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Thread: Dry fly tails

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    bozone, mt
    Posts
    518

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    Consider sure. Do it too, at some point. Pics do take time. I shoot them constantly during the tying season.
    Now it's fishing and boating season. Haven't fired up a vise in weeks. Nor the camera.

    There's really not much to it. I lash a clump of hair (it doesn't have to be Fox Squirrel) on much like any hair tail. No different than starting a Blonde Wulff.
    You do need long fibered hairs of some sort. I leave the butt ends running wild off the front end of the fly. Then I trim them to length (while still parallel to the shank, pointing forward, past the eye of the hook).

    Trimming to length is the only hard part. The butt ends need to be shorter than you initially expect. But that's easy to get right. Trim the butt ends. Push them up at right angles to the shank and then re-trim again if needed. Dub the abdomen and pull the thread through the hairs so it now hangs from the front side of the hackles. Pull the fibers back. Wind a tightly-wrapped lump of thread immediately in front of the hackles fibers. Put a tiny drop of CA glue on that lump (in front of the hackles). Now they're locked in place forever. But a bit of dubbing behind they eye and call it good. This is not an anatomical imitation of anything real. But it is no less realistic than any Wulff fly or Goofus Bug. It's a quick cheap and durable big river attractor that works well for me.

    ....this is a subsequent edit:

    There is a difference in the initial tail mounting. On most dry flies with a hair tail (Royal Wulff etc) you would try to position the tail fibers on top of the rear end of the shank. I try to mount the tail (so it is still a neat cylinder of fibers) so it surrounds the shank as much as possible. Then, once over-wrapped up to the hackle position, it's easier to get the hackle-end-fibers to not only be at right angles to the shank, but also to splay out 360 degrees, in all directions.
    Last edited by pittendrigh; 07-17-2011 at 08:30 PM. Reason: get it right

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    16

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    I'm using Mink tail and Spade hackle depending on the style and size of the fly I want to tie. wcglass

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Beacon Falls, CT
    Posts
    1,371

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    Hey, considering the times, what a great way to tie a dry fly without using a hackle feather.

    How practical can it get ?

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    shamokin, pa.
    Posts
    938

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    Hackle fibers, micro-fibbets/paint brush fibers (use these mostly on split-tail spent wing patterns), moose, deer, calftail, gray fox guard hairs, woodduck (and other duck) flank feathers, woodchuck tail fibers and guard hair, and in a pinch - muskrat guard hairs (very stiff). Also Egyptian geese have beautiful barred flank feathers, and don't forget the Hooded-Merganser (hoodie) flank feathers!!

    Best regards, Dave S.

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