Free fly tying

Poppers are a bit harder to cast than a normal fly because of the wind resistance but if you slow your cast down a little I'm sure you'll soon get the hang of it. Once you do you have another tool in your arsenal which is useful in three diverse situations: When pelagic fish are actively pushing…

OF FLY TYING AND FLY FISHING TERMS   See also: A TO Z OF FLY TYING SKILLS ABDOMEN. Rear most of the three body divisions of an insect. ADIPOSE EYELID: an immovable transparent outer covering or partial covering of the eye of some groups of bony fishes, such as mullets and trevallies. AMADO. A…

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AKA: Legs – hackle 'beard' type. Hackle beards are tied in to represent legs on a fly and in some cases to camouflage the point of the hook. They can be tied with almost any soft hackle or feather. In the example below I have tied the beard with a Ringneck Pheasant feather (also known as church…

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AKA: Haberdashery eyes I am a firm believer that in some flies realistic eyes are a trigger that elicits a response from fish. Whilst there are many ways of adding eyes to a fly one easy way to add a little more realism to a fly is to include a set of eyes made from a length of plastic bead chain….

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AKA: Dahlberg diver type tails. Only some of the things that bass eat have tails on often the tail is very small. Despite that many of the flies that we tie have a tail. In most cases tails are tied into dry flies as an extension of the body and are generally incorporated in the fly design to give…

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AKA: Divided hackle or hair tails Spinners in particular are great examples of insects with long split wings.The temptation is of course to try to represent the wings as closely as possible but from experience I have found that is no a practical long term solution. Spinner tails are typically quite…

AKA: Deer hair tails In most cases if deer hair is being used as a dry fly tail the butt ends of the deer hair are generally incorporated as an under body for the fly as detailed below. Process A Move the thread to exactly the position where the deer hair tail is to be tied in. Select the required…

Set out below are the tying instructions for Booby eyes made out of bean bag beads for a right handed fly tier. If your left handed please remember to switch the instructions around. Process A Create a foundation of cotton thread on the front half of the hook. Take the thread to the position where…

AKA: Brush type wings – deer hair A very popular technique for tying emerger flies. More recently brushes have been tied from CDC as well as deer hair and both work well. The secret of course is that both materials float well. Deer hair brush type wings are a very effective way of adding flotation…

AKA: Body segments on flies Most of the things we seek to imitate with flies have bodies that have some sort of segmentation. A number of techniques have been developed to imitate those body segments and often also to reinforce the fly. Listed below are just a few of those techniques and simple…

Hackles and hackle fibres are used in various ways in the construction of wet flies. Whilst poorer dry fly hackle capes have traditionally been used in wet flies, over recent years, specific wet fly capes and saddles have evolved by the selective breeding of various birds. Preferred characteristics…

AKA: Dry fly hackle Hackling a dry fly The technique for selecting and tying in a dry fly hackle for a right handed fly tier is as follows. If you are left handed please remember to switch the instructions around. The ideal feather for a dry fly hackle should: Be long so that you can tie a…

AKA: Adding weight to a fly Adding weight to flies is almost as old as fly fishing itself. The main aim is to get flies or teams of flies down to where the fish are holding. There are many ways of adding weight to flies and this post examines many of the most common techniques. In most cases if…

Legs on flies may well be one of the most significant trigger components of a fly. They add balance , movement and reality. There are many ways of representing legs on flies including the following: Alternatives A Palmered hackle legs A woolly bugger is a good example of a fly with a palmered…

Only some of the things that trout eat have tails on often the tail is very small. Despite that many of the dry and wet flies that we tie have a tail. In most cases tails are tied into dry flies as an extension of the body and are generally incorporated in the fly design to give the fly some…

A Take two simple inside loop over the end of the pen. B Rotate the pen clockwise it will move up the thread to the eye of the hook. Slip the open end of the pen over the eye of the hook. C Slide the pen out of the way pulling on the bobbing thread at the same time to tighten the knot….

AKA: Multi hitches by hand. A half hitch is simply and at the end of the day is a locked loop over the top of the tag end of a thread. Its the loop that locks the tag end in place. Single half hitches can be tied at any time throughout the dressing of a fly just to hold the thread tightly in…

AKA: Monofilament eyes I am a firm believer that in some flies realistic eyes are a trigger that elicits a response from fish. Whilst there are many ways of adding eyes to a fly one easy way to add a little more realism to a fly is to include a set of burnt monofilament eyes in the dressing of the…

AKA: Loop method of dubbing. From a fly tying point of view the word "dubbing" has two meanings. The word dubbing is used to describe the technique of attaching natural fibres such as animal fur, and synthetic fibres such as synthetic living fibre (SLF) or antron dubbing, to a thread before winding…

Knotting pheasant tail barbules (or fibres as barbules are also known) is a great way to make realistic legs for flies. The procedure is simple yet a bit finicky particularly if you have big clumsy finger like me. Process A Separate one or more pheasant tail barbules from the hackle. B Trim the…

AKA: Hot legs – deer hair First brought to my attention by members of the Jassid Fly Fishing Club in Tasmania this technique was found on the Sexyloops website. For those of us that subscribe to the impressionistic side of fly tying this is a great technique of representing legs and feelers on…

Foam beetles remain very popular because they can be truly representational and of course because they float so well. Process A Tie a hackle in at the front of the body. Use a softer hackle suited to wet fly tying and tie it in with the shiny side facing you so that the legs will lean backward….

I am a firm believer that in some flies realistic eyes are a trigger that elicits a response from fish. Whilst there are many ways of adding eyes to a fly one easy way to add a little more realism to a fly is to include a set of dumbbell type eyes in the dressing of the fly. These types of eyes may…

AKA: Feather tip wings – dry fly Feather tips for use as wings for a dry fly are most often taken from hackles but other feathers such as hen, blackbird, pigeon etc. are also used. Feather tip wings tied from fowl tips are generally thin and delicate but tips from other types of feathers can be a…

AKA: Feather slip wings – wet fly. Feather slips for use as wings for a wet fly are most often taken from duck feathers but other feathers such as turkey and pheasant etc. are also used. The best feathers tend to be the secondary flight feathers as the primary feathers have much thicker barbules…

Only some of the things that trout eat have tails and often the tail is very small. Despite that many of the wet flies that we tie have a tail. In most cases tails are tied into dry flies as an extension of the body and are generally incorporated in the fly design to give the fly some additional…

Hackles are added to woolly buggers and woolly bugger variants for a couple of reasons. Firstly they add what may well be representative of legs on what ever the woolly bugger is tied to represent. The second reason to add movement to the fly. In most cases it's varying degrees of both … what…

When we speak of wings on flies the first thing that comes to mind for me is are the beautiful feather tip wings on flies like the iron blue dun and the twilight beauty or the subtle hair wings on a hair winged royal coachman . . .I don't immediately think about wings on wet flies. Wings on wet…

AKA: Wet fly – wings Wings on wet flies are powerful trigger points and also aides in the mechanics of the fly. As triggers they add valuable movement and viability and from a mechanical point of view they help the fly maintain its upward stance and help stop the fly from twisting. Process A…

AKA: Weed guards – bass There are times when you just have to fish right into structure but every time you do you get hooked up. This is particularly so when fishing for Saratoga amongst lily pads, Barramundi amongst the mangroves and Mangrove Jacks and Bass amongst the snags. At those times to…

AKA: Dry fly upright divided hair and hackle wings & Upright divided hair and hackle wings – dry fly. The concept of upright divided hair wings was introduced to fly tying in the 1930's by Lee Wulff when he evolved the Royal Wulff from the Royal Coachman. The evolution involved replacing the…

AKA: Tropical weed guards. There are times when you just have to fish right into structure but every time you do you get hooked up. This is particularly so when fishing for Saratoga amongst lily pads, Barramundi amongst the mangroves and Mangrove Jacks and Bass amongst the snags. At those times to…

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 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…

Whilst a lot of the things we seek to imitate with flies don't in fact have tails we still tie what are commonly referred to as tails into most of our flies. I am a firm believer that in some flies realistic eyes are a trigger that elicits a response from fish. There are many ways of adding eyes to…

AKA: Tag tails The procedures for tying in tag tails for both dry and wet flies  for a right handed fly tier are detailed below. If you are left handed please remember to switch the instructions around. Tag tails are used on both dry flies and wet flies very successfully. Whilst they may look…

A lot of synthetic materials are presented either in hanks or bunches of materials secured in the middle or at one end with a clip, a cable tie down or by heat fusion. When a fly recipe calls for the use of synthetic materials presented in this form if you just cut the bunch of material off the end…

It doesn't matter if the spun deer hair body you are making is on a size # 2/0 Dahlberg Diver or a size # 12 Adams Irresistible the method of building the body is the same. The method for building a spun deer hair body for a right handed fly tier is set out below. If your left handed please…

A Take a simple inside loop over the end of the pen. B Rotate the pen clockwise it will move up the thread to the eye of the hook. Slip the open end of the pen over the eye of the hook. C Slide the pen out of the way pulling on the bobbing thread at the same time to tighten the knot. [start-member]…

Peacock herl is the individual barbules off a peacock feather. It is wonderful fly tying material and as well as exhibiting its own natural highlight it exhibits various colours ranging from shades of greens through to various shades of blue. Individual herl can be used to dress a body on small…

AKA: Roping peacock herl. Peacock herl is the individual barbules off a peacock feather. It is wonderful fly tying material and as well as exhibiting its own natural highlight it exhibits various colours ranging from shades of greens through to various shades of blue. Individual herl can be used to…

A lot of emerger type flies are tied with a parachute hackle rather than a traditional hackle mainly because the finished fly sits deeper in the water. The technique for tying in the parachute hackle is similar to that for tying in a traditional dry fly hackle except the hackle is wound around a…

AKA: Legs – palmered hackle If my memory of things I have read about Palmering flies is right then the term Palmering a fly has its origins around 1300 AD, that's right about 700 years ago. Whilst a fly can be palmered in either direction along the hook shank and doesn't necessarily require wire or…

Although this is a nifty way of representing legs on a fly, particularly a nymph, it is not used very often. Process A Tie the fly to the stage where it is ready for the thorax to be tied. B Tie your wing casing material in as you would normally do. C Select a hackle feather with barbules between…

I was first introduced to knitted flies around 20 years ago when they were a bit of a fad. Knitted bodies can be interesting and life like depending on the colours and materials used and have the benefit of being flatter than traditional dubbed or wrapped bodies. In the description of the process…

The term "Killer" flies refers to a style of fly rather than just a particular pattern. The common ingredient in the style is that successive pairs of  feathers are tied along the side of the flies vertically. Although there is some controversy over the actual origin of the style New Zealander…

aka Understanding Hooks Related topics: [start-member] [list Link="p=2858" Title="Selecting the right hook"] [list Link="p=2846" Title="Correct placement of the hook in a vice"] [list Link="p=12581" Title="Mechanics of a hook"] [list Link="p=2869" Title="Winding thread onto a hook"] [end-member]…

There are a lot of hooks available to choose from these days. Early in your fly tying career try to get into the habit of using not only an appropriate hook for a particular purpose but also use the same hook type each time you tie a particular fly so that each time you fish a particular fly it…

When you think about the hook to use to tie a fly on there are several considerations that should come into consideration. One area which is often overlooked, or at least not given full consideration, is the holding mechanics of the hook (ceteris parabus i.e. if all other things are the same such…

Once you have correctly placed the hook in the vice in most cases the next step in tying a fly is generally to place or wind some thread on the hook. The thread is used primarily to secure materials  to the hook but in many cases is also part of the dressing of the fly. It doesn't matter if a…

Description of a hook Correct placement of the hook in the vice The hook placement below is for a right handed fly tier. If you are left handed please remember to mirror reverse the instructions. Correct placement of the hook in the vice definitely has an effect on the quality of the fly you tie….

From time to time you will want to tie a small fly but all the hackles and the recipe will say something like "Select a hackle that has barbules that are around the length of the shank of the hook. " and you don't have any hackles as small as that. So you have two choices: Use a hackle that is too…

The fly tiers pinch is sometimes referred to as the "cinch" or "up between the fingers" tie in technique. It is a way of tying in materials in a fixed position without allowing previous wraps of thread to loosen or the material to move round the shank of the hook. If you just wind the thread around…

AKA: Feather slip wings – dry fly Feather slips for use as wings for a dry fly are most often taken from duck feathers but other feathers such as hen, blackbird, pigeon etc. are also used. The best feathers tend to be the secondary flight feathers as the primary feathers have much thicker barbules…

I am a firm believer that in some flies realistic eyes are a trigger that elicits a response from fish. There are many ways of adding eyes to a fly. Alternatives A Burnt monofilament eyes Very realistic eyes can be made by taking a short length of monofilament and burning each end with a flame. The…

Quite a few flies call for the use of "5 minute epoxy". There are many brands available some are dedicated to fly tying and are quite expensive. Alternatively there are equivalent handyman products that are very good and a lot less expensive. My preferred 5 minute epoxy is "Sellys 5 minute everyday…

AKA: Single strand method of dubbing From a fly tying point of view the word "dubbing" has two meanings. The word dubbing is used to describe the technique of attaching natural fibres such as animal fur, and synthetic fibres such as synthetic living fibre (SLF) or antron dubbing, to a thread before…

From a fly tying point of view the word "dubbing" has two meanings. The word dubbing is used to describe the technique of attaching natural fibres such as animal fur, and synthetic fibres such as synthetic living fibre (SLF) or antron dubbing, to a thread before winding it onto a fly. The technique…

You can't always have every colour dubbing on hand. If you don't but have access to knitting wool of the right colour you can make your own dubbing. The conversion process is simple. Just scrape the wool with a sharp blade. The product is ready to go for wet flies but if your using it for a dry fly…

AKA: Down wings – dry fly Dry fly down wings can be tied out of deer hair, synthetic material such as crystal flash or out of  feather fibres. Whilst the directions below apply specifically to deer hair down wings the same fly tying principals apply to other types of down wings except they don't…

There are heaps of options of materials for posts for parachute dun emergers. Deer hair is a great option because it is buoyant itself, has a natural look, there are plenty of color options if viability is a problem and unlike some other post materials lands softly. Set out below are the steps for…

A The process of stacking deer hair is an efficient and effective way of lining up the tips of deer hair. Clip a bunch of deer hair. Insert the bunch of deer hair into the stacking tube with tip down. Insert the stacking tube into the stacking base. Hold the tube with your thumb over the top and…

Outside the competition scene there are no rules about adding floating or sinking devices to leaders or fly lines as visible indicators for use when nymphing rivers. Consequently all sorts of floating indicators in the form of bits of foam, plastic, wool etc. are added to nymphing fly lines or…