Hot-Spot Humpy SBS

All about flies Fly Tying
1

I was never a huge fan of tying Humpies; it was always hit-or-miss (mostly miss) on getting the wings to come out the proper length using the standard procedure, even when measuring the hump clump to the tail+shank length. I tied some but hated how they came out, then pretty much ignored them after I started tying foam-back Convertibles. Then I found Charlie Craven’s Improved Humpy http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=143 and saw how much easier it was to tie in the wing first, wrap the butts back and use them for the hump. After tying the Lochsa Special, I was reminded of an article in Fly Tyer magazine by AL and Gretchen Beatty about Humpies; pulled out the article, saw this fly which looked pretty cool and decided to give it a go. The Beatty’s tie their’s like Charlie, although they use a separate clump for the hump; I prefer to just incorporate the wing butts and skip an extra tie-in. If you ever decide to try to tie Humpies (they are fun to play around with), please check out Charlie’s site; keep an eye on proportions, follow Charlie’s advice and it’ll remove a lot of the frustration and guesswork.

hook - Dai Riki 320 #12
thread - UTC 70 chartreuse
tail - moose body hair
abdomen/hot spot - Uni Stretch chartreuse
thorax - peacock herl
wing/hump - yearling elk
hackle - black

Part 1

mash barb and attach thread at 75% mark (that’ll be the reference mark for the wing tie-in)

tie in the Uni-Stretch and continue back to point above the hook barb

clean, stack and measure a clump of moose body hair (shank length)

tie down and wrap forward (firmly) to 50% mark; trim butts, smooth over with wraps and brush on a little Sally

move thread back to spot above hook point (25% mark), wrap Uni-Stretch forward (take 1st turn under and behind tail fibers)

tie off Uni-STretch and trim; return thread to 75% mark for wing tie-in

clean, stack and measure a clump of elk hair (shank length); you’ll want a pretty substantial clump since you’re creating a divided wing

2 firm wraps; try to keep the hair on top of the shank as much as possible (you want it to flair, not spin)

continue back with firm wraps

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Part 2

in order to cut down on bulk but maintain a degree of floatability in the hump, divide the butt clump in half horizontally with your scissors

cut

and continue with firm wraps back to spot above the hook point

tie in some peacock herl

twist it around the tying thread for re-enforcement

wrap the thorax up to 60% mark

pull hump clump forward over the wing (the Beattys put a piece of scotch tape over the wing fiber to keep them separate - a good idea)

tie down hump clump with a few firm wraps, trim as close to body as possible

move thread in front of wing and create thread dam

crease with thumbnail to force fibers up and back

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Part 3

divide wing with 3 wraps from front to back

repeat with 3 wraps from back to front

post near wing; 5 wraps up post and 1 behind wings to lock in place

repeat for far wing; brush wing base with a little Sally

front view so far

prepare hackle and tie in between wings; only black hackle I have is a #2 Metz I bought in 1986 and the quality is such that I have to use 2 hackles here (to say hackle growers have come a long way is an understatement)

wrap hackle, tie off tips, trim and SHHAN

Like the Lochsa Special, feel free to try different colors; orange is always a good one for me.

Regards,
Scott

4

Hi Scott,

I’m not much of a user of ‘Humpies’ but appreciate the method you describe.
Nicely done and thanks.

Allan