Well, I continue my journey into the terribly confusing art of tying dry flies. My most recent frustration is tying a CDC elk hair (size 18). I have some good cdc and bought some short, fine deer hair. Howover, when I am tying in the clump of stacked deer hair, the ends don’t flare out nearly enough (not the butt ends near the hook eye, the other end). Could this be a function of a lack of adequate thread pressure to “splay” the hair? I am using a 6/0 thread because of the hook size, should I use something stronger and apply more pressure? Your thoughts and advise are welcome.
I’m guessing it’s the hair.
When you say ‘short hair’, how short? There is a section at the end of most hair where it tapers down and the hollow core becomes solid, meaning it will not flair. For smaller sizes, go to a coastal deer hair, or comparadun hair. I’ve had no problems down to size 18.
You can press down on the hair with your thumb nail just behind the tie in point [before you really tighten down] and splay the hair.
Midge Man,
If you have not viewed it yet, you may wish to review this video I put together on tying the CDC&Elk:
http://flyfisherman.com/ftb/cdcelk.wmv
Cheers,
Hans W
Hans, thank you for the link. That was very helpful. I think you all are right and that I am using the wrong type of deer hear. This stuff is very short (less than 3/4 long) but it worked so nicely (except that lack of the flair). Back to the store I go… thanks.