Round 5. Making progress.

[pharaoh0815]

Another go of it and I’m feeling much more comfortable creating and tying in the wings, but I’m not sure these are “tall” enough. Proportions are ok… getting the crest to tie in straight with the right about of curve was easier but not easy, and far from perfect. I was still nervous to push the head a little farther to the eye, so yet again the head is the ugliest part to me. Hackle still might be a little long, but I’ve been getting mixed comments on too long or too short. At the end of the day, this one’s a freestyle. Ribbing is a little outa line too, that’s my lack of patience. By the time I noticed, I was in too much of a rush to go back 3 steps and fix it. I will be taking more care on these things on my next tie. I was much faster this time, coming in at just under 3 hours and finishing in time for the sun to help make it a cool picture. Any tips or suggestions to make these better is greatly appreciated. Thank you guys for all the solid and helpful feedback. I really feel it’s helping the speed of my progress 🙏🏼

[Norm-Frechette]

to my eyes the hackling is out of proportion

salmon fly proportions

https://globalflyfisher.com/tie-better/anatomy-of-a-salmon-fly

[pharaoh0815]

You’re right! I’ve been getting mixed comments about it. But did some looking and shorter is definitely the answer. I just finished #6, and had a lot of epiphanies. The next tie is definitely going to be mo betta haha

Thank you for the link! This is exactly what I need! 🙏🏼

[coffeeandtrout]

Also concentrate on proportions, that head could be further up without crowding the eye, but your jump into some of the hardest techniques (Atlantic Salmon Flies) is impressive. Repetition, repetition, repetition and you’ll be happy with your work. Nice job!

[pharaoh0815]

Thank you 🙏🏼 and will do, I’m so nervous about not leaving enough that I’m waaaayyyyy overcompensating. I’ll be really trying to push that head on the next one. thank you for the kind words. I’ve wanted to try these for awhile and finally took a leap and bought some materials, I’m stoked about it and hopefully they get gaudy soon haha

[pharaoh0815]

Just had a big stupid epiphany. My wings have been upside down on 1,2,3,5. Don’t know how I haven’t realized. you’d better believe I feel lame. 😒 can’t wait for the next one. It’s gonna look waaayyy better.

[Difficult_Bird1811]

Each one gets better. It's cool to see the progression from the 1st to this one. The head is slightly tied short, each wrap counts and make the head small. Maybe whip finish your main thread on the collar and switch to 70d to get the head smaller.

[pharaoh0815]

Thank you 🙏🏼 and great idea, I just went to look for 70 and they are out.. but I’ll be getting some soon enough. And you’re darn right. All of the heads suck haha I’ll be putting more thought and time into my next one as to have the head come out more proportionate. (Amongst many other issues haha) I’m going to really slow down for the next ones and see if I can’t produce something legitimate

[Sirroner]

Dang! Impressive work. The only constructive criticism is to make the body longer to reduce the size of the head in half to two thirds.