Thread heads

 

This can be one of the easiest things to do in fly tying or one of the hardest. And the difference between being easy or hard boils down to just one thing and that's space.

Process

A
  1. If you leave enough space on a fly to tie a neat head then its easy. If there isn't enough space then whilst the rest of the fly may be fine then the head invariably crowds the eye of the hook and makes the fly less than satisfactory or even unusable.
  2. Try always to plan your fly and to leave the area between the 95% position and the eye of the hook clear so that you can tie a neat head.

B
  1. Making the perfect thread head is easy. Try it on a hook without any dressing.

C
  1. If you make a thread head that looks like any of the following then you haven't left enough space or too much space.
  2. You finish up with the eye of the hook crowded and run the risk of either having no space to thread tippet through the eye of the hook or the thread at the eye of the hook unraveling as in this example.

D
  1. If you make a thread head that looks like any of the following then you haven't left enough space or too much space.
  2. You finish up with a thin skinny head rather than a neat little head.

E
  1. All you have to do is to leave the right amount of space.



Last Updated: January 6, 2011
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Categories: Free fly tying