Humpy
Fly and Photos by Martin Westbeek
Oisterwijk, Netherlands
Materials: Humpy
Thread: 8/0, lt. Cahill*.
Hook: TMC 100, #12.
Tail: Moose.
Body: Thread.
Overbody and wing: Elk cow.
Hackle: Silver Saddle, furnace and grizzly.
Tying Instructions: Humpy
1. Start the thread* halfway the hook shank.
This is important, as it is the reference
point for the body. Wrap to the bend, tie
in tail, wrap to halfway point. (*You can
use 6/0, but I've found that 8/0, because of
its smaller diameter, "bites" into the material
better than 6/0.)
2. Take a bunch of Elk, remove all underfur,
stack well, size (correct size is from tip
of the tail to hook eye), and cut to length.
3. Tie the Elk to the hook, wrap towards the
bend, keeping the Elk on top of the hook. Wrap
until you've completely covered the thread wraps
for the tail. Never mind the stubs at the tie-in
point - they will disappear later on.
4. Wrap the underbody with thread. Pray that it
doesn't break, which happened to me... Lift the
Elk, give it a quarter turn, fold it over and tie
down on top of the hook shank. This should be at
the halfway point. After three thread wraps I lift
the wing and put two wraps under the wing around
the shank, then three wraps over the wing again. I
finish with one wrap around the shank only.
5. Divide the wing, put thread wraps around the
base of each wing, post the wings. Lay a thread
foundation in front of the wing, making a smooth
taper towards the eye. Without this thread
foundation the hackle will be all over the
place due to the big difference in diameter
behind and in front of the wing.
6. Tie in the hackle(s), dull side facing
forward. Don't tie the hackle down where the
barbs start; leave a short length of bare
stem, which will produce a cleaner start
of the hackled collar. The ugly spot, where
the thread broke, will be covered with the
first wrap of the furnace hackle.
7. Palmer the hackles forward, starting with
the hackle that was tied in last (here: the
grizzly one). Tie off hackles and whip finish.
Done! ~ MW
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