spinning deer hair

Hey all,

Yesterday I tied my first handful of muddler minnows, and I'm happy to report that they look fishable, if not professional. While spinning the deer hair has gone reasonably well, I've run into two problems:
1) compared to store-bought flies, the deer-hair heads I've spun have all turned out rather sparse, despite the fact that I started using almost too much hair to handle between thumb and fingers. Could the solution here be to spin several smaller bunches of deer hair, as opposed to just one large one?
2) the heads on some of the muddlers aren't fixed well to the hook and will turn on the shank under little force. I'm not sure what the solution is here. I was told not to wind thread on the part of the shank where I'll be spinning the hair.

If anyone has any ideas for me, I'd love to hear them.

Best,

Dave

Pencil size clumps of deer hair, once tied in, pack with your fingernails and tie in another, and another until you fill the space. Keep shoving the hair back against the previous clump as you go.

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LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

Hi Dave......yes, smaller clumps might help with both your problems. They are easier to pack tightly and easier to compress onto the shank keeping your thread tight.
Here's how I solve the "loose head" problem.....I spin the bunch on with at least 4 tight wraps of thread then spiral a few more wraps thru the bunch til it's in front of it. I then pull the hair back and make 3 or 4 wraps directly in front without the thread travelling toward the eye. All these wraps should be TIGHT! Don't let up on the pressure til you have all the wraps done!
Pack it and do another clump. Hope this helps...Jason
ps..sparse heads on muddlers isnt necessarily a bad thing.

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"There's always room for one more wrap of hackle"

I agree with the sparse heads not always being a bad thing, When trying to go deep it pays to have a few in your box with a slightly less dense head.
Sparse still does not have to mean loose though. I still use tight wraps..I just don't pack as tight.

It pays in many ways to tie ones own!!

All the suggestions above are great! Another thing you can do is after you pack your deer hair, give it a generous drop of head cement right at the hook shank. This will soak into the area you just tied and when dry, give you a very durable fly.

With my muddlers, I actually just stack the hair instead of spinning it. It's a little faster method and produces the same result.

Take Care,

With a little help from the guru of spinning deer hair I learned to spin and HALF HITCH after each addition of hair. Chris Helms will spin half hitch and pack each time.

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Bill

Yes, the Chris Helm's DVD, "Spinning Deer Hair," is excellent.

Actually when I spin, djam, I always cover the base of the shank with thread, not too much, but a little. I find I have better control and the spinning doesn't get away from me.
If you wanna super pack your flies I wouldn't recommend this as pushing back a shank full of thread is alot of work without a hair packer.

It will only get better with time.

Mike

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who finds spinning deer hair a bit frustrating. My bugs and bombers always end up with a bald spot, usually on the right hand side, just going towards the "belly" of the fly. At least I can always easily identify my flies from other peoples. lol

Hi Dave,

You already have several really great answers. I'll just add a couple of thoughts that might help.

When spinning hair it is important to have the right hair for the job. Typically hair located on the animal along the back bone, shoulder, and rump is best used for wings/tails. The hair from the rib area and belly is better for spinning. Most of the time the wing/tail hair is dark gray in color while the spinning hair is light gray. Pages 60 & 61 of the latest issue of Fly Tyer magazine has a couple of illustrations that may help.

Sometimes spun hair isn't distributed evenly around the hook. One way to correct that problem is to flair a small clump of hair in the place on the hook that is a bit sparse. You can also form the heads by flaring the hair on the hook - one clump on the bottom and the next on the top. Some tiers find that method easier.

I agree with a couple of the other folks who posted here. I like to half-hitch and place a drop of head cement to further anchor the hair in place. It help keep the heads from moving around on the hook. Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:ffd32]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:ffd32]