Well its been far to long since i posted last ,but its how life is i suppose lots of other thing going on , I will be tying at the irish  fly fair once again in november but this year i will be tying on the #deercreek stand ,so stop by and have a chin wag,the pic below is of some of the dubbing needles i took last year , which all sold ,i have an order for 40 this year for someone , i will probably be making some extra to take with me ,i will be making some with a hair packer at one end and a brush at the other ,,besides taking some extra with me i have started to sell them on etsy,so have a look here for the lastest stock,, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/dwtyingtools?ele=shop_open will be adding other interesting items as time allows

Some pics

Hi all ,well I have finally sent my bio for the Irish flyfair ,complete with some pics ,they were taken by a good friend of mine Gayle marsh ,as you can see she is a superb photographer ,I could never get my pics to look like these,,have been busy tying orders and have actually started filling my own boxes for a change and have been fishing a few times so things looking up a bit.
I was also asked a little while back if i would make some of the acylic dubbing needles which are quite funky in colour and will soon be available from Toby at funky flytying.will post some for you to see in the next week or so .here are pics of the flies

Bumbee #2 blind eye

Steelhead fly 3/0

 Mayfly patterns #10 and a tippet grub on a 2/0 blind eye

some tying tools

Hi all ,had some time today after a bit of tying so i decided to make a dubbing needle as a spare as I seem to be down to one . But ended up making a few more. 2 acrylic ones and 3 out of wood smaller one is panga panga and the other 2 are wenge.I may make some more at a later date.so will post the pics on here

Looks like I will be going over to galway in November to tie at  the Irish flyfair . Looks  like a great line up of tyers there. Here is a link to the website www.irishflyfair.co.uk
Best regards Jon 

A return to tying

hi everybody, after a longer than planned break from tying due to other interests and a hand injury [whilst using my wood turning lathe owch!!!].i have returned with a rekindled interest for tying ,which when i think about it i never really lost just maybe needed a break,but thats for me to ponder about and not bore you with ,last weekend at the britsh fly fair i had a fabulous time tying on the tying clinic,i hope that the people that visited my table where happy with the advice i gave and was helpful to them,one gentleman called back on sunday to say thanks for the advice about how to get dubbing onto the thread and stay on,he had gone home saturday night and practiced and it worked, so that gave me alot of satisfaction to know that i had got the information and technique across, i wonder sometimes if i am explaining techniques in a way that the person can understand and is happy with,i dont mean this in a big headed way but we all started somewhere and tend to forget how hard some techniques are to master especially for a beginner ,there seems to be lots of info to take in and master when we start tying ,so my advice is join a local club or if you know an experieced tyer pick their brains!.dont get disheartened we've all been there,practice practice and then somemore.

i was approached by a company to tie a set of 34 steelhead flies [framed] for a fishing lodge in british columbia ,hopefully it will come to fruition ,i'm quite looking forward to doing it ,i'll keep you posted and will post some pics as i go throught the flies and the finished item.

bye for now john   

hi all ,Not a lot of posting of late,have been finishing off some late orders,Last one posted to Ireland today,so got some more time now,Also been tying a set of Irish patterns for a swap with a friend in the states ,Looking forward to the flies he is going to send ,So if you would like to do a swap and increase my fly collection then feel free to contact me ,I will have to start getting prepared for the show season ,Looking forward to tying for the first time at the Dutch fly fair this year ,only 7 weeks away,My partner and i are having a couple of days in Amsterdam first then up to the show,so looking forward to the break,Also not long to the BFFI, So the next few months are looking better already
john

hi all ,i haven't posted for a while due to work etc,I had a great day tying at the welsh fly fair on march 3rd ,lots of great tyers and lots of visitors, in between tying and chatting to people i managed to increase my materials stock a little with some real nice turkey tails and even managed to get some Argus pheasant from Steve cooper,have been doing a little tying in between pheasant plucking [ seriously ] and other sorting out.
i tied this pattern which i seen on Monte Smiths site ,have modified it a little as the Amherst that i have needs washing and steaming to improve it [ more on this later ]. The original pattern can be seen here http://nwflytyer.wordpress.com/, [ have a look around his blog ,as you will see he is a superb tyer ]
anyway here is my version

 The recipe is as follows
Alec Jackson spey hook 3/0
Tag  silver oval
Tail  golden pheasant crest and light blue hen fibres
Butt  black wool
Body  silver tinsel and purple seal
Rib large gold oval
Hackle purple schlappen
Throat  light blue hen saddle
Wings dark grey turkey
Cheeks  Jc

I apologise for the dark photo but my skills in that department need alot of improvement,I will have to do some research
Also been tying another 'set' of flies - Red wings / Red wing heron, I'll post them all when i finish but here is the first one ,it is tied on a partridge HE2 blind eye

Best regards john

hi all,I decided today to sort out my tying room ,I had quite a few 'forgot i had those 'moments,I can't really believe how much tying material we collect over the years,but some how we never seem to have the correct shade of material that we want for a pattern but obviously that then goes on the 'must get at the next show' shopping list and so the material stocks get bigger.
After having a sort out i had some spare time so decided to give the dog an early walk and maybe do some tying later ,well what a sun set

anyway,did get some tying done ,just tied a dee fly ,the Dunt ,changed a couple materials on it but i dont think it effects the pattern too much,here it is

It is tied on a 3/0 Alec Jackson spey hook , The pattern is as follows
Tag, silver oval and light blue floss
Tail, topping and teal
Body, yellow, orange and fiery brown seals fur /mohair
Rib, silver tinsel followed by silver oval
Body Hackle, black heron from fiery brown
Throat, teal
Wings, very dark turkey
Cheeks, jungle cock [dropping]
Head, black
There are a few different patterns for this fly ,you can check them out here which is a fantastic site for anyone into dee or spey flies  http://www.feathersfliesandphantoms.co.uk/index.html keep a couple of hours spare if it's your first visit