Soft-Hackle Black Ant 1550

[letumgo]

Hank - In this case I coated the tying silk with a sticky dubbing wax and then twisted the mole dubbing onto the thread. Mole dubbing is very very fine and easy to work with. You could also find other fine dubbing (rabbit, beaver, etc) to get similar results. The main trick with a pattern this small, is to use very little dubbing. Once the thread is dubbed, it should still be finer than the lead on a regular wooden pencil. (think "less is more...")

The hackle is tyed in by the butt (stem), right after mounting the tying thread (tyed onto the middle of the hook shank). I then wrap the rear body, wrap the hackle, wrap the thread forward to the eye of the hook, dub the thread and wrap backwards to the hackle, whipfinish, done.

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

Thanks Bud, I can understand what you're saying now... Amazing what a year will do for one's comprehension
I'm still gonna ask for a show-n-tell once in awhile though.

hank

[letumgo]

Hank - You got it, bud.

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

Just attempted to tye up 3 of those ants you showed.
Didn't come out too badly, did'um on a size 16 Mustad R50X-94845 Std DE;
Thread - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Sherry Spinner/Color 6B) No persalls but Dub-ya was kind enough to send some bright red orvis stuff that' an 0/8
Hackle - Starling (bleached a golden tan) no bleached golden tan Starling used a rusty looking hen hackle
Abdomen - Mole Fur (Cinnamon/Tan) over well waxed silk. This I had Thanks REE
Head - Mole Fur (Black) over well waxed silk. Didn't have any black mole but had some very dark blue or something similur, thanks again REE.

Figured I'd try'em out on the little river near her tomorrow...

Thank you ALL for your assistance
hank

[William Anderson]

Sounds like you got a winner. Take a quick pic in the hand while youre out. That should make a great shot in natural light for our purposes and a little bragging at your tying achievments. The subs should be fine if they are reasonably close. For me an ant imitation is 90% presentation and profile. Even size becomes less important spending on water depth and clarity. I putthem upstream dead drift in a seam or softer water. But then if there were a rule we would have fewer books.