So I got a lot of responses about my last post on fly tying… I thought I would throw up some step-by-step pictures on how I do it. I know a lot of hardcore tiers will have these patterns memorized… this is more for the beginner and for my family and friends… who constantly ask how I do this.
Plus, since it is the middle of July, Nebraska’s unrelenting heat has pushed a lot of fish to deeper water right now; at least deeper then my fly gear can get to. So fishing is a little slow right now.
Above is the Elk Hair Caddis. It is one of the first dry flies that I learned to tie. I put foam based flies in a different category; so of traditional dry flies, this is one of my three favorites. It is a traditional trout fly, but I found it works great on panfish!
The fly is meant to imitate an adult caddis fly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddis_fly
Materials:
Of course you need the Elk Hair! Also needed are some dubbing, and some brown saddle hackle. I like to use black fly tying thread; I feel it provides a good contrast on the fly. I am using a size 12 dry fly hook.
Step 1:
Put the hook in the vise.
Step 2:
Wrap the thread onto the fly… I like to start at the front and work to the back. Shown here is the bobbin… to demonstrate to my non-tying family and friends how the thread holds on.
Step 3:
Tie in a brown saddle hackle… before doing this I added some tying wax to the thread.
Step 4:
Twist some dubbing onto the waxed portion of the thread. I use lots of different colors of dubbing when making this fly.
Step 5:
Wrap the dubbing forward to the eye of the hook… leaving one “eye space” to finish the fly.
Step 6:
Wrap the saddle hackle forward.
Step 7:
Cut off the excess hackle. Trim saddle hackle to a uniform length. If you stop here, you have a midge pattern fly…
Step 8:
Tie some elk hair to the front of the fly.
Step 9:
Cut the excess hair from the front of the fly. I also like to cut the elk hair even with the bend of the hook so the elk hair “wing” has a sharp line on the back. I tie off the thread with a whip finisher, and that is a completed fly!
If I didn’t stop to take pictures, this would be a 5-6 minute fly for me to make!
