Snake Flies .. Part 1 Making the body
I have only been practising tying snake flies since last year so I'm no expert, but if anyone wants to give it a go, here's a wee SBS. Others will no doubt do things differently, but this works for me, and it's the only way I know how so far. Thanks for viewing.
Here's the materials you will need.
A sewing needle with a large eye.
Braided Monofilament, the hollow stuff you make braided loops from. This is 25lb b/s braid.
Some ordinary 'gut', you want it strong enough not to snap under hand pressure, but thin enough to go through the eye of your needle. 6lbs b/s is about right. (Jesus my spool is covered in sand, must get that cleaned right away.)
Scissors
Thread in bobbin holder
A straight eyed treble hook, or double, or even single if you prefer. It's your choice.
Waterproof superglue, I use Zap-A-Gap
Cut a length of braided monofilament. For this fly the overall length from the back of the hook to the tip of the 'eye' is 2.5 inches, so if you are doing this for the first time make your cut about 4.5 inches to give yourself plenty to play with forming both loops, in time you will learn to cut down the waste by only cutting the exact length required.
Thread the braided mono, from now on we will refer it to it as braid, through the eye of the hook.
Knot a good length of about 8 inches (gives you plenty to work with) of mono, or gut as I still like to call it, on the end of the braid, like this.
Trim the waste mono and the braid, but don't go too near the mono know on the braid or the mono knot will slip off, you need a couple of mm for the mono to bite in.
This is about perfect for the job, and you start to see what I'm doing, forming a loop around the hook.
Next, thread the wayward end of mono through the eye of the needle and slide needle down.
Take the needle point into the hollow core of the braid, and make sure it doesn't come out through and back in again, you want the needle straight through the core. It's important not to needle point the braid too close to the hook as you need slightly more braid to come through it's core, enough to secure the hook, with a little protruding out the core, to be trimmed after bedding in.
So pull the needle clean through, and firmly gripping the needle keep pulling and the mono will follow all the way through.
Then carefully pull tight on the mono and, if required, gently massage the knot at the braid/mono, to allow it to pass through on itself, through the core.
Now trim the waste braid tight to the external join, where it comes out it's core. You could, to begin with, leave the waste on until you have bedded in the joint. (next)
Take the body, hook side in your 'bad' hand and use thumb and fore-finger to pinch hold together the join. As I have cut the waste, any wrong movement here would see the braid fall back out from inside it's core and the loop would unravel. That's why I mentioned it might be easier to leave the waste until you have bedded the joint in.
You can either use a tiny dab of superglue to join the braid on itself through the core, but I find this goes rock solid and makes the bedding in bulkier. Any bulk at this stage of your loops will be magnified when dressing the hook so you really want to bed in with a layer of thread first.
I've worked out a simple way to speed this process up as it's very pernickity in the hands, using thumb and fore finger on my bad hand (left) I trap the thread in this grip holding it against the braid towards the hook, I then carefully put round two or three turns of thread, to bed in the edge of the thread, in the exact same way you would normally do to set your bed of thread onto any hook, i then pinch grip both side of the braid, allowing only a space which covers the area i want to cover in thread, and holding the braid tight I just spin the bobbin holder around. If you do this with your hands above each other vertically, with the bobbin holder spinning around horizontally, if you do it fast enough to keep the pressure on, the thread will will against each wrap and work its way down to bed in and completely cover the braid join.
I then dab on a little Zap-A-Gap, and spin thread around 3 or 4 times, then dab the bed of thread with thumb and forefinger, this will dry the glue and lock in your thread. Don't hold on a second too long, or you WILL glue your fingers together.
At that point there is no need for a whip finish or half hitch, the glue has locked in the thread, just trim thread away, add another tiny dab of glue and roll the join in thumb and forefinger to give added protection.
Make sure you bed your thread right down tight to the eye of the hook, but not too tight. You want the braid to be able to move around the hook, but only when using slight force, this way the hook will sit straight and parallel with the fly in the swim.
Repeat the same process at the other side, after carefully measuring your braid to desired length. This time leave plenty room for an open eye, and don't worry if the eye ends up on the large open side, it's far better than the eye being too tight.
Repeat the process for bedding in the join then glue over, lock in thread and dab dry, snip thread away and re-glue just to be sure it's all water tight.
As previously mentioned, you want the hook to give way to the braid under pressure, but not be slack to move on its own by gravity. When it comes to fighting fish the idea is that the hook hold stays strong and true whilst the fish do everything to throw the hook, and as the snake fly bends, there will be no leverage to prise the hook free.
And demonstrating how flexible the snake body is.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE TOP WHIPPING AT THE EYE MUST BE DONE AS FLAT AS POSSIBLE USING TOUCHING TURNS OF THREAD TO STOP BULK BUILDING UP.
IF YOU DO NOT GET THIS RIGHT AT THIS STAGE IT WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU!!
Part 2 coming up. Thanks for viewing.
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