I’ve gone for something smaller this time, it is only an 18, but I have trouble with anything smaller.
I have altered this to #22, I was not looking properly when I took the hook out of the box,
I was watching the golf at Carnoustie on TV at the same time as I tied the fly.
I have just checked the hook size.
It looks like I can tie smaller than I thought. :? :?
Here is the recipe -
Hook: Capt Hamilton Dry Fly #22.
Thread: Black Unithread 8/0
Body: Fine black dubbing.
Wing: White Antron.
Hackle: Small grizzle.
Size 22, very nice! The smallest black gnats I’ve tied are size 16 as a wet fly. I use black hair from an Austrailian possum tail for the dubbing (has some reddish highlights and such that look good). The hair is a bit long and can be hard to tame for dubbing on small flies though. I’ve not tried putting it through the coffee grinder, but I like my coffee “possum free” and we only have the one! ha!
Nice flies guys! The smallest I go is a 20
Hey Donald, Jeff , on the Black Spider is the body supposed to be a single layer or is it a built up tapered body?
The way I tie them, it is a double layer of silk, down the hook and then back towards the eye.
On this page it shows how Stewart tied them, remember he was also tying on the gut, and he was not using a vise. http://www.dtnicolson.dial.pipex.com/page174.html
I have not seen REE on the web, he is probably away fishing.
On the black spider, I tie down and part way back forward. On the way back up I tie in the feather. Then, bring the thread forward, then the hackle, and tie it off. That produces a bit of a taper because at the turn around there’s probably only 1 layer of thread, then just 2 layers for a bit, and then the feather increases the bulk near the tie in, etc.
If you tie the feather in at the front, then wrap it back to the thread, and the thread through the hackle, the body would be less tapered. The hackle would be more firmly tied in as well. However, I usually just make a mess of it when I try and wrap forward, and personally, I tie so many flies that I’m not fussed if the hackle on one breaks. I just salvage the hook later and re-tie up.
I saw a post from JC awhile back concerning him. His computer has gone down for the count apparently, and he’ll be back on line when it’s fixed or he gets a new one. Not sure how long that might be though.
Thanks Jeff,
I’ll give your way a try. I have been tying them like what I thought they should be tied but… I didn’t think the hackle was “Protected”…“tied in good enough”…do you know what I mean? I the flys looked OK, but I think the hackle would let go after a fish or two…Bud
I take a picture and post it for you guys (I don’t think the Gnat’s will mind)
I think the first one looks similar to how I tie them. The 2nd one is what happens to me when I try the “more protected hackle method”. I don’t actually tie them that way very often for this very reason. I find it hard to get the thread through without mashing fibres down. I think it is possible, if you sort of wiggle the thread back and forth through the fibres, but you need to tie the hackles very sparse with wideish wraps(stripping one side may help?) so that the thread can get between them.
Also, I find when I trap the hackle with the thread at mid body and then trim the feather, there’s always an untidy bit sticking out. If you cover it with thread wraps, it bulges the body, and if you don’t, it’s un-tidy looking (I’m sure the fish don’t care, so I shouldn’t really).
So, I forgo the strengthening of the hackle myself and just tie the feather in at mid body, bring the thread to the head first, then wrap the hackle forward, and tie off normally.
Jeff
P.S. When I tie the hackle in, I’ll tie the stem (or tip) pointing towards the bend and tie it in as I wrap the body back from bend towards the eye. That’s where I get the slight taper from. It looks to me (in your upper photo) that you’ve tied the stem or tip pointing towards the eye. That reduces the “taper”, and you get a nice level body.
Very well done, my friend. I have trouble even seeing a size 22 hook. VEE does quite well with them, but my lazy eye tends to throw me off a bit.
HC, I really like the way the second one looks. Very, very buggy! Think I’ll tie mine that way.
Jeff, thanks for updating folks on my puters demise. I am now sitting in front of a new Dell with an AMD dual core processor with 2 gigs of Sdram, a 19 inch widescreen flat panel monitor, all hooked up to Comcast cable. This thing is screamin’ fast.
Man, you go off line for a week or so and there are a ton of new posts to go through.
Exactly! I also strip the upper fibers (cut them off actually) so as not to get that bottle brush effect.
I don’t have a problem with the other hackles but with Starling the barbules are so fine they get mangled pretty easily by weaving the thread though them. I also like the first one better that’s how I tie pretty much all my soft hackles except for the nymphs. Thanks for all the input the books REE suggested to me all pretty much stated single layer level body, but your looked sort of tapered( which I happen to like better anyway).
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[/url:90623] and this one is how Jeff explained it to me (I Think) :lol:
