Quote:
Originally Posted by paddy5
By the way the fish are not all that fussy about how well you finish them...
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Paddy is right. It's largely a cosmetic exercise. Not that there's anything wrong with taking pride in the finish and wanting to make your flies perfect. If you strive for perfection at the head, then it's likely you're just as concerned with what goes on behind it.
As far as building the head goes, make sure you end up in a position to build the head as you like it... plan the fly out, make sure every turn counts and that you don't apply any unnecessary turns.
A tip which might help: As you come towards the end of the tie, and are tying off this, securing that and adding the other, maybe adding a shoulder hackle or biots/splits etc, undo a couple of the turns that secured the last item before placing the next item in position.... for example, you may tie down the rib (near the eye, obviously) and then tie down the shoulder hackle on top of where the rib finished. In this case then, undo two of the three turns you used to secure the rib (what, you used 10? Why?), position the stalk (or tip) of the shoulder hackle and secure with two or three turns. You just bought yourself two or three turns. The rib hasn't lost any securing turns because they are re-applied when securing the hackle. If you're then going to add JC or biots, do the same again... take off a couple of turns that you applied to secure the shoulder hackle... and so on. Some flies have a surprising amount of tying off/tying in of materials at head end, so if you do this each time, you could buy yourself a dozen turns less. That's a dozen turns that won't be bulking things up at the head end.
Flat multistrand thread (UTC etc) can be more forgiving than single strand and give you smoother finish.
For finishing, with varnish etc... apply two coats of your chosen gloop.... the first coat soaks in a seals the head, second one fills the gaps and 'self levels' to give that glassy finish. Presto Hey!
advice on tying a good looking head
Glad it helped. Not that it's the definitive answer, or a top secret, or the post took me all day. Would have been nice, not to mention, common courtesey for the thread starter to acknowledge his replies. Not that myself and others do it for the thanks either; sometimes it's just nice to know how they get on.
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