I’m trying to tie a zug bug and am having problem with the bearded hackle. It’s says to wrap the hackle a couple of turns and pull the fibers under and tie them down. I must be doing something wrong since it seems impossible to get it under the hook.
Thanks for any advice in advance!
I know that the tying instructions state to tie in the hackle and wind it a couple turns and then pull it down and under hook and tie in as a beard, but, might I suggest that you just turn the hook upside down (easily done if you have a rotary vise) and just tie in a small pinch of hackle for a beard. If you do not have a rotary vise you could just hold the pinch of hackle under the hook and make a couple wraps with your tying thread to tie the hackle in on the bottom of the hook. Hopefully, this is as clear as mud and you understand what I am trying to say.
Warren
Jargo, I wrap the hackle when I tie a zug bug and do not bring it all under the hook. just wrap like a soft hakle collar and put the wing case right over the hackle. If you use hen hackle it is soft enough to be pushed down by the wing case. The fish do not mind!!! I think it gives the fly more movement.
Bill
I second Warren’s suggestion. I use the same trick, because I can never get the hackle to pull down to the bottom of the hook and look right. If you don’t have a rotary vise, tie a quick half-hitch, flip the hook over, and tie in the beard. This always works for me.
CJ
The only limitations we have are the ones we put on ourselves.
On ZugBugs I use Bill’s method and just tie a collar. Then tie the wing on top.
When I want a beard, I like the Defeo style as seen here: [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part201.html:828e0]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part201.html[/url:828e0]
[This message has been edited by Jayatwork (edited 31 May 2006).]
Hi,
For throat hackles, I will often tie the fibers in at the very start of constructing the fly, but pointing “forward” (as if it were a tail at the front of the fly and on the bottom of the shank). Tie on the thread, flip the hook, tie in the hackle pointing towards and beyond the eye. Then, flip the hook back to normal, build the fly as per usual, and just before forming the head, pull the fibers back and tie into place. It sounds more complicated than it is to do.
Great idea Jeff! I bet that works good for legs on a PT too.
Born to fish forced to work.
Alan
Hi Fish4Trout,
It works well for just about any sort of throat hackle. For Pheasant Tail legs, I usually just fold the wingcase fibers down and under. Of course, the wingcase fibers are a bit stiff, so if you prefer more “wiggly” legs, then using softer fibers as a throat could be done this way as well.
One nice thing about this method is that because the throat fibers are tied on pointing towards the bend, after you’ve formed the throat there are no fibers to trim. That means you don’t end up with any “ends” blocking up the underside of the eye!
Jargo, wrap the hackle as a collar and then use a pair of scissors or tweezers to pluck the fibers that lay on top of the hook where the wing case will go. The wingcase will hide any of the remaining hackle fibers.
Just my two cents,
Alberto
I just tied a few for tomorrow. I used a long, brown hackle, wrapped twice, and brought all the fibers down below to form the beard. Then I tied them down and trimmed any stray ones that weren’t laying down correctly. I also needed to trim a couple extra long ones. I’ll let you know tomorrow what the fish thought.
Yes, they thought it was passable. Eldest son caught a 5-inch bluegill on his third cast. We did well although we let them all go and have a good weekend. We even had the smaller ones trying to eat the bug…which was amusing since the bug was about 1/4 their size on some of them.