First fly - problems.

[0bi1]

Hi,

I tried my first fly tying last night using the Beginners Guide to Fly Tying book and materials pack. So my first fly was the Black Pennell.

First problem was working out which materials were which! I'm an absolute beginner (as most people who buy the book and pack probably are), so bunging it all in the bag without labels had the air blue!

Needless to say I encountered some problems along the way. Can anyone please advise what I'm likely to be doing wrong or what I could do to avoid the problems.

After some problems with the floss I managed to get the body; tail and ribbing on. Using the hackle pliers made working with floss easier I found (apologies if I just offended anyone ).

I tied the hackle in about 4 times. Every time I started to wind it pulled out no matter how hard I tightened it on or which direction I wound it. Is there a correct direction to wind?

Once I got it to wind I couldn't get the hackle to slant backwards, and I don't think I'd left enough room so getting 3 winds on was really difficult.

I really struggled to tie off the end of the hackle. If I held the hackle even slightly forward it just pulled it off the hook. holding it at 90 degrees to the hook and my thread just flattened the hackle fibres and didn't catch the hackle stalk.

Whip finish. Oh dear. I did practice before I started and was rubbish at it then so no surprise I couldn't do it when it came to crunch time. Needless to say I have bought a Materelli style whip finish tool today.

Side on the finished fly does look like a black pennell fly. Looking straight on it is obvious my tying off the hackle and the whip finish attempts have left some areas without any hackle fibres!

Some of the problems seemed to be because I had run out of room, so will try again tonight and leave a bit more space this time.

In the mean time, any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

0bi1

[John Gray]

Hi Obi1,

Tying in a golden pheasant tippet tail is not the easiest skill to master. I would suggest you begin with a simple black spider:

Materials:

Hook: size 10 down eyed wet fly hook

Body: black tying thread

Hackle: a black hen hackle with a fine stalk.

Method:

Holding the thread spool in a bobbin holder, tie in the thread about 2 mm from the eye of the hook, wind (away from you over the top of the hook) back along the hook shank, in touching turns, to a point level with the hook barb (cutting off the tag end before reaching the last couple of turns), and back again to the starting point. The body should be smooth with no overlapping turns.

Strip the fluffy hackle fibres from the base of a black hen hackle. Lay the hackle along the top of the hook with the stalk lying forward over the hook eye and the hackle fibres curving downwards. Secure the hackle stalk with two or three touching turns of thread, wound forward towards the hook eye. Cut off the surplus length of hackle stalk with fine pointed scissors. Allow the bobbin holder to hang straight down keeping the thread under slight tension.

With the tip of the hackle gripped in your hackle pliers, wind three full turns of the hackle round the hook towards the hook eye, winding in the same direction as the thread. Keep the hackle pliers under slight tension while you catch and tie the last turn of hackle in with two turns of tying thread. Carefully cut off the surplus hackle tip. Wind the tying thread firmly through the hackle two turns back and two turns forward again towards the hook eye, being careful to avoid catching and tying down individual hackle fibres.

Form a small neat head using a whip finish, while holding back the hackle fibres at the desired angle, slightly backward of the vertical. I prefer to do this using the first and second finger of the right hand, rather than a whip finish tool. For an illustration, see:

Whip Finish

Apply a drop of varnish to the head using a needle, being careful to avoid getting varnish on the hackle.

It is worth spending some time perfecting your whip finish before progressing to more complicated flies.

[steve101]

Obi
I'm ana absolute beginner like yourself and I noticed the same problem (if I'm understanding you) with the hackle curling forwards rather than backwards as it should. If you look at the hackle the feathers are concave - they curl in a particular direction. I tied in with the curl facing backwards and this solved the problem.

[horses50]

If you have a good look at the feather you will find one side is shiney and the other side is not,always have the shiney side facing towards you.

[0bi1]

Originally Posted by John Gray

Hi Obi1,

Tying in a golden pheasant tippet tail is not the easiest skill to master. I would suggest you begin with a simple black spider:

Hi John,

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I took your advice and tried the black spider. It was so much easier tying in the hackle on top as you suggested.

I'm still struggling a bit to wind it on successfully and I am ruining it when tying off the hackle after the winds so need to practice that some more.

And although I managed to do the whip finish using my fingers, to say it is clumsy would be the understatement of the centrury. Many of the hackle fibres that survived my tying off the hackle, were not so fortunate when it came to my whip finish.

I'll stick with this fly for a while until I'm happy I can do those two skills to a reasonable level. Then I'll try the black pennell again.

Thanks

Tony

[codenamemilo]

Top advice already.

I would add to this by saying do not let yourself get frustrated by poor early results. There are a lot of diferrent techniques to learn, from thread control, hackles, dubbing, winging etcetera - let alone knowledge of proportions and patterns - and despite your earnest efforts your early ties will be scrappy. I should know I have just cleared out 4 fly boxes full of dross

Scrappy or not fish them, you will catch regardless and the buzz you get is fantastic. Worth seeing if there is a fly dressers guild near you or an evening class/meet.

Enjoy the tying and I look forward to seeing your efforts.

[0bi1]

Originally Posted by steve101

Obi
I'm ana absolute beginner like yourself and I noticed the same problem (if I'm understanding you) with the hackle curling forwards rather than backwards as it should. If you look at the hackle the feathers are concave - they curl in a particular direction. I tied in with the curl facing backwards and this solved the problem.

And Horses50 too.

Thanks for replies. I'm beginning to understand that. My problem was I was following the book and put the shiny side towards the head of the fly, but the feather bent that way too!

Now I have no idea if that is natural or not (but suspect it isn't) so it is probably due to the way they have all been stuffed into a tiny bag.

[steve collyer]

As others have said, work your way up to the black pennell.
After you've got decent results with the black spider, assuming you have peacock herl maybe try the black & peacock spider.
Also, keep practicing the whip finish by hand on a bare hook until you can do it in your sleep.
I came back from 20 years of not tying & once you learn these things it really is like riding a bike.
Good luck & just stick with it. I promise it will all suddenly click into place.
Once you've got on well with the spiders, go back to the black pennell.
Anyone with even the slightest dexterity can tie very well. I have fingers like a bunch of bananas! It's really just practice.

[paramedicpete]

Hi Obi1

The step by step in fly tying section is second to none lots about particular flies and basic techniques from some well all very good tyers invaluable for anything else just ask their knowledge is amazing as is their skill and all willing to pass it on.

Here is the link to the black pennal

Black Pennel x2

also it is time of year for fly tying classes/clubs to get more busy ask local lads/lassies near you on here where they are they are friendly informative places and the best to learn from the horses mouth as it were.

like here http://www.falkirkflydressers.co.uk/

Pete

ps its addictive

[horses50]

When i first started tying the guy who was teaching would give me simple exercises to do,first get used to putting thread on the hook,touching turns,when i got used to doing that he would show me how to put dubbing on and i would practice that till i got that right,then it was putting hackles onto the hook till that was perfected,hope you can now get the drift on how i was taught.Fly tying really is mastering 4 or 5 basic steps and once you can master those you can then put it together all on one hook.Keep practicing, it will all fall into place.