Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Aztec revisited..

Macrabbit has been patiently trying to school me up on one of his well mastered patterns. He does several variations of Aztec's, and I'm convinced it is an extremely fine steelhead pattern. I have taken 3 or 4 fish with similar ties in 2010. Basically, it's an acrylic yarn version of a Matuka which is a feathered streamer. They're likely good leech or minnow imitations. The Aztec's though look to have more life with the most subtle of movements compared to the feathered Matukas I've used in the past. Here's my latest effort.

This is a size 2 steelhead hook, and length from eye to tip of tail is 2 7/8 inches.



I was hoping the jungle cock would add a little bit more of an eye effect. If I went with a larger feather though, the spot would be more toward the center of the body, and that's not the effect I was looking for. I might go through some guinea fowl feathers and look for something with just a single white spot that can be tucked near the front as an eye spot. I really don't want to weight one down with epoxy or bead chain eyes.

I still need to work some up with other color combinations and perhaps some gold/silver tinsel bodies.

Anyway, I'm anxious to try them out. Wish we had some tarpon or strippers here in the northwest. Constructive comments please...

If you don't mind, I'll throw in a parenthetical insertion- just to acquaint all with a standard Lo-Crest Aztec:

Nuttin' in the world wrong with experimenting and adapting. That's how any of these things exist at all.

FYI, it takes a minimum of about 1.5" of tail to attain that "more life with the most subtle of movements". (Thanks for that paragraph- well put.)

For eyes, you could either paint some right on the yarn or use a commercial eye. I'm thinking a large, white, plastic bead chain might be just your ticket.
Though I wouldn't think you need to worry much about the small amount of weight any but the heaviest of eyes might add. The Aztec isn't a heavy fly. Some folks prefer some lead under the body.
I'll tie up a plastic bead chain example, post the pic later.

I could find only 3mm plastic bead chain eyes.
Here they are on a size 4, 2.75" long:


Or...

If my brain had been in gear from the first, I would have remembered the usual eye method. Most recently I've been doing similar for gills and pectoral fins, so 'eyes' didn't twig:

But anyway, why did you limit us to constructive comments? You take all the fun out of things!

I see quite a bit of black hanging down by the bend.
If fouling of the tail around the bend gets too annoying--
Use a perfect bend hook, to get the rear of the shank, the beginning of the tail, as far back as possible;
Be sure to not wrap down the bend at all, so the tail starts straight back, not down;
And tie on, and trim as per instructions, the Tail Support Piece yarn, which was included in the pattern to minimize fouling.

I think that your Crests -it's especially visible in your underCrest- are denser than need be.
A sparser Crest will still present an adequate silhouette, with less air resistance.
And a dense Crest, when pushed back in stripping, will not be able to flow back, still in a straight line; rather, the pressures will tend to squeeze fibers to the sides. (I'm not sure that that last is of major importance. But I'll throw it in, anyway.)
I'd go with the 2 Skip-a-Wrap, or even 3 S-a-W.

Once those things get wet, they go through the air like a bullet. That makes them especially appealing when rigging up a daisy chain of 3 flies. With typical hackled flies I loose about 2 or 3 yards of casting range with each additional fly. With a big spey rod that's not much of an issue, but it does make for more work with a lighter single hand rod.

I did put a tight wrap on the body and it does look quite dense. I will try a skip 3 on my next efforts.

It doesn't have to be full; it just needs to look full.

Seeming smart got me through school. For some grades it worked twice in a row!

Tubular Mylar, used for the Silver Comet here, makes a great body material:


Diamond braid works:


Tubular Mylar is my first choice. It is plenty strong enough to withstand the pull used during wrapping, which is quite a bit when doing it right; has some depth, unlike flat materials, making for a thicker body, hiding the underwork better, and assuring that the Crest Loops project upward; and should, I expect, hold up better to fish teeth.

Diamond braid works, but it's trickier to use. And not all are created equal. I tested several brands and settled on Spirit River's Bodi-Works or their Bodi-Braid, which is in the pic above. Other brands broke or over-stretched or frayed...



Bummer- not much interest out there.

Macrabbit:

I do like that silver mylar. A little flash probably can't hurt. A question... Have you had much feedback on Aztecs among still water trout? I ask because we used to fish a cutthroat lake about 90 miles south of here many years ago, and wooly buggers were the favorite ice out pattern. The lake carried a good number of large leeches (3+ inches long when swimming), and I think a hook/material combination that produced an almost neutral density fly would be the cat's ass on a slow strip. I need to get back into some stillwater fishing. I obviously have the time now, but have been almost completely consumed with steelheading for the last dozen years or so.

Here's a rendering of one of last night's efforts.


Compared to your patterns, I'm still getting too dense. Body wrap was a single fine strand, and I skipped 3 lashing in top and bottom crests on every 4th turn. On counting, I have about 10 sections tied in on both levels. I'll try to cut that back to perhaps 5 on my next go around.

Also, tail length was a full 3/4 inch longer than this finished product. On combing, some serious lengths of fiber simply seperated or pulled free. Any suggestions on preventing that?

Not true at all! Just do not have much to add... But since you are whining... We have a fly tying contest with the AK Fly Fishers next month and I am considering tying an Aztec for an entry.

Further, we will be doing a new fly patterns book and just need to settle the contract details. We will be looking for good patterns for the book and I am actually the chairman of the project... hmmm...
art

1minute
The Aztec yarns are NOT continuous staple and are designed to feather out when combed...

Stillwater, pond, big river, stream, ocean-- doesn't matter. Big fish eat little fish.

Over the summer and fall a fella had very good success at Georgetown Lake in Montana, using a Pectoral Aztec (regular Aztec with fins), catching rainbows and browns. He took me out there when I was at the FFF conclave, I caught three trout on a regular Aztec (one at a time).
He was using a pretty fast strip: 18 inch strips one after another, no pause. (He's a machine.)

Are the naturals worm-looking leeches? Have I sent you any Aztec Leeches?
Here's a large one I did for one of our members, trying to match the palolo worm (for tarpon):

Why are you using a thin body material instead of a full piece of yarn?

Art's concept is correct, if not his definitions.
The acrylic yarns are staple yarns (made up of short fibers), similar to cotton or wool, vs those like polypro, which are filament yarns (whose fibers are the full length of the skein). So, say the fibers are each 5 inches long. The maker lays out one fiber, lays out another next to it but its end beginning one millimeter from the end of the first (and so it's other end is one mm beyond the end of the first), then lays out another one millimeter from the second (so two millimeters from the first), etc., and twists them together. (Boy, I made that clumsily!) If you cut a 10-inch length of such a yarn, clamped together one end, and combed it all out, you'd end up with only a 5-inch long section of fibers still clamped, and that section would be 'feathered'- one fiber 5 inches long, another a millimeter short of 5 inches, etc.

So in combing that 10-inch length, your comb would be pulling out 5 inches of all of the fibers and 4.9 inches of a diminishing number of fibers- more than half the yarn.

But what concerns me is that you appear to have yarn of only a 2-3 -inch staple, much shorter than the 4-5 inches of all of my yarn. That palolo worm is nearly as long as it can possibly be (I clipped off the very thinly fibered end). Is that fly made with yarn from me? If not, do one of it; see if there's a difference. If so, whatever you're buying is an oddity to me. Not necessarily bad, but your lengths will be limited.

Unless, of course, you are breaking fibers. They're weak, individually. It's not that hard to break them during combing, if using bad technique. Make sure you are following the instructions- combing from the tip in, in small increments, and not forcing through any tangles.

And, BTW, the combings make wonderful dubbing. Use as is, or go chop-chop with your scissors. If necessary, give them a spin in a coffee bean chopper to mix them.

Art, you know where to turn if you want any tips on the tying.
(If the fly will be spending any time suspended -in a test clip, say, or in a fly plate- give it a spray with Krylon or some other art fixative to prevent the tail from drooping from gravity.)

You don't need it but you have my blessing to use the Aztec in the book. The broadercaster, the better. I'll email you the latest Lo-Crest instructions. (If you do include it, I'd love the opportunity to proof that bit.) Leave me out of it; the designer's is the only important name.
A lot of people have fished a lot of Aztecs up there.

Macrabbit: Yes, there is a lot of staple that simply pulls out. The combing seems to progress a little better if I place the pattern on a firmish background (like the sofa arm or against my Levi clad thigh). Ones actions are perhaps more like brushing than pulling fiber with a comb. I'm still into the acrylic that you shipped, and I do begin combing at the ends as opposed to deep into the fiber. Was thinking a well worn and soft tooth brush might work too, and will give it a try this afternoon.

Here's one this mornings go arounds. The first ended up a little short but the denstiy was right. This one in the image is about the right length, but I got too dense again. Did a slight color change though. The wife has been letting me try her macro lens, and it sure catches a lot of detail. Expand the image and ny off color or misaligned fiber stands right out especially in a poster sized image.

If nothing else, my tying speed has advanced a bit, and I'm beginning like the jungle cock eye a bit more.

The wife sure made if difficult last night though, she keyed up Inglourious Basterds on TV. Ever tried to tie flies and read subtitles at the same time. I suspect I missed a few subtleties.
Take care,

My "firmish background" is my thumb.
While pinching the tail pieces at the rear of the shank with my left hand, to keep from pulling out the Tail Yarn Loop if a tangle develops, I press the tips of the tail pieces against the comb held flat:


Then I twist my right hand, pushing the teeth into the yarn:

And then pull the comb away to the right, through the yarn.
And keep doing that, working bit by bit toward the base of the yarn pieces.

(Sometimes a yarn ply is too tightly spun, as the brand of red in this photo often is, and repeatedly slips between the teeth and so does not get combed out. In such a case it commonly lets the comb in when halfway down its length and then will tangle when the comb tries to separate such a long length. Before I get so far along in the combing that that might happen, I work it apart with my fine bodkin.)

Your eye looks dandy to me.

What are you using for your Body Yarn, how many plies, how many twists?


Your better pic is showing what's going on at the rear of the shank, having tail fibers extending from under the sides of the body. You share one of the most common and persistent gaffes we find among Aztec tiers- not keeping the Tail Support Piece, the Tail Yarn Piece(s), and the Tail Yarn Loop perfectly stacked directly on top of each other.
Note in all of my pics above how you can fully see the shank right up to the rear of the body, that all of the tail comes off of the top surface of the shank.
Here's an uncombed one:


Try to use extra care when tying in each piece that the torque from your thread doesn't roll the piece over, nor that a piece below, previously tied in, gets mushed to the side. It's an aspect that requires attention and practice.
(Just ask me what it's like when tying a size 5/0, which has five Tail Yarn Pieces stacked on top of each other!)

And be sure that the first wrap of Body Yarn goes around the bare shank and is jammed in under the tail pieces.