These weeks are flying past us and already I’m onto week 8 out of 10 of my step by steps! This week I’m going to tie you a CDC & Elk Hair Sedge pattern. A slight disclaimer – I couldn’t find my elk hair so settled for deer hair! However this works just as well I find!

The CDC & Elk hair sedge is an extremely popular pattern and one that you’ll no doubt catch fish on all over the world! Imitating a caddis, this fly is a brilliant pattern through the warmer months fishing in the latter part of the day! I also use this fly or a retirer sedge when fishing the duo on the river. Every fly angler will have a CDC & Elk in their box! If you don’t, follow my tying sequence below and get some tied up!!

Materials –

Hook – Fulling mill Ultimate Dry #14

Thread – Semperfli waxed thread, brown 12/0

Body – CDC

Wing – Elk hair (or what I’m using in this fly, deer hair)

Step 1 –

Place your hook in the vice and start your tying thread behind the eye. trim away the waste piece.

Step 2 –

Take your thread down to the bend of the hook.

Step 3 –

Take a CDC feather, hold the tips with your right hand and draw back the fibres with your left. Tie in where the fibres of the feather are separated. Gently pull the feather from the but and draw through so you have just a little bit of the tips poking out like below.

Step 4 –

Take your thread back towards the eye making a nice bed of thread for the body to be wound over.

Step 5 –

Take your hackle pliers and grab the but end of the CDC, gently wind the cdc around the hook. When you start to wind loose fibres round with your free hand draw back fibres with each turn. Stopping just before the eye and Secure with thread turns. I like to make 3 over the top and 2 in-front. Make sure you leave enough space to tie in the wing. Trim off the waste piece of cdc.

Step 6 –

Take your elk or deer hair, cut a bunch off and place them in your hair stacker, tips first. Give it a couple of taps to align the tips. Gently take them out of the stacker and measure up against the fly. Just so they are going a little beyond the bend of the hook.

Step 7 – when your happy, with your free hand pinch the tips where they are. Making sure you holding them directly on top of the hook shank.

Step 8 – to make things less “fussy” take your scissors and cut the buts of the elk hair off so your left with something like below! this makes it much easier to tie in!

Step 9 – at this point I like to make 3 tight turns all the while make sure you keep hold of the tips as if you let go the hair will spin around the hook and you want it to stay right on top of the fly. Take a couple of turns in between the buts of the hair at 45° to secure the fly. I then like to try get a couple of turns under the fly just behind the eye before whip finishing!

Step 10 – whip finish the fly with a dab of varnish or super glue and if your super picky tidy the fly up trimming away any lose fibres of deer or elk hair with your scissors! Although I’m not sure this makes much of a difference to the fish they like them when they are more on the scruffy side!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this step by step! I’ll be back next week with another fly for you to try! Keep safe and tight lines if you get out fishing this week!