Honey Dun - Orange and Brown Peacock

[letumgo]

Honey Dun - Orange and Brown Peacock
Hook - Mustad Model R50-94840/Size 10
Abdomen (Underbody) - UNI-Stretch (Orange)
Abdomen (Overbody) - UTC Vinyl Rib (Amber / Midge)
Thread - 8/0 UNI-Thread (Black)
Thorax - Three Strands of Peacock Herl (Dyed Brown / reinforced in thread dubbing loop)
Hackle - Honey Dun Hen Neck Feather (Natural)
Head - Tying thread coated with Sally Hansen's "Dries Instantly" clear nail polish

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

Dang! you make it look as if it were turned in a machine shop.....
Absolutly fantastic...!

hank

[willowhead]

WOW, that is WAY Classy.....looks good enough to eat. Beautiful colors. Excruciatingly well tyed........did i spell that right? Keep you eyes peeled over at the Jazz thread........a new one is forth-comming SOON!

[tie2fish]

Perfecto! The level just keeps going up ....

[kanutripr]

Awesome Ray! I've never been much for the vinyl rib or larva lace or any of that stuff but you've taken it up a new level. Keep it up! I think you're keeping a lot of people inspired.



Vicki

[Stendalen]

Great fly and colour combo.

Ray could you please elaborate on how you reinforce the peacock in a dubbing loop? Do you find that better than twisting the hearl round the thread (usually breaks when I do that, and it is difficult to wind the herl/thread with tension). You seem to get a nice and full thorax, maybe you dont spin the loop so hard?

Now, I could of course try this out myself...but as you now, i am in a predicament. However, most importantly I'm looking forward to your wise and educating answer

Later
Martin

[William Anderson]

Ray execution is exceptional. It's just cool to see the new materials all coming together. This is a great looking pattern. I'm expecting to see some stonefly nymph versions popping up too...on another site of course. They just look right.

w

[letumgo]

Martin - I use a dubbing loop to reinforce the peacock herl. The technique basically forms a peacock chenille which can be wrapped forward to form the body of the fly. The resulting body is very durable and is nicely uniform. I learned the technique from Denny Richards (famous American stillwater tyer). The technique is simple. Explaining it is difficult. Here is the condensed version - with the dubbing hook you simply reach behind the right side of the loop to snag the herl, then the left side of the loop, then on the return you grab the right side of the loop, trapping/capturing the herl strands between the thread in the process.

Here is the long winded description of the technique (it sounds complicated, but it is very easy once you get the hang of it)
1) Tye in four or five strands of peacock herl (green strands)
2) Form a dubbing loop with the tying thread (red loop)
3) Pass dubbing twister tool behind the right side of the loop (R) and then up thru the center of the thread loop, passing the tool in front of the left side loop (L)
4) Rotate the dubbing twister and bring the hook behind the peacock herl and left side of the dubbing loop (L).
5) Pull the point of the dubbing tool back thru the thread dubbing loop making sure that the point goes in front of the right hand side of the loop (R)
6) Now twist the tool to form a herl chenille which is reinforced with two strands of tying thread. The resulting body is very durable (no need for tinsel rib if you don't want one).

Hopefully this diagram will help explain the technique.


I often use a special bobbin (Mitch's Bobbin Whirler - sold by Wasatch / http://www.flytyingtools.com/webpages/t ... itchs.html) to form these sorts of bodies. The process if very similar, and it is extremely easy to then wrap the body forward without interference from other tools. I generally use one of these methods when forming herl bodies (peacock, sword fibers, ostrich herl, etc.). I have had limited success with the method you described (twisting the herl around the thread). I had problems with breakage of the herl and with lumpiness in the finished bodies. Once I found these methods, I gave up on the thread-twist technique. Obviously your results may vary...

For completeness - here are a couple Youtube links showing the Mitch's bobbin whirler in operation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NglJ9ZAmSGs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87DSqiMxBLo

[willowhead]

Martin, come to Rendezvous and i'll show you the way to do it around the thread that works perfect, and it never breaks, and how to wrap it smoothly, and build tapers. Thankx for that tutorial Ray.....way cool.

[tie2fish]

I don't have a shepard's crook, so I do Ray's steps 1. and 2. and then grab the bottom of the loop and the herl all together with my English hackle pliers and spin the lot. When the resulting "rope" gets to the point of bushiness I want, I use the hackle pliers to wrap it around the hook shank. If you experience breakage problems, try leaving a small amount of slack in the herl when you grab it and the thread loop with your hackle pliers; this not only takes tensile strain off the herl, but also causes the thread to pretty much disappear into the herl as you wind the "rope". I learned this technique watching a Polly Rosborough video on how he ties his fuzzy nymph bodies.