Viking Lars | Saturday, 4 November 2017
It's called fly *tying* for a reason - we tie stuff to a hook. I learned fly tying by tying the old classics, feather winged wet flies and a lot of that still sits in me. They were never able to make me wrap thread clockwise, so I still tie "backwards", but so does Oliver Edwards, so I'm cool with that.
There's a new product on the market, or rather a new version of a product: Easy Shrimp Legs 2.0.
This is a refinement of the previous version (hence the clever name). Easy Shrimp Legs were made to make it easier to tie the immensely popular and extremely effective fly, Perfect Leo Shrimp, by danish fly tier Kern Leo Lund. He devised this fantastic shrimp imitation, which he ties with clear, knotted rubber legs and it is, in my mind, the best shrimp imitation out there.
Photo and fly by Kern Leo Lund, Denmark.
But it's a bitch to tie. SO so much hard to tie, but time consuming. It takes time to get the legs right. I gave up knotting them a long time ago, and use my hot point to put a kink in them instead. That makes it a lot easier.
But now the boys from Easy Shrimp Eyes (yes, that's another great product they make - tie in both shrimp eyes at once, perfectly splayed) have come out with their Easy Shrimp Legs 2.0. which makes tying these sjrimp flies a breeze.
The legs come on a "frame", from which you cut the and tie them all in at the same time. The fly in the PoD was just a quick test to see how they worked, and they work perfectly. Fast and easy! I'll be experimenting more with more elaborate designs, but I do think this one's quite good and enough.
Check them out!
But - I do feel like I'm cheating. I think you're supposed to sruglle more for the fly to work properly :-).
Have a great weekend!
Lars