A while back I thought to myself, I wonder if the Japanese have any particular methods for tying flies? I'd seen a few origami sites, and a few different sites with Japanese arts and crafts, and thought fly tying seems to lend itself to the Japanese way of simplicity and elegance in creating art, etc. It turns out that yes, there is a little difference in Japanese fly tying that I found interesting. One thing is, they often tie in the eye of hook, out of monofilament, as the hooks they use don't often have eyes. Some of the more important aspects of fly tying also have their differences from western styles, but honestly, they use a lot of the same flies. They're also not too well represented on the web. Not to mention, they haven't really gotten on board with the English yet.
But the title of the blog is Moscas Español - Spanish Flies. Not the stuff you drop in your lady's drink to get her all randy. But actual fishing flies, made in Spain. The Japanese connection here is that these particular tiers use aspects they learned from Japanese tiers during a fly fishing World Cup.
I found this site, Moscas Órbigo, and had a look around. The first thing I noticed were a lot of foam-bodied flies with hard-shell finishes. They were pretty realistic. Much more so than the hair bombs I tie for the saltwater fishing around here. They were interesting and well made.
Tricóptero Rubión
But the real reason I posted the link was because on my regular fishing message board, sdfish.com, there was discussion going on about fly fishing for carp, and what flies might be effective. Well, Cholo (that's what he goes by), had a couple of carp flies on his site that were kind of unique; a corn kernal, and a bread crumb. Carp fishing is very popular in Europe, and is gaining popularity in the states as well. So I posted the link in the carp fishing thread.
Cholo, his given name is José, must have tracked his website hits or something, because a few weeks later, I got an email from him. He was thanking me for posting the link, giving his site some exposure, and said that if I send him my address he'd like to send me some flies.
José lives in Leon, Spain and it looks like he's making a living tying his flies. His lower-priced flies are around 2.40 euros (about $3.65) and they go up to around 5.50 euros (a whopping $8.50). To put that in sort of perspective, if I go into a fly shop and buy, say, a biggish saltwater fly, it's going to run me around $3.00, but if I go to eBay, and bid for a half a dozen of the same fly I can get them for about $1.00 each. For trout flies, I can get them on eBay for as little as 39¢ a piece. But that's as much an illustration of the quality and realism of Cholo's flies as anything. These aren't a few wraps of thread and a feather. They're sculpted, painted and often have legs and/or wings. If you stuck one in your shirt, someone would surely try to brush it off for you.
A few days ago I got an envelope from Cholo, with some flies, and explanation as to the use of each fly, and some business cards. Here's some pictures of the flies. My macro is a little underwhelming. I guess I could have tried a little harder... (EDIT: Super Macro seemed to be the ticket...)
Moscón Azul - Blue Fly
I guess if you look close, you'll notice the hard metallic-blue, and metallic-gold flies, the blurry one in the left foreground is a dragon fly or damsel fly-type thing. The numbers on the hooks correspond to the sheet he sent me, detailing each fly's use. I really would have liked to get better pics, but any closer and they wouldn't focus. But if you want to have a look at the flies in all their glory, go check out http://www.moscasorbigo.com/ (you'll have to select the address and copy to you browser). It's worth a look.
Hormiga Negra - Black Ant
Efémera salmón
Thanks to José (Cholo) for the flies, and I promise I'll pick up some nice trout on them this summer and send you some pictures. Go Real Madrid!
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