Any tips on tying in hair wings ?

[11foot5]

I've just started tying small(ish) hair wing salmon flies. I guess I am making the same mistakes as everyone else.....hair pulling out and then tying heads too big to compensate I've tried a drop of varnish on the wing stubs after about two turns of thread to settle then in place and this seems to work ok but still heads too big in my opinion. Any experts out there with a good technique for this task please?

[roll cast]

Ronn Lucas Sr

You could try the technique demonstrated there at start

Simple All Hair, Hairwing Pilkington - Trout and Salmon Fishing Forum

Or you could try that

[boony]

Firstly, before starting out give yourself some space for the head and attach the thread behind, this should help with your proportions. As for the hair pulling out I put two thread wraps onto the hair, then lift up the stubs and add a couple of thread wraps underneath the buts then lift up little bunches of the stubs and cut your thread into them. This is a poor description i'm afraid and would be better with some photos if i get time i will do an sbs. This sounds like it will yield a large head but it doesn't and the hair never pulls out.

John

[guest21]

Could it be that you're using too much hair? Also, make sure that you're brushing out any under fur that may be amongst the butts.

In fly tying the adage, 'less is more' is a good mantra to adhere to and slim wings not only look better but they fish better too.

PS. Different hairs and furs have different characteristics ... squirrel and stoat, for instance are notoriously slippery whereas bucktail will compress and artic fox is as easy to tie as marabou.

[arkle]

There are several methods around this, particularly with so-called hard hair. Have you tried this one Hard hair wings - A small trick for easing tying on squirrel wings and other hard-hair wings - Global FlyFisher Doubtless Mr. McPhail has several listed as well.

[WelshOsprey]

No expert by any stretch of the imagination but have ben tying a few recently on sea trout flies and waxing the thread and then a small dollop of superglue after a couple of turns before adding a few more turns over to secure seems to work for me.Also as has been mentioned not to much hair at one time. If you want lots of hair do it in a couple or three stages/layers.

[shpeil]

^^^^

That's exactly what I do - though will give the scalpel idea a go next time. Looks useful for controlling head size/shape more effectively.

[johnclayton]

Originally Posted by 11foot5

I've just started tying small(ish) hair wing salmon flies. I guess I am making the same mistakes as everyone else.....hair pulling out and then tying heads too big to compensate I've tried a drop of varnish on the wing stubs after about two turns of thread to settle then in place and this seems to work ok but still heads too big in my opinion. Any experts out there with a good technique for this task please?

The method of how much hair should be in a hair wing fly is to lightly roll the hair and it should be the the same thickness as the body.
A method of tying in hair that doesn't compress like squirrel is when it is tied in divide it in half and take your thread through and and back underneath and carry on putting some thread raps through. Then cut the hair at an angle so you get a nice neat head.

JohnClayton

[cammy]

Also make sure you pull out all ther crud and wee stubby bits at the cut end before you try to tie it in.

[lauren]

Try tying the hair over the eye with a few turns of waxed silk then pull the hair back and bind down to create the head, I've not had hair coming out using this way of creating a slim hair wing.