The CDC feather is a unique material that has allowed us to achieve many realistic patterns. The delicate and complex structure in a CDC feather not only keeps small air bubbles in the flies designed to fish on the surface but under water the same fibre's when wet take on a life of its own, providin View more...The CDC feather is a unique material that has allowed us to achieve many realistic patterns. The delicate and complex structure in a CDC feather not only keeps small air bubbles in the flies designed to fish on the surface but under water the same fibre's when wet take on a life of its own, providing an irresistible pattern. However its not always beneficial to tie with CDC as in some cases it might make the fly less desirable and can be a waste of a terrific material. In dry flies and emerging nymphs, the CDC in particular creates more of an illusion of life which we can not achieve with other materials. Currently a large percentage of my small dry flies are almost completely tied with CDC as well as emerging and floating nymphs as the stems tied with dubbing absorbs a lot of water and are not as effective. A CDC tied with keratin does not absorb water and will sit on the surface the water therefore it makes it very easy to dry by casting or blowing on it twice after using amadou absorbent materials.
Throughout the years the floating nymphs have proved particularly effective and I think a lot of flies tied in a parachute style to mimic more the floating nymphs from the surface to duns sailing with their bodies on the surface supported only at the tip of its legs. Most parachute flies with a sinking body if tied with the CDC also achieve this delicate feather pattern with minimal air currents giving life to our fly.
Move the mouse over the image to zoom in the fly.
Touch the image to zoom in the fly.
List of materials
HOOK
Ideally PARTRIDGE NYMPH from 14 to 18
THREAD
Olive-colored 8/0
QUEUE
CDC and Cock de Leon
ABDOMEN
long CDC feathers preferably Petit Jean Marc Olive Color
CHEST
CDC Dubbing olivine
POST
Evazote (type of more open cell foam) in yellow
HACKLE
CDC natural color
Steps
Step 1
Tie some strands of CDC fibers in olive around half the length of the shank for the tail.
Step 2
We then place two Cock de Leon fibers on each side of the CDC tail. They should be at an angle and be longer than the CDC as shown in the photo.
Step 3
Choose a CDC feather with a long stem. Ideally use the Marc Petit Jean that are good for the body size.
Step 4
We wrap the CDC down the abdomen/body of the hook until the chest area.
Step 5
We trim all the fibers to expose the segmented abdomen and tapered body before tying a strip of yellow Epazote in.
Step 6
With the trimmed CDC fibers make a dubbing for the thread.
Step 7
Tie in the dubbing so that the chest bulges just a little more than the end of the abdomen and begin to tie down the Evazote strip so it forms a sphere above.
Step 8
We split a feather in half with a needle in the style of Marc Petit Jean and form a CDC hackle in a natural color. A very useful tool can be used to form the hackle and Marc Petit Jean Marc's site have good videos about how to use the fiber.
Step 9
We then wrap the hackle made from CDC fibers around the Evazote base carefully.
Step 10
This is a view of CDC hackle tied in from below to get a clear view of how it must be tied.
Step 11
We tie the head off with a knot and cut the thread. Trim the hackle to the length that we want to mimics the legs of the nymph. As seen in the photo also remove the fibers in the front and rear so that they are only the protruding laterally to give a better outline of the body.
Step 12
Here are some different views of the floating nymph.
Step 13
Here are some different views of the floating nymph.
