Well, after 16 years I am going to try and tie again. Well, I wasn’t any good when I did it back then. I found my old kit from High School (Class of 92, make anyone feel old?) and I bought what I lacked in supplies for the flies I will be using here in NM.
So, here is my first complete Elk Hair Caddis (there were two attempts before this). It’s bleached Elk hair with some tan/brown dubbing and dark red hackle and thin copper wire.
I Don’t know about the color combos but I used I had. I only have the one color of hackle for now.
I will spare everyone my first attempt at the Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, it’s pretty beastly looking…
One suggestion I might make would be to tie in your hackle the other way, so that the curvature of the fibers curves forward, rather than back. Its not going to ruin the fly by any means, but you might find that wrapping the hackle in that way keeps your fly floating better, longer.
That fly will catch fish; nice job. One thing I’d recommend would be to shorten the wing a bit. I started tying my wings like Hans Weilenmann does with his CDC & Elk (check out the video): http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenmann/cdcelk.htm
Measure the wing, shank length, cut the hair and then then tie it down. My wings tend to be more consistent when I do it this way.
I’m not sure how you did yours, but when I tie up EHC, I do the following:
-Tie in an extremely fine gold or copper wire, extending off the back of the bend.
-Advance thread to about 2 eye-widths back form the eye, and tie in your hackle, curvature up.
-Palmer hackle to bend of hook
-Maintaining tension on the hackle, make 1-2 complete wraps of wire to secure the hackle at the hook bend.
-Wind your wire up through your hackle to your thread, tie off, and trim
-Tie on wing.
I used to use the wire rib, but now I just leave the tag end of my tying thread long and rib with that. My flies are just as durable and it saves a tying step; I’m all for anything that speeds up my tying.
Also, I like to tie the hackle in at the rear, then palmer it forward, then use my ribbing material over the hackle. It takes a bit of practice to get the hackle working, but I like that the hackle is tied in at both ends.
So I took all the tips in this thread and put them to use.
I slimmed the dubbing out and I tried my best to stack the hairs but I do not have a stacker so I just made a triangle with my fingers and tapped the hairs against my other hand. It seemed to work ok but they were still off so I trimmed the hairs in the back.
Anyone else do that or is it a no no?
I stuck with the gold wire on the hackle but I did reverse the direction like Cold had mentioned and made the wing a bit shorter as Scott noted.
The one thing I noticed was maybe I didn’t not put enough Elk hair on?
Compare it to your first photo and tell us what you think. I’d say you’re well on your way. A.K. Best, an outstanding tyer, said he didn’t really feel he had a pattern down until he’d tied a hundred dozen. Practice makes us all better.
For a first in 16 years or so…I think you did a heckuva good job!
That fly will fish!
The second fly is definitely an improvement…the hackle looks to be cupped towards the front and the wing is a better length. It will catch fish!
However, invest in a good small hair stacker. I like the renzetti model for a small one.
Stack the elk hair for nice, even tips. Don’t cut the tips off. The hair is hollow,…well, maybe not hollow per se, but kinda spongy inside and will wick up water. I also very, very lightly coat the butt-ends of the hair to keep them from wicking in water…and making the fly not float well. Measure out the stacked hair and tie in at the appropriate length.
Even so, you bugs still look fine and will catch fish!!
