Brown and Claret Honey Dun (Tutorial / SBS)

[VERN-O]

very yummy Ray!!!

[tie2fish]

Absolutely perfect!

[letumgo]

Mark - The body of the fly is formed by counter wrapping the peacock herl from the eye of the hook towards the bend. I updated the initial post with a set of simplified tying instructions. I figured they would be easier to find on the first page, instead of buried in the thread.

[daringduffer]

Mark - The body of the fly is formed by counter wrapping the peacock herl from the eye of the hook towards the bend.

Simplified Tying Sequence:
1) Mount Hook in vice
2) Mount tying silk with five firm wraps
3) Prepare hackle and tye it in by the base of the stem (feather should be facing out over the eye of the hook)
4) Take three strands of peacock herl and even the butt ends and then clip off about 1" (25 mm). Lay the peacock herl parallel to the shank of the hook (butt ends near the end of the herl body and the tips pointing out over the eye of the hook)
5) Secure the peacock herl in place with uniform touching wraps. Continue wrapping the thead back to the end of the body and then wrap forward five wraps, to form the silk tag. Leave the tying thread hanging at the point you want the body to end.
6) Grasp the peacock herl fibers and wrap them towards the rear of the fly, forming the body. Do not twist the herl fibers. You will get a smoother body by letting the peacock herl fibers run parallel to each other in touching wraps. Be sure to wrap the herl in the same direction that you wrap the tying thread. In my case, I am right handed, so I always form wraps up and away from me (clockwise wraps when viewed looking towards the hook eye).
7) Secure the peacock herl in place with one or two wraps. Clip off the excess peacock herl and then wrap the thread forward, forming the ribs and securing the herl stems. Use roughly four or five open wraps to form the rib.
8) Grasp the end of the hackle feather in a rotary hackle plier and then fold the hackle fibers to one side. Make one or two wraps of hackle and then secure with the tying thread. Make sure you wiggle the tying silk back and forth while counter wrap thru the hackle fibers. This helps prevent matting down the hackle fibers.
9) Whip finish the fly to form the head. Add a drop of head cement or clear nail polish for durability.

Excellent instructions and a beautiful fly. I'm craving that peacock...

dd

[CreationBear]

Jon - The hackle is from a Collins' hen cape.

Excellent, that's the second Collins cape that's caught my eye this week. Thanks!

[willowhead]

DUH!!! how stupid of me..........clean forgot bout the wiggle thru the thorax.....hackle........back to the front. i've never gotten into a habit of doin' that, because unlike some of you, i never really took this flymph stuff from the ground up in the beginning & originally began tying them the old fashioned way, as you may have.
i'm also one of those who co-signs that attitude bout if your not losin' flies you aint fishin'. i just mean in terms of bein' a fundementalist bout durability.
Sign of a Pro to a large degree if your talkin' commercial tyin'.........or even just a certain way of lookin' at consistancy...........but starting to tye at 43 yrs. old and just havin' a burnin' desire to be creative above all else..........durability was never to high on my list of priorities. With thousands and thousands of flies at my disposal..........i worry bout that NOT. If and when i get an "order" or tye for Misa and the teams.......then i really do consider that.
Anyway, tkx. for the info.....
The old addage attributed to Art Flick bout a tyers ability to consistantly do identical flies also being a sign of excellance is very true.......If, that's the goal. And you have to be at least "able" to do it........but as you know....... It's a wonderful thing that we live in an enlightened era in terms of the line between craft & art, becomming thinner and thinner. That's what's called science.....