As a young boy growing up in the 1950's a big part of my attire was a brown and white oxford shoe. These shoe's were also known as "saddle shoes". I can remember the name brand of the saddle shoe mom bought us they were "Buster Brown". Great memories, and still vivid. I think the saddle shoe is still in production, maybe LL Bean stocks them.
Church windows, these are those feathers from a ringneck pheasant. They are called such because they look like church windows. These are great feathers in the construction of featherwing streamers. Their natural shape and color are perfect for the shoulder of a streamer, giving size, and a beautiful silhouette to the front of the streamer.
Below are the components and construction of a streamer I have named "Oxford"
Two saddle feathers are selected one white, which will be the base feather and a brown one which will be the top feather.
The bottom fibers of the brown feather are stripped away from the stem, leaving only the top of the feather. Care must be taken when stripping the fibers because they can tear the feather and you have two halves which are useless.
The brown feather is fitted on top of the white feather and matched to the natural center stem of the white of feather. A small amount of cement is used to hold the feathers. The cement is placed on the stems.
The church window feather is then matched and secured to the brown and white feather. The right and left wing assembly is then tied to the streamer body, and Jungle Cock feathers are added as cheeks to finish the fly.
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| The "Oxford" |
Aptly named. I remember Saddle Shoes from days gone by.
ReplyDeleteMark Kautz,
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I figured a few of us would remember.
first, loved the title of this post. and loved the fly!
ReplyDeleteTexWisGirl,
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Theresa I wish I still had a pair of those shoes for this post.
Beautiful fly Alan! You make it sound and look so easy to tie a streamer like that , while I know it's definitely much harder than it appears I'm going to have to give it a try one of these days at the bench. I can see myself swinging something like that through a run on my new spey rod.
ReplyDeleteHighPlainsFlyFisher,
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They would work well on those browns and smallies you fish for.
Very nice! I expect to see another pic soon of a trout with this in its mouth.
ReplyDeleteFinFollower,
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That would be nice. Now if I could get the weather to agree.
Alan, I sure appreciate the walk through on preparing the feather wing for your pattern. Another great reason for being a follower to your blog!
ReplyDeleteMel,
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I enjoy showing such things. Most people think that these streamers are complicated, but time and a little patience is all that's needed.
Another home run.
ReplyDeleteJim Yaussy Albright,
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Hope to be playing that home run game soon.
Alan
ReplyDeleteAnother fantastic streamer from you collection. Just curious do you have a collection of your streamers you have tied over the years? I have gone back through your blog and found some awesome color patterns of your streamers. Thanks for sharing
Bill Trussell,
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Bill I have quite a few of them in cases. I do have most of the recipes for the flies, so if need be I can tie one up.
More "screensaver" flies. As usual your flies are works of art.
ReplyDeleteDrewLooknFishy,
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I'm glad you have put them to good use. I also do the same.
You do make it look so easy Alan, but for some of us it really isn't. In wood shop everything turned out to be an ashtray. At the tying bench everything turns out not looking like this.
ReplyDeleteHoward Levett,
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I guess, but it does seem easy.
Be well buddy.
Great looking fly Alan..it looks like you have three gold beads? or am I seeing things that aren't there..not unusual..
ReplyDeletepenbayman,
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Mike I think your talking about the yarn body with the silver tinsel.