-hairwing-mayfly-early-drake-very-easy-tie

[richardlongley]

I am trying to tie up some myfly patterns, and I particularly liked this one :

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/fly-tying...-easy-tie.html

i had some problems with twisting/kinking line, and also the flies not sitting on the water 'upright',,,, so this pattern looked ideal.
tried tying 3 last night, first was bad, far too long and stragly hackle, but the 2nd was not too bad, I think it would probably catch fish. (third one went wrong at the end)

But I had the same problem each time, the squirrel tail slips while I am tying. I cant get it to sit on top of the hook while I tie on the hackle, and so it ends up all wrapped arounf the hook. I can gather it back up more or less, but I am sure it is detracting from the fly a little.

Any tips on keeping the squirrel hair on top of the hook whilst tieing?

Finally, I want to try a few different colours, I guess I can just use different hackles and dubbing???? I would like some more green/brown rather than the grey /brown I get with this dressing.

Thanks in advance!!

also, if I want to have some split wings, anyone advise on how best to do that???

[Arthur Wellesley]

Try a pinch loop, and tighten by pulling the thread upwards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEBYtgDUjjI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEBYtgDUjjI

Kev

[shawsidespringers]

This has proved to be a very effective pattern for me during this years Mayfly hatch. I tie in some CDC as well as the squirrel hair - the combination works well. I would avoid split wings as these will twist your tippet.

Dave

[richardlongley]

Thanks guys,

The problem was/is that the entire dressing was spinning on the hook. The pattern appears to me to show starting half way down the hook. I found it held a litle better running touching turns the full length of the hook before tieing in the tail, and then squirrel hair.
I also think I was trying to tie in too much squirrel.

Still, I am finding that the hackle and the squirrel hair are a little 'mixed' and not clearly distinct. Maybe my hackle choice is wrong.

[richardw]

The thread is started half way down but only to get the tails tied and then the bed of thread is continued back towards the eye to make the bed (firmly) for the other materials.


Pinch loop is the way to get the squirrel hair tied in. Tighten it and then wind down towards the bend a little way to anchor the squirrel tail. It is important to follow the order and positions in the SBS for it to come right. All the turns are done as tight as possible without breaking the thread.

richard

[euan]

I had a similar problem with that pattern - I got the pinch loop done ok but as I wound the thread down the shank it pulled the squirrel hair around the hook so it ended up evenly distributed around it
I gave up and tied some easier patterns instead! Figured I would come back to this one when I'd had more practice.
I'm finding hair the hardest material to work with, particularly squirrel as it seems very slippy.

[richardw]

After each turn towards the bend get hold of the hairs and twist them back round the hook into position. By about the fourth turn the hairs hardly move at all and by the sixth turn they are locked in place.

You can reduce the slippiness a little by making sure you have flicked out all the fluffy hairs after cutting your bunch from the tail.

richard

[richardw]

euan and richardlongley,

Are you okay with this now? Have you got the hair under control with these techniques? You can adjust hair quite a lot by pulling and twisting it to where you want it to go and locking it with turns of thread. Anyway let us know if it is getting a bit easier to manage. Once you have sorted this you will blast through these quite quickly, filling your boxes with them if you get carried away...

richard

[euan]

Haven't had a chance to try again yet - at the mo tying times are dictated by when my 11 month old has a snooze midmorning
Its first on my list for next time I get an hr tho. Will let you know how it goes - almost certainly a thread tension problem i think.

[euan]

Just managed to tie it reasonably successfully! Still a lot of room for improvement but all the hair stayed in the right place
Thanks for the tips richardw, richardl have you managed it yet?