THE TYING TECHNIQUE
in full colour
Step 1
For the CS54 it is necessary to reshape the hook between thumb
and forefinger. Place the hook in the vice and wrap the entire shank
with the tying thread. This avoids the difficulty of a slipping wing
when the fly is finished. Cut off a strand of poly-yarn and taper
the tip with your scissors before tying in; this is to be sure the
underbody will be as slim as possible. Secure the yarn onto the top
of the hook shank with the thread at the position shown in the
drawing.
Step 2
Wrapping your thread down to the bend and backwards.
Step 3
Try to make a nice tapered under body. I like a slim and
well-tapered under body. Be very critical in this stage! The better
the under body the more beautiful the completed fly.
Step 4
Tie in the hackle so it lies in the same orientation as the
yarn. Form an upright wing by tying up the yarn and hackle. (see
drawing 2) This is to be sure you have no problems with the hackle
in the other tying steps.
Step 5
Apply a small amount of dubbing to the thread. Take as much
dubbing just to cover the under body. Tie the body very slim and
well tapered. Start as close to the barb as possible. The thinner
the body the more successful the pattern. Wind it along the shank
and stop just behind the wing and cut off surplus poly or use the
last piece of dubbing as underground for the thorax. In that
situation it is not really necessary to cut off surplus. I recommend
trying both techniques because for some people it is much easier to
produce a better-looking thorax when you have made an under body.
Step 6
Tie in three peacock herl fibres. You can also tie the strands
in at their tips, this will help you to create a much nicer thorax.
I secure the strands well also behind the wing. This provides that
the thorax will come off.
Step 7
TIE OFF and varnish.
ATTENTION NOW
TAKE YOUR BOBBIN WITH SPIDERWEB!!!!
Step 8
Now turn the hook in the vice, so that the wing is horizontal,
with the bend uppermost. Grasping the tuft of poly-yarn, put on the
spiderweb, wind several turns around the base of the poly-yarn and
create a rigid wing base on which to wind the hackle.
Step 9
Wind the hackle around the base. Start at the top of your wing
base, taking each successive turn closer to the hook shank. Take as
many turns as the type of hook requires. Small flies about 5
windings and bigger flies at least 7 or 8 windings. Remember that
the fly has to float mainly on the parachute. A lot of people wind
their hackle in the opposite way, working up the wing, the hackle is
less durable and may still come off. When you work from top
downwards it ensures a compact well-compressed hackle and a most
durable construction. Pulling the hackle tip to the opposite
direction as the wing and secure with a few turns of spiderweb.
Secure well around the base of the wing between the wound hackle and
body. Using your whip finisher. Trim away the waste hackle tip and
hackle fibres that are pointed down. Take your varnish applicator
and apply some lacquer on the windings just under the parachute. Be
sure the lacquer will be very thin so the yarn can absorb it well.
This step is extremely important to make the parachute as durable as
possible. My favourite lacquer is a mix of cellulose dilute with
acetone. It only means you never can aggressive floatants anymore.
Step 10
The completed fly
Back to dry flies
|
