Carp Fly Swap Gets Some Exposure

I joined Trevor's carp fly swap about a month ago. Since then the swap has taken on a life of its own.  Many vendors have chimed in to be a part of it.  Orvis donated fly boxes for all of the people who participated. The swap itself is being featured in the latest Carp Pro Magazine. Dan Frasier the editor of the magazine did an awesome job putting this together. My fly is on page 108.  

Carp Fly Swap

I joined a fly swap started by Trevor the writer for the blog Fly Carpin. At first I was stoked at the chance too get hooked up with some awesome carp flies. Then as the list of who was participating grew the reality started to set in.   I was hit with the fact that I myself had to tie flies too. The list of who would get them is a little intimidating. Some of these guys are professional fly tiers and I'd hate for them to think I sent them trash. My first idea for a pattern that was fairly easy to tie evolved into something a lot more difficult. I tried to think of a fly I'd like to have. In the end I came up with this.

Hook: Gamakatsu Sz8 SL45

Lead Free Wire

Large Black Bead Chain

Stu Thompson Craw Colored Dubbing

Dark Olive Marabou

Olive Silly Legs

Flashabou

The thing I mainly like about this fly is the coloring. It's a cross between a dragon fly nymph and a crawfish. I'm not really one for naming flies but if I was going to I'd go with Damcraw. The dubbing I used for this fly is something I got from Stu Thompson. Stu is a guide that mainly fishes big waters in Canada. He has a DVD and various pictures of him with monster catfish and carp. He has a cult following on the site Warmfly.com. The crawfish color dubbing he sent me is the best I have ever seen. I have never had great luck with crawfish patterns. I decided to try tying some using the dubbing and pheasant feathers. I noticed the bottom feathers on a pheasant tail work as mock pincers. Tell me what you think.