California tyer Ned Long’s Hacklestacker variation of a Griffith’s Gnat with an indicator for better visibility (try to pick your fly out of rafts of midge clumps and you’ll appreciate it). Flush-floater (without having to trim out the underside) and double-density hackle.
hook - Dai Riki 305 #16 (gives a #18 shank length with a #16 gap)
thread - Danville 6/0 black
post/indicator - Mcflyfoam cerise
body - peacock herl
hackle - grizzly
Part 1
mash barb, start thread; tie in butt ends of a loop of Mcflyfoam, wrap to bend
tie in hackle
attach loop to gallows tool; wrap hackle up post (shank length)
verify
re-attach loop to gallows and wrap hackle back down to tie-in; tie off/trim
Ned Long was a good friend and we often sat side by side while tying at shows, often tying the same pattern. I don’t recall Ned using Mcflyfoam, but rather Flex or Stretch-floss. The Flex -floss has the advantage that you can easily adjust it to length when folding over to tie down.
Ned and I used different approaches in our tying of this type of fly. He used a gallows tool while I keep the tension on the Flex-floss by wrapping it around the fingers of my left hand. Also we had a completely difference tying sequence. To avoid any mess at the head caused by all the material being tied off there, I took a reversed approach. First, tie in the peacock at the rear but don’t wrap it. Move to at the head and tie in the Flex-floss and hackle, wrap the body, covering the butts of the Flex-floss and hackle stem. Now form a small, neat head with the tying thread and then spiral the thread over the peacock to the rear of the body. Next wrap the hackle around the flex-floss. After wrapping the hackle take some extra tension on at the floss and use your nails to compress the hackle wraps toward the base of the floss to increase the density of the hackle. After compressing, you may have to add additional hackle wraps. Lastly, fold the hackle wrapped floss to the rear, a tie off, and whip finish. The finished flies look very similar, we just skinned the cat in a different direction.
