Making your own flys can be a rewarding past time. Not only is fun to do, it can also work out cheaper.
Not sure how to start?
Just work through the next few posts, and you’ll soon be making flys like a pro.
Under the heading of “Thread Maneuvers,” this part of the subject is covered. Each fly, following its completion, should be cemented at the head. Some do this while the fly is still in the vise and before the thread end is cut off. The cement should be thin enough so that when a drop is [...]
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This part of the fly is the other major controversial feature among tiers and among users. Many expert fly fishermen incline in the direction of heavily hackled flies and an equal number insist upon sparsely hackled flies. The fact remains that the “bug” has six legs, seldom more than eight. With the hook and the [...]
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Weighting the bodies is done with strips of flattened lead, lead wire, copper wire, or some metal substance soft enough to handle and heavy enough to add somewhat to the weight of the fly. The hook is wrapped with tying thread to give the wire or substance a base and is wound on the hook [...]
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Palmering a body, in the more common application, is the same as ribbing except using spread hackle fastened at the tip of the hackle. The exception to securing the tip is on “Woolly-Worms” and some bi-visibles. Fastening the hackle at the butt with the concave or inner surface of the hackle facing to the head [...]
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This appendage, or addition, is tied in and wrapped at the base of the tail which would be the rearmost part of the body of the fly. It consists of a chenille or yarn lump, usually yellow, simulating the egg cluster on many of the feminine fly species. The egg sack is sometimes made from [...]
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The “Tip” is usually tied in before the tail is installed or applied, if the fly calls for this feature. Tipping is done with tinsel or floss and is a wrap of the material down the bend of the hook for a short distance and a return to the point where the base of [...]
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Ribbing of bodies is just that. It is done generally with thread, tinsel or wire but any material such as floss, unstripped quills, etc., can be used. The ribbing material, of course, is secured at the lower end of the body before the body is wound on the hook. The number of turns of ribbing [...]
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The “Whip Finish” is a smooth method of securing the thread following completion of the fly, but it is no more efficient and much slower than the multiple hitch. The “Whip” is merely three, four or five wraps of tying thread thrown over the thread end and pulled up tightly. When “Heads” were formed on [...]
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THREAD MANEUVERSBe sure always that your thread is waxed. The exact point on the shank of the hook where the thread is started varies somewhat with the type of fly to be tied. This factor is not as important as many other operations providing your “jam” of thread does not turn on the hook. This [...]
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WOVEN HAIR BODIES Woven bodies of hair, raffia, straw, etc., make excellent appearing structures, however the time and effort involved in their construction is not warranted inasmuch as the more simply wound bodies appear to be just as efficient and wearable. One of the more common weaving operations is that of the bodies on the [...]
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IN PLACING the hook in the vise some tiers grip it at the bend exposing the point and barb. Others completely bury the point in the lips of the vise with the part to be tied riding above and higher. There are advantages in both methods. Try both ways. (See Photo)) The “exposed point” offers [...]
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We will describe the three basic types of wings first. Any of the three can be tied upright, at a 45° angle or spent. They can be tied so that the line of wing lies more or less horizontally above the body, at an angle with the body, vertical or slightly forward. In other words [...]
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Deer or Caribou hair clipped bodies are developed by flaring the hollow body hair over the hook the distance you wish the body to cover. Then clip with scissors to form the shape. Cut a small clump (less than Vs inch in diameter) of the hollow body hair. Holding it against the hook at the [...]
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Deer or Caribou hair clipped bodies are developed by flaring the hollow body hair over the hook the distance you wish the body to cover. Then clip with scissors to form the shape. Cut a small clump (less than Vs inch in diameter) of the hollow body hair. Holding it against the hook at the [...]
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DUBBING A dubbed body, although one of the oldest methods of imitating a natural body, is a most attractive and effective structure for bodies of flies. One of the simpler ways of building your dubbing is to clip or tear off small sections of the fur spreading it on the knee in a line of [...]
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BODIESOn tinsel bodies the tinsel is fastened at the thorax point or where the tail butts ended then wrapped down to the rear end of body and return. The return wrapping should cover any possible open spots where the tinsel strips were not completely together.When tying floss bodies start the floss at the point where [...]
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