How come when tying bass bug the legs are put into place after you are done spinning the deer hair? Why can't you put it in as you're spinning the hair?
Legs on bass bugs
How come when tying bass bug the legs are put into place after you are done spinning the deer hair? Why can't you put it in as you're spinning the hair?
You can put them on at any time however, if you already have the legs in place and you try to trim the deerhair to shape you will have a difficult time not accidently cutting the legs at the same time as the deer hair.
Jim Smith
Frog,
Most of the recipes I've seen for adding legs to a spun deerhair bug show the legs being put in as the bug is built, not afterwards...but, as Jim pointed out, then you have to worry about accidently cutting the legs when you trim the hair.
I tried it that way when I first started spinning bugs, then switched for a bit to adding them 'after'. It's easier, they get placed exactly where you want them on the finished bug, and you can trim the heads without worrying about the legs.
Now, however, I just skip the rubber legs completely. Where I fish, I've seen no need for them. AND, the little bass and bluegills were always pulling on them.
Up to you how you, or if, you choose to do this....the fish won't care either way.
Buddy
It Just Doesn't Matter....
It's a bit of a headache when you're trimming the hair but it can be solved by twisting them together to the oposite side of where you're trimming. IMHO, it's just matter of preference.
I believe I can fly fish
If the hair is packed tight and you have a nice dense body and you tie them on after you trim the hair, they will leave the hair separated all the way around the body. if you tie them on between bunches of spun hair, you wont have this problem. With rubber legs, they will stretch out of the way. you just have to be careful if you're trimming with a razor blade.
I've also seen then threaded straight thru with a bobbin threader, but unless you can get under a thread wrap, they will put straight out.
I tie them in during the spinning. I don't have a problem trimming around them, I have a problem REMEMBERING to add during the spinning!!! When i HAVE to add them after wards, I cut in have (left & right), use a drop of SA glue to hold the (body side) tips together, then use Shoe Goo to adhere down in the trimmed hair. Use a half hitch tool to push aside the hair and make a 'socket' for the legs. One dried, they will not come out without ripping a chunk of hair out with it.
I know that I'm a broken record on this, but buy a copy of Billy Munn's "Tying Bass Bugs with Deerhair". It'll show ya' how to tye in your legs and host of other tips on working hair.
This is a very well done, professional quality production of Billy tying four hairbugs. As he goes through these bugs, he explains everything that he is doing. The photography and sound quality are top notch. It was the best $25.00 that I've ever spent in tying.
Everyone who has every watched Billy Munn work with hair will be thrilled with this DVD. And those of you who have never had the opportunity to watch Mr. Munn, but who wanted to learn to tie hair or "move up" to the next level with your tying are in for a real treat. You will not be disappointed.
Other than contacting Billy at his home (262 Cuba Rd, Bridgeport, TX 76426), I don't know where else they are available. I don't know what he charges for shipping. But if you get it from Billy, he'll autograph it for ya', if ya wish!
Check out what Chris Helms said about Billy Munn is his interview with Hatch's magazine:
"The real turning point in my tying came in 1985 when I attended my first Federation of Fly Fishers Conclave in West Yellowstone, MT. I took a Warmwater Class from Jimmy Nix and Billy Munn, who were probably the two best bass bug tiers in North America at that time. Both of them had won the Buz Buszek Award, so that should give you an idea about their competency. What I learned from them in two days would have taken 15 years on my own. It was so exciting to learn from those guys. It was like taking golf lessons from Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson! The ironic thing about that class was that I hadn't signed up for any classes in advance. This was the only fly tieing class that had any openings. What a break!"
That interview, which is full of great tips on tying deer hair can be found at: http://www.hatchesmagazine.com/page/may2006/175
By the way, now all three of these deer hair tyers tyers are recipients of the Federation of Fly Fishers' Buz Buszek Award.
PS
Want to know how Jimmy Nix got so good? Nix use d to go up to Billy's house several evenings a week to tie with Billy...
Just as an aside, there is away to puthe legs in AFTER without causing any problems with the hair.
It's both fast and very secure. I know it's faster than tying them in while spinning, and saves time dealing with the legs while trimming...
AFTER the bug is trimmed and everything else is done. Use a large sewing needle and thread short portion of the leg/legs through the eye...slide the needle through the body from side to side just ABOVE the hook shank...look at the needle going through from the front to make sure it's level (you can tilt/adjust as needed). You can put the legs through at an ANGLE with this method if you want to, something hard to do if you tie them in.
Pull the legs through a little leaving what would be the 'middle' of the legs (what you want inside the body) showing just outside the side of the body. STRETCH the legs and add some CA glue to them. Pull them into place and relax the rubber.
They will stay in place as long as the bug will last.
Buddy
It Just Doesn't Matter....
This is the way that I do it...works very well, and I never end up cutting the legs off accidentally. Plus it lets you adjust the legs to make sure they are the same lenght on both sides, something that can be difficult to control when working with a big, fuzzy, untrimmed bug.Originally Posted by Buddy Sanders
Wet wadin' hillbilly extraordinaire
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
Heraclitus
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