Hello all,

Because of all the snow, and a great run-off this year, we're having one of the best Stonefly Seasons we've had in years on my home rivers, and I've been tying some big foam stoneflies, and most of the recipes call for bullet heads. Having only tried this a couple of times, I can tell you, it was difficult at first. I'm a commercial tier and guide who ties 3-4,000 flies per year, so I should be able to do a bullet head well right? Wrong! It took a lot of practice, some frustration, and Charlie Craven's great tutorial on the Rogue Stone.

A couple of things I tried and learned:

1. I had to leave more room for the head than I thought I'd need to avoid crowding the eye.

2. I definately had to cut the hair before spinning it around the shank.

3. I had to use more hair than I thought I'd need to create the large, floating heads I've seen on the sample patterns I was using as models.

4. Using 3/0 Monocord helps to avoid breakage.

5. The hardest part of the entire thing was getting each individual hair to lay aligned, so the head was tight, and uniform. I did this by stroking the hair back with a triangle created by my fingers, and then keeping it tight and in place while I wrapped a couple of loose turns around the head to keep the hairs in place.


I could still use some tips from you all if you have any techniques you use to create perfect ( dare I say the word ) bullet heads. Here's an X-Cicada I tied on a size 10 hook with Rainey's Float Foam. Notice the bottom of the fly is completely round and bulbous, and there is no sign of the hook.





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Jude
Small flies work best. Elephants eat peanuts. [url=http://www.customflys.com:aa385]www.customflys.com[/url:aa385]



[This message has been edited by Riverdancer (edited 31 May 2005).]