Squid pattern, step by step.

 Here is a pattern i use a lot for bass, were i fish on the Gower coast south Wales. we have a glut of squid in July coming inshore to spawn , and the bass and other fish make the most of the squid by feeding on them. and you can get very good sport using these squid patterns, above i have put a 2/0 upturned eye hook in vise.

 Now i catch in the thread, here i am using Danville 210 denier white thread.

 Here i catch in a bunch of bucktail, a mix of white and pink. the color works well for me, as the squid when alive does give off the mother of pearl look.

 Now i add some Krystal flash pearl.

 Now i have pulled back the flash that was facing forward, and cleaned up the tie.

 Now i get some saddle hackles ready for the tentacles , have put some spots with marker pen.

 Now its time to tie in the saddle feathers,

 Here they are all tied in,

 Now we need the eyes for the squid, i use Deercreek eyes great quality and colors.

 The squids eye are low on the body, and the way i tie these in. is by placing a mono loop of line on the back side of eyes., and glue in place with Deercreek UV resin. 

 Above, is a close up of the eyes, showing how i glue them in place.

 Now i tie in the near eye,

 Here is a shot from above, showing eyes tied in.

 Now clean up the tying, and you are ready to tie in the body.

 For the body, above i will use a Deercreek Gliss and Glint dubbing brush. Gliss and glint is a great material for bait patterns.

 I tie in the dubbing brush at the end of brush, and wound it on the shank towards the eye of the hook.

 Here i have wound on the dubbing brush, and tied it off at the eye of hook.

 Here i have trimmed off the unwanted end of brush,  and i brush back the hair to eyes. and now i trim it to shape the body of squid.

 Above, i have trimmed off the hair and shaped the body.and a head of pink at the eye of hook,

 And above the finished squid,

 Above, showing two two ways of tying, the bottom one does not have the saddle hackles for tentacles. giving you a smaller pattern, 

 Above, showing you other squid patterns i have done, the top and bottom ones done just using Uv resin on shaped cardboard under body.

 The ones above, i tend to use just from the boat, as the can be a bit of a pain casting from the shore.

The two hard squid patterns together, the bottom one is 23/4" long. both tied on a tube,

Bronze mallard Akroyd

 This is my take on the pattern Akroyd, but using a bronze mallard spey wing. although i also use the same pattern with a Dee, i do like it tied and fished this way. here i am tying the fly on a Blue heron size 3 hook.

 Now i tie in the thread at the head of the hook, and then run thread back down to the point of the hook. here i am using Danville thread 70 denier white,

 Now we tie in the tail, using Golden pheasant crest feather.

 Here i have tied in Golden pheasant tippet feather, on top of the crest feather.

 Here i have trimmed off unwanted material, and cleaned up with the tying thread.

 Now i tie in the rib, for the rear body.

 And here i have dubbed the rear body, with orange seals fur.

 Now i tie in the rear hackle, to be wound over the dubbing. back down the hook to the point,

 Here i have wound the hackle on, and over wound the rib back up hook. this is to lock in the hackle,

 Now i tie in some Ostrich herl, for the join in the body.

 Here i have wound on the ostrich, and will trim off unwanted end.

 Now it is time ti tie in the materials for the forward body, here i have tied in the spey hackle and rib,

 And here i tie in black floss, for the body.

 Now i have wound on the body floss,

 Now i wind on the rib, note i have done five turns as with the back ribbing. that is the norm with ribbing,

 Now here i have wound on the hackle, tight behind the rib which is size medium.

 Now its time to tie in the collar, here i have use natural  mallard flank feather.

 Here i have tied in the collar, and wound on three turns.

 Here i have trimmed off unwanted material,

 Now i tie in the jungle cock cheeks low,

 Now i tie in the wings, i always tie these in and leave the centre feather stem on. this will help to stop the the feather splitting when tying in,

 Here i have trimmed off unwanted wing material,

 And above the finished fly, with a coat of varnish on head.

And above, some of the colors i use. orange/ pink & olive.

 And here is another take on the fly, tied in all orange great for prawn / shrimp pattern,

And here i have used slim genetic feather tips in orange, for the Dee wing i like these as they stand up better for casting and fishing.