Elk Hair Caddis - Help!!

[halcyon]

braveheart said:

Halcyon, You are right most people tie the butts over the eye, including me That was the way I was shown. I note also the wing length in Al's original is much longer than I tie.
Methinks I will have to rethink my tying of this fly

As you have surely noted the caddis/sedge has wings that are always much longer than the body they hide Kind of like the way Al Troth ties the imitation. ;D

Regards,

[Flytier]

Braveheart,

Am I right in saying that the whole head including the wing butts is soaked in varnish Hans ? Looks that way in the picture.

Correct.

Note also that over the years Al has taken to shortening the head stubs more and more. These days he slices the butts with a razor blade, just ahead of the thread wraps.

Cheers,
Hans W

[G]

Other than making sure the base you are tying the wing onto is flat (the best grip i find is on a thread base), i find the most important factor (i'm surprised nobody has mentioned this already) is that when you pull the thread tight after each turn, you pull straight up, and not down.

For me, the upward pull is the most important factor when tying a deer/elk hair wing!

[biminitwist]

Ronn,

For clarification: When you say you tie your wings on a bare shank, I assume you mean a shank without any other tying materials directly below where the wing will be tied in, but that the shank does have a thread base there?

Assuming a thread base, for a fly like an EHC do you build your thread base using touching turns or are your thread wraps tight but spaced furhter apart (i.e. not touching turns)?

thanks.

[biminitwist]

Ronn,

A second question: In the link you posted demonstrating the method of tying in the wing, at the end of the instructions of tying the wing (which are very clear, thank you), you state: "With your three or four turns done, tie in the tag veil taking the same number of tight, flat, close turns back to just short of the first turn."

I'm not clear on what a "tag veil" is?

Thanks.

Cheers,

[Ronn Lucas]

Tight touching turns.

A tag is the rearmost part of a Salmon fly primarily and a veil is a feather/s (usually feathers but can be hair or even floss) that is tied in such a way that allows it to project over the tag or body for that matter.

Happy Trails!
Ronn

[biminitwist]

ok--thanks. got it.

cheers,