{{+1}}Legs{{-1}}
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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 legsA woolly bugger is a good example of a fly with a palmered hackle that represents legs. With a palmered hackle the legs extend along the full length of the fly and in all directions. When palmering legs onto any fly be careful not to overdress the fly with too much hackle. Most things that trout eat only have 2 and 8 legs. |
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B |
Hackle beard legsHackles are said to be tied in beard style when they are tied in toward the front of the fly and then the barbules are pulled down and back with the tips of the hackle fibres toward the hook point. A good example of a bearded hackle fibres is a Mudeye. |
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C |
Teased out legsThe illusion of legs and gills on a fly can be created by carefully picking out or teasing out dubbing. The dubbing can be picked out with a needle or bodkin or for a more robust effect can be pulled out by "sanding" the fly with a section of male Velcro. |
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D |
Full 360° hackle legsLegs on a wet fly are tied in "full" when a substantial number of wraps of the hackle are taken and the hackle tips extend 360 degrees around the hook shank all pointing back at an angle of between 30 degrees and 45 degrees to the hook shank as in the case of church nymph. |
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E |
Sparse 360° or soft hackleA sparse set of 360° legs or soft hackle legs are created on a fly when just one or two turns of soft wet fly hackle are wound around the shank of the hook and the hackle tips extend 360 degrees around the hook shank all pointing back at an angle of between 30 degrees and 45 degrees to the shank of the hook as in the case of spider. |
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F |
Flat over thorax hackle legsAlthough this is a nifty way of representing legs on a fly, particularly a nymph, it is not used very often. |
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G |
Divided legsDivided hackles are either hackles that have first been tied in beard style and then separated or are individual hackle fibres such as those in my nymph that are tied along each side of the thorax. |
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I |
Rubber or silicon legs tied in Chernoble styleRubber and silicon legs come in various thickness and in either round or square profile and can be incorporated into many flies so as to impart further realism and movement into the fly. |
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J |
Rubber or silicon legs installed using a darning needleRubber and silicon legs come in various thickness and in either round or square profile and can be incorporated into many flies so as to impart further realism and movement into the fly. |
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K |
Synthetic material beard legsParticularly on Estuary and Bass flies and increasingly on Trout flies synthetic material is a popular choice when it comes to representing legs on a a fly. |
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L |
Hot legsFor those of us that subscribe to the impressionistic side of fly tying this is a great technique of representing legs and feelers on flies. It an extension of the loop dubbing technique that uses deer hair as the dubbing material rather than the traditional softer wool, fur and synthetic dubbing materials. |
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Author: StephenChatterton