Glass beads and bent hooks

I was going through some of my tying stuff tonight and I found two packs of Killer Caddis glass beads that I never used before, in brown and black. I decided to mess around with them.

I purchased these bent shaft stonefly hooks that I finally got around to using. They are made by Saber and the website is www.suredrift.com if you feel like checking them out, although I don't see these hooks on the site right now. Here's what they look like:



I decided to incorporate the glass beads into the stonefly. I came up with a pretty interesting pattern. I really like how the bend in the hook gives the fly a nice curve. It's also my first time ever tying a fly with swiss straw so I know it's not perfect, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice and come up with a nice pattern after a few more tries at this.

Bent stonefly nymph hook size 12
.015 lead wire (thorax is weighted)
Black goose biots
Uni-thread black 8/0
Swiss straw
Black superfine dubbing
Killer Caddis glass beads (brown and black)




I've also been on a pheasant tail kick so I tried some tiny PTs with the glass beads. I did a nymph version with a wood duck tail, and a soft hackle version.

Size 16 short nymph hook
Ringneck pheasant tail fibers
UTC ultrawire small, gold
Mallard died wood duck (nymph tail)
Killer Caddis glass bead
Hungarian partridge (soft hackle)





That's about it for today but before I go, I need to hit you with this:

Partridge and Orange

I was reading about some Old English traditional flies and this one caught my eye. I bought some partridge a few weeks back because it was half off and I hadn't touched it so I gave it a go. I tied one on a dry fly hook, and one on an emerger hook.




This is the first time I've ever tied a soft hackle wet fly. I don't think they turned out too bad. The traditional does not call for the gold ribbing, but I thought it was a nice touch.

I wonder what this guy would have to say about breaking the tradition..