| 1/ First
off wrap a nice even base of thread starting from
near the front of the hook and extending to the
point where you are going to tie in your first part
of the fly, the tail. This point should be roughly
level with the barb on the hook. Once this is completed
and you have a good bed of thread proceed to step
two. |
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| 2/
Now take a piece of flat gold tinsel. Tie
this in at the rear of the hook extending towards
the back of the fly. This tinsel is to be wrapped
flat around the hook to create a little bit of flash
at the back of this particular pattern. Once this
is securely attached trim the excess and lay a couple
of thread wraps to disguise the cut and give a nice
even flat bed of thread on to tie on . |
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| 3/ Next
tie in the gold tinsel and wrap it firmly (don't
break it though!) back toward down the bend of the
hook to about a third of the way around the hook
bend. Then very carefully wind back over itself
back towards the thread where you started. Tie off
with the thread and remove the excess tinsel. Then
move to step 4. |
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| 4/
Next take two pieces of good bushy peacock
herl. These should be tied in extending to the rear
of the fly and with the bushiest side of the feather
on the outside. This will allow a good body to be
easily constructed as the wrapping of the herl around
the hook shank will cause it to stand out at right
angles to the hook. Trim the excess and wind the
thread forward to a point roughly 1/3 the shank
length short of the hook eye. |
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| 5/ Now
take one of the herl pieces and very carefully wind
it forward towards the thread. Make each successive
wrap just to the front of the previous one to construct
a nice plump body. Care must be taken to avoid breaking
the very delicate herl which would mean untying
the last step and replacing the broken herl with
new pieces. Once finished, tie off and trim the
excess herl. |
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| 6/ Take
the second piece of herl and wind forward toward
the thread. This time the object is not so much
to make each turn in front of the previous one but
more so to avoid crushing the previous herl and
also to fill in any gaps that may be obvious to
the tier. Winding it in a gentle to and fro motion
will help you to not squash the herl already in
place. When you reach the thread tie off and trim
like in the last step. |
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| 7/ We
are nearly finished. Select a good quality hackle
feather from your cape. Either Ginger or Brown,
light or dark. I have used a normal Brown Cock feather
here. Tie it angled backwards and with the dull
side towards you. This will assist in getting the
hackle to stand up correctly right from the very
first turn. Once this is tied in trim the excess
feather stem and wind the thread forward to the
eye of the hook. |
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| 8/ Lastly
take the hackle feather and carefully wind it forward
to the thread. Make sure each successive turn is
just forward of the previous one just like in Step
5 with the peacock herl. When you are satisfied
with how the fly looks (the one pictured has about
the minimum amount of hackle I would use) tie off
the hackle, trim the excess and apply a couple of
half hitches. |
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