Okay - I’ve been trying to tie some deer hair bugs to go after the bass in the pond down the street from me.
But here’s the catch. I’ve tried tying about a dozen or so, and they all look pretty pathetic. I’m sure they may fool the dumb fish - but I’m going after the smart ones and I think these bugs need to look better.
I’ve been using smaller amounts of hair, all cleaned and stacked, looping 2-3 wraps of thread around it THEN pulling it tight and letting it spin around the shank, and then repeating until I’m almost to the eye.
And they still look like Billy Idol’s hair on a REALLY bad morning.
So the question is - what is YOUR secret for tying deer hair? What’s the “touch” that I’m missing out on?
The key is in how tightly you pack each clump of hair you tie in against the rest. The tighter you pack the hair, the better the bug will float, the better it will look, and the more durable it will be. The rest is hedge trimming. It takes practice to trim the hairs so everything’s even and nice. Having said all that, I’ll bet you’re being more picky about it than even the smart fish will be. Try the ones you’ve already tied, you might surprise yourself.
My secret for deer hair? Don’t tye them at home!! <then I don’t have to deal with the little, pokey, hairs all through the carpet!!>
A pair of nice curved scissors, a nice pair of straight scissors, and half of a double sided razor blade (break it in half, lengthwise) will curve “just right” to get the proper profile.
I asked Chris Helm about similar problems with bass bugs at a show once. His advice was to forget the small bunches of hair. For big bugs he uses several big bunches of hair packed tightly rather than a whole lot of small ones. He said that the small bunch thing is common with guys who tie trout flies. If you are going to tie a lot of hair bugs you might benefit from getting one of his videos
It’s one thing to read about how to do it and yet another to see it done by people that do well at it. I have always enjoyed watching Kelly Galloup tie deer hair. Even though this video is of him tying a zoo cougar you can apply the same techniques to any stacked hair bug. He does a wonderful job of teaching while he ties. It’s a little longer video but watch it a couple of times and really listen to what he has to say and then let us know how your next couple of bass bugs come out. Good luck man!
Deer Hair for the bodies on Bass Fly Patterns, I use the belly hair. Ther two most commonly ways of doing the body, are spinning or stacking.
Al Campbell did some articles as part of the Intermediate Fly Tying Series that just might help you.
I can send you the PDF (adobe reader) versions of these file, just email me at parnelli@comcast.net , or if you want, I can mail you a CD of all the fly patterns that have run on FAOL (13 years), at no charge. ~Parnelli
Mine is I am not very good at that, but only attempted a few. My biggest problem to start is the trimming of that stuff. I know the double edge razor is the tool of choice, but that trimming job to be good takes some practice. I still want to know how to get some of the looks I see when great ones where they actually have eyes and all. Boy now that would take a ton of practice. How many you think the best at this have tied? Way more than I for sure. I had a couple turn out ok, but I butchered a few too.
I know that the main thing is tying more of them and since my experience is like 3 of them I am not one to help much except to say I think if you can shave that stuff right you can make a good looking deer bug.
rather than cutting to shape right from the gitgo, trim flat across the bottom close to shank as you can get. then start blocking it of w/ square cuts all around, cleaning up strays as you go. trim a tapered squared off version if yer feeling bold. once you’ve got it about sized and shaped somewhat properly, trim to shape.
pretty simple once you get a feel for it, but as stated earlier, it takes practice. sometimes lots of it.
Here are two videos which greatly improved my bass bugs! (You can see them in my “Flies” picture album on my profile).
He is a great teacher and you can really SEE what he does - great video quality. Only downside - advertisements at the beginning of the video, but they don’t play if you repeat the video so you only have to suffer through those 30 seconds once each time you visit the video.
Another secret - wash your deer hair, rinse, add conditioner, work it through the hair, rinse again, then let air dry overnight or so. It handles so much more nicely then!
Also, the other secret, patience!
If you post pictures of your bass bugs, we would probably be able to identify at least a part of where your difficulty lies, and thus advise you much more specifically. Don’t be embarrassed if you aren’t entirely happy with how they turned out, that’s why you are asking for help, right?
I have an affinity for bass bugs feel free to e-mail me a few pictures of your flies and I will give you some feedback, if you would like. My e-mail address is karlirae10@gmail.com.
Skip,
The razor blade is the tool of choice, but it does take LOTS of practice. That’s why I suggested good straight, and good curved scissors. They’ll produce good results till the blade becomes more comfortable.
Sounds like your just not packing it tight enough. It needs to be full, and TIGHT. You can buy a hair packer, but I just use the barrel from an old Bic pen, and it works fine. And I trim mine with an electric mustache trimmer. It’s fast, neat and precise.
Use well selected, good quality, tightly packed, well de-furred, properly spun and/or stacked deer hair (See points 3. A & B);
Use fresh “sharp” double edges razor blades- broken in half;
A. Learn the myriad of fine points and tips from a “Master Deer Hair Tyer”. If you don’t have a ready access to a couple of local guru’s, then get to a Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) Conclave/EXPO, where a host of excellent demo tyers will show you everything that you always wanted to learn about tying with deer hair. over the yrears at FederationConclaves and Expo’s I’ve spent hours and hours watching many of the best hair men and women in the country “messin” with hair, i.e. Billy Munn, Chris Helm, Royce Dam, Darwin Atkin, Jimmy Nix, Michael Verduin, Michael Hoffman,Bill Sargeant, Diane Blair, and host of others;
B. Purchase one or more DVDs by Billy Munn, Chris Helm, Royce Dam or etc. - This will be money very, very well spent!; and
Buy a box of 100 hooks; using good quality, plain, gray deer hair spin-up 100 flies , tails are not necessary for these practice flies; trim these 100 flies - replacing your 1/2 razor blades as necessary; cut ALL the hair off the 100 hooks; and repeat this process several times. I know a couple excellent deer hair tyers who learned just like this.
You may also consider joining a FFF club, where you’ll meet other fly fishermen/tyers, many of whom are more than will to share their years of tying experience with you. Don’t forget to go to those FFF Conclaves and EXPO’s!
I don’t know if this will help you, but I learned this a long time ago from my lovely and talented wife, who is a professional artist. Before you start, take a deep breath and clear your mind. Then, picture what you want the end product to look like. Once you get that fixated in your mind, then do whatever you have to do to make it look like the picture.
It sounds weird, but it works for me, on a lot of things.
THANK EVERYONE - Awesome advice and I have a LOT of work to do and a few videos to buy!
Karli-Rae suggested that I post a few of what I’m tying now for feedback.
Here are a couple of attempts to tie a hook up Dahlberg Diver (it’s very weedy where I fish). I used different colors and was never able to get a good “edge” between the layers of hair moving up to the eye:
feel free to e-mail me a few pictures of your flies and I will give you some feedback, if you would like. My e-mail address is 
