Black Sword Soft Hackle

[letumgo]

Black Sword Soft Hackle
Hook - Mustad Model R50-94840/Size 10
Abdomen/Thread - UNI-Stretch (Black)
Tag/Rib - Sulky Sliver Metallic Tinsel (Silver / No. 8001)
Tying Thread - 8/0 UNI-Thread (Black)
Thorax - Hares Ear Dubbing (Black)
Hackle - Peacock Sword Fibers (well waxed thread dubbing loop used to form hackle collar)

Abdomen has been coated with two layers of Loctite Super Glue to protect the body and make it more durable for fishing.

If I tye this fly again, I would use less peacock sword fibers (maybe 8 or 9) and I would add another couple coats of super glue to the body (not smooth enough for my taste).

[willowhead]

unreal..................i mean UNREAL..................HOW'D YOU DO THAT?????????????? a loop?????????????????? INCREADABLE!!!!!

[tie2fish]

Hot darn, Ray! That's exactly the kind of thing I was talking about in that other post. Not only beautiful and highly creative, but tied flawlessly. U da Man.

[Roadkill]

Beautiful and artistic!!

[letumgo]

Thanks Mark. Once the body and thorax of the fly has been tyed, I waxed about three inches of the tying thread with tying wax and then formed a short dubbing loop (roughly 1.5 inches long). I then clipped a half-inch long section of peacock sword, leaving the sword fibers on the main stem. The stem acts as a handle to hold the fibers in place while positioning them in the loop. Insert the sword fibers into the waxed dubbing loop and adjust them to the length you want. Gently twist the dubbing loop a couple times, just enough to hold the sword fibers in place. Trim off the butt ends and the hackle stem. You want to trim the sword fibers very close to the thread dubbing loop (1/16th to 1/8th inch). Now twist the dubbing loop until the sword fibers are locked into place within the dubbing loop. You can now fold the sword fibers back and wrap them as you would a normal hackle (think of the thread dubbing loop as the stem of the feather).

[willowhead]

You just described exactly what i was thinking..........thankx. And Bill is right, you ARE duh man.

[redietz]

Keep going Ray; you're homing in on inventing the wingless Alexandra. Almost there -- just replace the body with silver, and add a red tail.

This is actually what I thought I was going to see on the first one with swords.

[letumgo]

Bob - Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a try. It will be interesting to see the Alexandra as a soft hackle. I love that pattern. A few years ago, I converted the Alexandria over to the Australian "Killer-style" lure.

Alexandra (Killer Style).jpg (78.25 KiB) Viewed 3233 times

Alexandra (Killer Style) - 1.jpg (208.64 KiB) Viewed 3237 times

http://www.flytyingforum.com/pattern6799.html
http://www.classicflytying.com/index.ph ... =Alexandra

[willowhead]

WOW!!!!!!! Ray, you be REDICKALUS!!!!!!!!!! That is absolutely STUPID!!!!!!!!!!! In the BEST sense of the word..........as a fishin' fly and a work of art. You REALLY should of made plans to tye at the Sowbug in 2012...........i wouldn't snooze on that again in 2013 Bro. The family is going to have to come to terms with you doing shows sooner or later.............when you have the level of talent you have..........it comes with a responsibility. And you can't ignor that. i mean you can obviously (don't misunderstand the use of that word ), it's your life and i never get familier...........but tyers on your level don't just come along every day.........& imho........you owe the students of the game all around the country...........for the sake of the future of fly tying.....course it's just an opinion. But i know one thing, if i hadn't sat in front of alllllllllllllll those giants of fly tying........over & over & over again............nuff said?
Do it while your young enough to enjoy it, and while your health is good............trust me, this is the voice of massive experience.........and i'm fallin' apart from alllllllll my years on the road and the life i led...........

[redietz]

That Killer style slims down quite nicely when wet, doesn't it?