do. Some of you may have seen these already as Nik from Deer Creek posted them on his facebook page.

The new eyes are here.......

The eyes are finally finished and I am happy to say have turned out really good.

The detail of the original art work has not been lost on the smaller eyes which is always a concern of mine.

16 new colours/styles/sizes will be on http://www.kustom-flyz.com/ very soon!

Tight Lines.....