The Little Red Wire

[JohnScott]

Along with the usual assortment of fly tying tools at my desk, I have this ...



little red wire.

It's a piece of brassie size ultra wire that I use to be sure the eye of the hook is clear of material and head cement before I put the fly in the fly box. Since I started using it, I very seldom am frustrated while on the water trying to tie a fly onto the tippet.

So what do you use ??

John

[FishnDave]

Thats a good idea!
I use the tip of the bodkin to make sure the hook eye is unobstructed. But I generally don't tie smaller than size 12 flies, so maybe a bodkin doesn't work on smaller hook eyelets?

[Normand]

i use a feather. insert the stem end in the eye of the hook and just pull thru. head cement is gone.

[grumps]

hi john

i use the tipe end of a hackle. i clean the first half inch of the stem of barbs and just push it through the eye of the fly. when the barbs remaining on the tip are pulled through they do a thorough cleaning of the entire interior of the eye.

grumps

[Panman]

Most of my ties are without head cement and if I do need to clear an eye I use a sewing needle.

Tim

[JohnScott]

Norman and grumps -

Never would of thought of that !! Got to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.


Dave -

I don't tie very many flies over size 12. The tip of the bodkin will work, but it tends to not go far enough through the eye on the smaller hooks to really clean it out. The rougher edges of the wire and the fact you can pull the entire length through the eye make the little red wire more effective, at least for me.

John

[ducksterman]

Put me in the feather group...of course you have to do it while the cement is still wet ...but it cleans better than metal.

[Normand]

u can make a bodkin using an old mechanical draftsmans pencil (thats kinda funny since i'm an old draftsman but i dont use the mechanical pencil anymore. thank god for computers and drafting software!!) in .3 and .5 mm and a needle that fits in place of lead.

[bassman]

John, I am like you I do clean the eyes out mostly with a small piece of wire. John

[Eight Thumbs]

I've always used a left-over piece of saddle hackle with the fibers still attached to clean hook eyes. I usually strip the quill for a quarter of an inch to make it easier to insert into the hook eye and then pull the rest of the "feather duster" through. I like the idea of a piece of wire but I would be tempted to insert the wire into a wooden dowel for ease of handling and loss prevention. Just my 2% of a dollar on a good idea. 8T