Troutnut Forum > Fly Tying Discussion > Dyeing Biots
| Martinlf | July 20th, 2008, 12:17 pm | |
| Palmyra PA Posts: 972 | This may prove helpful to anyone who dyes biots. For years I've struggled to get an even dye job on goose or turkey biots, typically tying a stem in a loose overhand knot to get them to fan out. Today I used a rubber band to bind one end of a stem of biots to the middle of a pencil, wrapped the biot stem up the shaft, fanning out the biots parachute style, then used a rubber band to secure the other end of the stem to the top of the pencil. The fanned out biots took the dye evenly and were easy to rinse. The pencil provided a nice handle to avoid fishing around in the dye bath with hemostats to find the biot stem. To dry the stem straight for easy storage, I undid the spiral, smoothed the biots down into their original configuration, stretched out the stem straight, and again rubber banded the ends to the pencil and left it to dry. | |
| Louis Is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? A trout! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk . . . and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold! --Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler | ||
|
These advertisements will disappear if you register. | ||
| Wbranch | July 20th, 2008, 1:58 pm | |
| Starlight PA Posts: 298 | Louis, Why do you bother dying biots when so many colors are readily available alreadty dyed? Rumpf lists sixteen different color turkey biots. | |
| West Branch & main stem fly fisher for forty-two years. | ||
| Martinlf | July 20th, 2008, 8:33 pm | |
| Palmyra PA Posts: 972 | Matt, Sometimes when I'm tying I don't have exactly what I want, so I keep some white biots on hand and some Rit and dye them myself rather than ordering or running to a fly shop. It puts the materials I want at hand quickly, and with shipping or gas prices what they are it may also be cost effective. I also enjoy messing with it. Sometimes I want an odd color such as a teal green for the Tully's emerald caddis hatch, so I'll dye biots that color. Last year I dyed some biots a brighter yellow than I had on hand for sulphur emergers. What I had would probably have worked, but I get obsessive at times, I must admit. | |
| Louis Is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? A trout! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk . . . and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold! --Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler | ||
| Wbranch | July 21st, 2008, 2:26 am | |
| Starlight PA Posts: 298 | "but I get obsessive at times, I must admit." Ya think? Borger mentions in his "Color System" that as long as you are within one or two shades of the ideal color you are in good shape. | |
| West Branch & main stem fly fisher for forty-two years. | ||
| JAD | July 21st, 2008, 7:38 am | |
| Butler--- Western Pa Posts: 165 | Hi We fisherman are a odd breed, confidence is sometimes as important as color. Keep up the good work,I might need some teal green . I like the pencil trick John | |
| "Nature is pleased with simplicity" Newton | ||
| Martinlf | July 21st, 2008, 9:02 am | |
| Palmyra PA Posts: 972 | Matt, Guilty as charged, but John makes a good point. We do what we must to believe, then success follows. Sometimes. I had dyed biots for that emerger pattern that worked on the West Branch, and without it (and your guidance) I would possibly have gotten beat up that evening. As it turned out it was my best fishing ever on the upper West Branch. It's a mysterious process by which each of us finds the right fly, the right drift, and the right fish. | |
| Louis Is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? A trout! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk . . . and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold! --Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler | ||
New features!
