articulated fly?

What do you use to tie the 2 hooks together with? I've read different things and I'm confused.

If it's for a toothy critter - wire from a steel leader. Anything else varying sizes of mono or flourocarbon.

The late, Michael Verduin utilized both braided wire leader material AND hard mono:

"An alternative to conventional poppers came to us through the creative mind of the late Michael Verduin. A master tyer and well known to Federation conclave attendees, Michael created the Ball Joint Popper to deal with those difficult mossed-in ponds of his native Texas in summer.


First, he clipped a deer hair ball then attached splayed feathers to a shank of .014 stainless wire leader. He created a 3/16 -inch diameter
oval by putting both tag ends in the vice, and used a small Phillips screwdriver to form a loop in the wire. The feathered tail section is attached to the ball by a loop of 20-pound test mono. With very little manipulation the fly rocks and rolls within the weed pocket with the slightest rod tip twitch providing action to the feathered trailer even after action to the ball is suspended. That tantalizing action within the confines of a small weed pocket is a powerful inducement for big bass to attack the writhing mixture of feathers and deer hair." http://thebluegillpond.com/archived-...outhBuffet.pdf

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ed-flies/page2

Just depends. Mono used to be popular, and still is in some situations (nymphs), but for the most part people are using either a GSP braided superline (e.g. Spiderwire, Fireline, PowerPro, etc.), coated steel wire (e.g. Beadalon or the AFW equivalent), or uncoated steel wire (e.g. AFW, Cortland Toothy Critter, or Senyo wire). With some of the new shanks, an intermediary material might not even be necessary, because you can run the eye of the rear hook through the front shank (e.g. Fish-Skull Articulated Shank).

What you use is pretty much determined by what you are trying to achieve. Sometimes you are looking for a stiff connection to minimize fouling (e.g. Intruder), sometimes you are looking for flexible connection to maximize motion (e.g. Galloup's Dungeon). If you could be more specific in terms of what you are thinking of tying, a more targeted answer would be possible.