Anyone else besides me have a hard time tying tis fly? What is the secret? When I go to tye one the deer hair spins on the hook. I’ll take any suggestions.
Check out the fly of the week archives for the fourth quarter of 2004. humpy is on the bottom on the right side.
Use a little less deer hair and keep it pinched until you have it tied on. Pinch it fairly close to the hook shank and it’ll have less room to rotate.
Hope this helps…
Al and Gretchen Beatty have an outstanding article in the summer 2006 issue of Fly Tyer magazine about tying humpies. Check it out.
You can also use foam instead of deer hair.
Joe
Charlie Craven has a real good tutorial on Humpies:
http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/
One of those flies where you have to be pretty precise about proportions to get it to turn out right. The article mentioned in Flytyer is a good one, too. If you can’t find it, let me know; I’ll try to get it to you. As already stated, foam back instead of hair is an easy answer - more durable, floats longer and fish like them.
Regards,
Scott
Is 210 the right thread? or is size A the better of the 2? I’m using 210. I have that magazine and I’m still having problems. Maybe calf tail would be easier wing material.
What is 210 thread??
You can use 3/0, 6/0 or even 8/0 thread.
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I’ve also found that wrapping the bundle of hair once or twice before you tie it on the hook helps lots.
Good point, Troutstalker99.
What’s everyone’s favorite color and size of Humpy? Anyone use the red one frequently?
If it’s not chartruse, it’s no use. Especially if your fishing clarks creek when the terrestials are coming off the water.
You may have already thought of this, but you should lay down a layer of thread before you tie in the deer hair. This cuts down on the tendency to move about the hook. Also, as mentioned, when tying in the deer hair, make two lose wraps and then pull up snuggly on the third. This will also help with the rotating.
Try tying a humpy with foam. Much less hassle than hair and they work great. I fish a yellow foam humpy the most.
Bill
As I was working on a set for a recent swap, I had the same problem. I found I wasn’t tying the hair tight enough. You are going to be building up a larger body on it anyway, don’t be afraid to use a good number of very tight wraps after getting the bundle tied in with more loose wraps - tight enough that you are just under the point of cutting the hair. Don’t be afraid - put it in a straight jacket.
Here’s Charlie’s Improved Humpy. With it he uses less deer hair and it’s easier to tie:
http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox … rentID=143
Joe
Any particular pattern you use up there? I fish Clark’s quite a bit. Thanks!