I was fishing yesterday and ran across a friendly FF. We compared fly boxes and he coveted one of my pink retrievers, so he traded me one of these
http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=09PR
He said it was the best smallie fly ever.
He said he bought these because he could not figure out how to tie them. The tail is kinda articulated yarn with some type of wire reinforcing it. The freedom of the tail seems to be the secret.
Any ideas on how to tie?
Thanks
It looks like a furled body. Fold a dubbing loop in half (Round your bodkin then remove once you have secured the end) after you have twisted it and it will twist up around itself. The dubbing looks like some kind of wool but I can’t be sure. Let me see what I can come up with. You can make the dubbing loop from wire but it will not be as mobile.
Well I’ve had a go but its not the easiest thing to do while holding a camera. Video would be better but I don’t have the facility.
First put a hook in the vice. Any hook will do, the larger the easier it will be (up to a point). Start the thread, Make a dubbing loop about 3 times the length of body you want. (You can use a dubbing block if you have one. Donald posted a picture of one. Quite simple to make, but not essential).
Make sure you take a turn of thread around the base of the loop to close it. Either whip finish or move your bobbin out of the way.
Put your dubbing whirl into the loop. Then fill it with your dubbing. I’m not sure what dubbing the pattern you showed is. It is one that clags together. I’ve just used what I had to hand to demonstrate the technique.
Spin your dubbing whirl (you can put your hackle pliers on the bottom if you don’t have a dubbing whirl. That’s how I originally learned)
Fold the twisted loop around your bodkin and take the loose end back to the hook shank. Either whip it to the hook shank or take a few turns of undubbed loop around the shank.
Remove your dubbing whirl then remove your bodkin. The folded loop will twist around itself to form a rope. If you are using wire to do this then you will have to “encourage” this to happen.
Finally trim off the loop close to the hook shank. I’ve made this one quite small to be easier to photograph, you can make them as large as you like.
Thats the tail, for the body do the same again and wrap it around the hook shank. Now all you need is the right dubbing.
Cheers,
A.
You know, that really should be put in the Feature section as a tying tip/instruction. Thanks Alan.
Very nice work. Thank you for sharing the tutorial.
Ronnie
Thank you alan, I will give it a try…
Good job Alan and thanks for the tip. #1 tie small lead eyes on the hook near eye, leave about 1/8". #2 tie in some “mirage tinsel”. #3 make dubbing loop with string AND tinsel approx 3X desired end length. #4 apply dubbing. (I used rabbit but I am possitive wool would work a LOT better, the rabbit is slick and pulls out some.) #5 twist dubbing loop, hold with bodkin in center and attach loose end. #6 assist the dubbing loop to furl. #7 pinch dubbing and twist approx every 1/4"
This is what I came up with… well, everytime I try to upload the picture I get called a failure. I uploaded it to my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phils-Flies/144375323203?ref=tn_tnmn you don’t need facebook to see the pics. Hope this helps, I’m going to keep working on it… it’s looks like something a fish would eat 
Alan,
Great explanation and photos! Thanks for sharing and Best Regards…
Alan,
It looks like you already have about half of a Fly of the Week there.
Ed
Yes but I don’t have the dumbels for the rest. If it is FOTW you want I’m sure I can do something. Will message you.
Cheers,
A.
p.s. Please clear some space in your inbox!!!
My 1st attempt (actually 2nd I put too much dubbing in the 1st, it was too thick after furling) - obviously the bottom is the original, the top is the copy - I used alan’s technique - the tail is made from small flat tensil (as phil said), tied at the FRONT of the dumbell - after furling it is then empaled and tied at the bend (this is the way the original is tied). The legs are made with sally hansens on your fingers, medium lead dumbell matches exactly, size 8 streamer hook. It was easier than I thought, I made a dubbing loop from a paper clip and lead weight http://flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part144.php. I think I need more dubbing and need to work on brushing it out…
Sorry, which ones which;)
Well done.
Cheers,
A.
well done… they both look a lot better than what I got done… what kind of dubbing did you use? I tried tying several but I kept getting worse at it and more frustrated, so I gave it a rest for a while. Great job, they look real good.
The dubbing that worked best was a SLF I bought at my local fly shop. I tried rabbit and squirrel also, didnt work well at all for me.