Product Review: Fish Skull Articulated Shanks
Here, just in time, Fish Skull offers us a nice way to make articulated flies with this product, just released for the 2012 fly tying season. Previously, we have resorted to making our own articulated shank gizmos by using our hand-shaped wire, combining hooks, sometimes by pushing one hook through the eye of a second hook, and sometimes by wiring or otherwise tying two hooks together with some combination of Dacron, Fireline, or flexible braided wire.
Since we are often focused on tying Intruder style flies for salmon and steelhead, we have first taken these Fish Skull Articulated Shanks to the bench and simply begun our playing by attaching a trailer or stinger hook. This video shows the great results we achieved doing so and discusses a few of the approaches that seem most promising to produce a base for many of our In intruders. Fish skull Articulated Shanks are available in 20mm, 35mm, and 55mm lengths. All have delicious possibilities for tying flies for many species, not just our much loved salmon and steelhead.
This here fine, semi professional Caddis fly video demonstrates how to prepare a 35mm Fish Skull Articulated Shank to tie one dandy Hickman Fish Taco. We used Fire-line, but the same procedures work with the material of your choice, from Dacron, super braid, Rio Knotable Bitewire, Cortland Toothy Critter Wire, or Maxima Chameleon Monofilament.
Hopefully, this video is short enough to be relatively painless or at least offer slightly more delight and information than pain to the watcher.
Watch, be amazed, and see if you survive the ordeal. And hold on to your wading belt, because the video of Hickman’s Flash Taco will follow shortly.
JN
