fly tying with monkey hair

Please enjoy these amazing monkey flies tied by Ismo Lintula from Finland.  These flies makes me want to go fishing straight away. Our friends in the north really knows how to tie a killer monkey fly!

As you all know we are dedicated to the monkey hairwing flies. To give you some inspiration for your monkey flies here is a small collection from the internet. The Monkey flies have caught the imagination of salmon fishers and fly tiers around the globe, and have spawned numerous variants. The long flowing wing together with the special ability monkey hair has, to curl up a little and bring extra life to the fly, are the keys to their success. ​

You can find a steb by step guide to a simple monkey fly here and you can select your hair if you like here.

We would love to see your monkey fly and ad them to the ollection. Tight lines!

From the top:
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1. Tied by:  Ronald Sutherland 
2. Tied by: Ronald Sutherland
​3. Tied by: Unknown
4. Tied by: Ronald Sutherland
​5. Tied by: Ronald Sutherland
​6. Tied by: Ronald Sutherland
​7. Tied by: Ronald Sutherland
​8. Tied by: Ronald Sutherland
​9. Tied by: Ronald Sutherland
​10. Tied by: Unknown
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 The Monkey fly has exploded onto the scene of salmon fishing and is a big favorite with many anglers. It’s a fly with attitude and is famous in Salmon Rivers all over the world. You can tie them up on any tube you like with a body that suits your fishing. You can use a plastic tube to help fish the fly on or near the surface like a sunray or a metal tube or tungsten to get it down. It’s a deadly fly in all variations at any time of year and a must have fly in your tube box. Don't leave home without them.

This fly is very simple and easy to tie. If you are a beginner, this is a very good place to start. You will quicly be able to tie a killer fly, that will catch fish in almost any water condition. This SBS guide was originally made by artisan fly tyer: Neil Stephenson. 

Remember there are no rules and you can play with the colors and all as you like. You can get the monkey hair you need in our shop here.

The recipe for a simple Dee monkey Fly:
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Tube/Hook: You can use any tube you like and you can also tie on a hook.
Body: Nothing or something of your own choise. (in this guide there is no body tied in)
Underwing: Polar bear or Monkey hair or Fox or something.
Wing: Black Monkey Hair, Peacok hearl.
Hackle: Yellow hen og schlappen feather.
Eyes: Jungle cock (can leave out if you don’t have)

We recommend you take a look at Radoslaws website. He is posting hes photos from all over England
and Poland. He says, "The reason of fly fishing is not just to catch a fish, its a story of life, fantastic memories, and to keep the fish alive. All catches are are released in very good condition back to the water. Please feel free to explore hes site which is always updated. 

 The Monkey hair fly - the Sunray Shadow, is one of the most famous tube flies ever made. It was designed by late UK angler Mr. Raymond Brooks in the 1960´s. The Sunray Shadow is a must-have for anglers pursuing fresh Silver Salmon in any river.

Brooks Sunray Shadow is a mythical fly and a must-have in the salmon fly box. In the early 1960´s Ray traveled through Norway to find the perfect salmon river. He did so with his wife Margit, and they found the rivers in the districts of Møre and Romsdal where they fished for many years.

Every summer the Brook´s would fish the fantastic Årøy (Aaroy) River that yields the biggest average weight of salmon on earth, but their favorite of rivers was the majestic River lærdal (Laerdal) that runs to the Sognefjord. A river that had a historic run of big Atlantic salmon and sea-trout.
The Sunray Shadow are tied on tubes designed exclusively for the purpose, consisting of an inner and outer tube, allowing a tube fly hook to rest in the back-end of the tube.  Hair from a monkey is used in the design of the wing.

Originally Brooks tied the fly with three materials: white-tipped squirrel, monkey hair and peacock herl. The stiff squirrel would lift the long wing free of the hook, the monkey would create the very long mobile wing and the herl would accent the fly. Many also use polar bear to lift the wing instead of the squirrel.
The monkey hair Ray used came out of a carpet that friend and fellow angler had in his living room. The Monkey hair turned out to be exactly right for the long wing. Soft enough to make the fly come alive and stiff enough, not to collapse in the stream.

Later Ray found a supplier of the monkey hair needed and finally also made a registered pattern on the fly that he named: The Sunray Shadow.
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The Sunray Shadow fly was tied commercially for the Brooks family by Danish company Lawcock and later with fly tiers in Singapore. The picture here below shows the original packing. If you want to tie the original Sunray Shadow, you can find the original rare colobus monkey hair for sale here!

While the salmon is the king of rivers, black is truly the king of salmon fly colors. Once you go black you never go back, they say. Spice up your fly with long dangling rubber legs and a long swimming monkey hair wing and you have a seducing and irresistable night fly: The Black Mistress!

One of the most efficient and simple salmon flies around. Colobus Monkey hair tied on a tube, that’s all.

With the salmon fever constantly running in many dedicated fly fishers all over the world, its only reasonable that a genuine salmon fly would be the thing to publish here. We will allso be chasing the silver dream this summer and the Sunray Shadow will once again will be a trusted friend in the river.
 
The Sunray Shadow is an extremely simple and efficient fly.  It does the job with a minimum of extras. The fly is a long, black monkey hair wing on a tube with a stiff underwing like polar bear, to keep it from hooking itself and then a little flash. You can see the monkey hair right here in the webshop and get a feel of the material.

Originally it was created in Norway on the banks of the Salmon River, Laerdal by Ray Brooks.  It very quickly became extremely popular and widespread, since the little tube with the monkey hair proved so efficient. Today the fly is made in numerous variations all over the world.
 
Ray Brooks tied the fly with the materials, white hairs from squirrel, monkey hair and peacock herl. The stiff squirrel or polar bear lifts the long wing free of the hook, the monkey hair creates the very long and mobile wing and the herl will give a little flash to the fly.

The inspiration for the Sunray Shadow came essentially from The Collie Dog Fly - perhaps the ultimate smaller salmon fly. The Collie Dog is just a bunch of black hair from a Collie's tail on a tube, invented somewhere in the UK in the eighteenth century. Ray Brooks actually just enhanced the Collie Dog Fly with some materials, the stiff under wing, the herl and the most essential - the long Colobus monkey hair for the long wing.  The Sunray Shadow was born!
 
Ray Brooks original was tied with hair from the Colobus monkey, which has the ability to curl up when wet and by this give the fly exstra life in the water. The monkey hair can be hard to find but we have the monkey hair in the webshop on this site at reasonable prices right here.

The Sunray Shadow is not a big challenge to tie, and if you are a beginner to tube flies, this is a very good place to start.
 
Tie the fly on a 1 – 1 ½ inch plastic tube. Tie in a small bunch of squirrel, bucktail or polar bear wich is slightly longer than the tube. Top that with the colobus mokey hair which should be about 4- 5 inches long.  For the finish, tie in a couple of peacock herl on the wing and you are all set. You can add a conehead if you like to fish a heavier fly, or use a brass or bottle tube. Many will prefer to fish the light version in the top of the water, wich will give the fly more speed. As with any other salmon flies you will like to have a selection of the Sunray Shadow in various sizes from around 3” to 6” inches with long Colobus monkey hair wings.

The Salmons reaction to a Sunray Shadow is similar to a cats instinctive behaviour to flash out a paw on a string that is flicked in front of it, it simply cant help it. It just instinctive reaction. The Sunray Shadow with Colobus monkey hair is a lengendary Salmon fly!

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