In my salmon box you can find a few of the old pattern Thor. Like the Skykomish Sunrise this pattern seems to be a good fly for Silver salmon every year. I was once told, "anything with a white wing", when discussing salmon flies with Frank Whiton. So I'm copying all my flies onto tubes.......
There are many variants of this fly but this one is in a very old book that I used when I tied my first. Instead of orange or red wool for the tail I substituted orange Arctic fox. For the body I made a dubbing loop and filled it with the deep red / wine colored material you see and then brushed it out. I really don't know what that dubbing is because I've had it a long time. The label is long gone............ The wing is Arctic fox hair and the hackle is brown schlappen.
I've been influenced by the Northern European style of tube flies. They tend to keep the body size short and trail a long wing.
The flies are tied on the Pro Tube Micro tube and the junction tubing is clear heat shrink tubing. I use a lighter to shrink it tight to the rear of the tube. Although I spent ten years getting away from weighted flies, the little cones I am using on these flies are very light but have enough mass to help get the flies down.
The only thing negative I have found with tube flies is that tying the necessary knots when rigging one is very difficult with really cold hands. Other than that they seem effective and durable.
After posting this I spotted a picture of my salmon box, the three Thor's are at the bottom right, I tried to keep them real.
Ard
There are many variants of this fly but this one is in a very old book that I used when I tied my first. Instead of orange or red wool for the tail I substituted orange Arctic fox. For the body I made a dubbing loop and filled it with the deep red / wine colored material you see and then brushed it out. I really don't know what that dubbing is because I've had it a long time. The label is long gone............ The wing is Arctic fox hair and the hackle is brown schlappen.
I've been influenced by the Northern European style of tube flies. They tend to keep the body size short and trail a long wing.
The flies are tied on the Pro Tube Micro tube and the junction tubing is clear heat shrink tubing. I use a lighter to shrink it tight to the rear of the tube. Although I spent ten years getting away from weighted flies, the little cones I am using on these flies are very light but have enough mass to help get the flies down.
The only thing negative I have found with tube flies is that tying the necessary knots when rigging one is very difficult with really cold hands. Other than that they seem effective and durable.
After posting this I spotted a picture of my salmon box, the three Thor's are at the bottom right, I tried to keep them real.
Ard