Free fly tying

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 relatively fragile feather slip wing with a more robust and visible white calf tail wing.

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Dry fly upright divided hair and hackle wings

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 relatively fragile feather slip wing with a more robust and visible white calf tail wing.

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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.

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Hackle – legs for foam beetles

Foam beetles remain very popular because they can be truly representational and of course because they float so well.

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Glass rattle eyes

They consist of two eye balls connected by a stem. These eyes are tied onto the top of the hook shank, that has a foundation of thread, using either figure of eight wraps or diagonal wraps as I have described below to lock them into position.

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Sink chain eyes

They consist of two eye balls connected by a stem. These eyes are tied onto the top of the hook shank, that has a foundation of thread, using either figure of eight wraps or diagonal wraps as I have described below to lock them into position.

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Real eyes

They consist of two eye balls connected by a stem. These eyes are tied onto the top of the hook shank, that has a foundation of thread, using either figure of eight wraps or diagonal wraps as I have described below to lock them into position.

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Dumbbell eyes

They consist of two eye balls connected by a stem. These eyes are tied onto the top of the hook shank, that has a foundation of thread, using either figure of eight wraps or diagonal wraps as I have described below to lock them into position.

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Booby eyes made from bean bag beads

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.

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Single strand method of dubbing

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 involves winding in, spinning in or rubbing in the animal fur or synthetic

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