Hello again all!!! I need a little bit of advise concerning deer hair poppers and Dahlberg Divers.

First of all, I have gotten some of the nack for spinning deer hair. My problem is that I have a few pro tied flies and for some reason I can't seem to stack the deer hair as tightly as the pros do. i know I am not a pro, but would like to make something a little closer than what I have been doing.

I am tying size 8 type flies, and with the help of the deer hair packer, I can get quite a bit on the hook. I just can't seem to make a decent head when cutting it. By this I am meaning tight looking. I can make the head right, but for som reason to make it look "solid" I have to cut the hair down to almost nothing.

So with that info, could I be using hair that isn't thick enough? Am I just not putting enough hair on at a time when spinning? I am using the bottom of the hair and cutting of the tips to the lengths I may use, am I cutting the tips off to much? Let's say that I want to make a tapered head from rear to forward, should I spin shorter hair at the front, or should I leave it long and cut it off after spinning to get a more solid look??

I can make poppers and divers somewhat well, but after cutting and leaving a decent size head, the head still looks ... "hairy" would still be the right label. I have tried using razor blades, and have to cut the thing so short it doesn't seem big enough to work right. I just can't seem to get what I feel is not being able to pack the hair enough. I don't think it is lack of pressure, I have actually bent 2 hooks lately from packing and had to rebend the straight.

Also, I use 2 loose loops, then tighten to flair hair, use 1 or 2 more loops to make sure it is fully flaired, pack hair with tool, then use a wrap or two infront of the hair (pulling it rear as best I can) and then moving thread forward for another spinning proceedure.

Any help would be appreciated!!!

Thanks,

Reg