fly tying step by steps

What’s In My Fly Box? Week #10! Duracell jig!
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What’s In My Fly Box? Week #10! Duracell jig!

Well it’s the final fly tying step by step on my feature on some of my favourite flies for river fishing. To wrap things up I’ll be tying up a Duracell Jig.

About the fly –

It was designed by Scottish angler and super fly dresser Craig McDonald. A brilliant fly for both trout and grayling and one you can count on to bring you fish to the net in coloured water.

In my box I have a range of sizes from 14 – 18 everyone I speak too has nothing but praise for this fly. Fished on a euro set up you can count on this fly to get the job done! See below my take on Craig’s fly!

Materials

Hook – Fulling Mill Jig Force #16

Thread – Semperfli waxed thread 12/0 Mocha Brown

Tail – coq de Leon

Body – Ice dub UV brown

Rib – Semperfli micro metal, dark scarlet

Hackle – CDC.

Thorax – brown uv dub

Bead – silver slotted bead 3.0

Step 1

Place the bead on the hook and pop in your vice. Start the thread off and secure the bead.

Step 2

Taking the thread down towards the bend of the hook take a bunch of coq de Leon fibres and tie in. trim away the waste pieces of coq de Leon.

Step 3

Cut a piece of micro metal or red copper wire and tie in.

Step 4

Take a pinch of brown UV dubbing and dub onto your thread. I like to try keep the dubbing on the thin side, to achieve a slim profile to the fly which will aid the fly in sinking faster.

Step 5

Dub the body on and finish behind the eye. Make sure to leave enough space for the cdc hackle.

Step 6

Wind the rib up the body, trimming away the waste piece.

Step 7

take a cdc feather, hold with your thumb and index finger. With your free hand draw back the free fibres and tie in where the feathers separate. When secured trim off the tip of the feather.

Step 8

Take some hackle pliers and grab the but of the feather, wind round, I usually like to take 2 turns. To tie off and secure the cdc I tend to take 2 turns behind and 2 in front then trim away the waste piece.

Step 9

To finish the fly off take another pinch of the uv dubbing to make the thorax. Then make a whip finish and add a dab of varnish to complete the fly!

I hope everyone who has taken the time to read my step by steps has enjoyed these in the past few weeks! And that it’s inspired some of you to dig out the fly tying kit and tie some of the patterns up!

In the new year I hope to be doing some exciting reviews of some brilliant and game changing Semperfli Fly Tying products! So keep your eyes peeled for them!

As for the step by step blogs please do head over to my fly tying page on facebook “ phillippa hake Fly Tying” where you’ll see regular fly tying and fishing posts but also a chance to win the flies I’ve tied in this feature. All the information will be posted on there!

That will probably be it from me in 2020, let’s hope 2021 brings us a little more joy than this year has and I hope each and everyone of you has the best possible Christmas and new year you can!

Tight lines and wet nets!

What’s In My Fly Box? Week #9! Squirmy Wormy!
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What’s In My Fly Box? Week #9! Squirmy Wormy!

Love them or hate them squirmy wormys get the job done! They are controversial however they are hugely successful when fishing for trout, on both river and still waters, brown trout, grayling and are also great for tempting chub and barbel!

You might be thinking, when would I fish this fly? It’s a terrific patten to fish when the rivers are falling from a recent flood. Especially so because the river may be full of dredged up worms. I tend to fish mine the same I do when using a euro style set up. If you’re fishing after a flood look for places such as behind structures in the river like behind rocks/fallen trees etc… You’ll also need to get your squirmy wormy down fast so for the weight of the fly look to use the bigger and heavier tungsten beads such as 3.6 to 4.5!

A couple of tips for tying this pattern.

• don’t use a thread that’s too thin, it will just rip right through the squirmy material, I opt to use the Glo Brite range of threads for theses flies.

• when finishing the fly steer clear of regular varnish and glue. These will react to the squirmy material and un do your work on the fly. If your going to use anything you’ll need to use a good uv resin to finish the fly off!

Materials

Hook – Fulling Mill Jig Force size 14

Thread – Glo Brite #5

Tail – Fulling Mill original squirmy material

Body – Fulling Mill squirmy material

Bead – slotted tungsten 3.6 silver

Thorax – (optional) black uv dubbing

Step 1

Place the bead on the hook and pop in your vice

Step 2

Start the thread and secure the bead on the hook, trim away the waste piece.

Step 3

Take the thread down to the bend of the hook.

Step 4

Take the thread back to the bead, this is to create a nice bed of thread for the squirmy material to lay over so it doesn’t slip around the hook! Trim a piece of the squirmy material and catch it in.

Step 5

By stretching the squirmy material, not too hard though and keeping tension on the thread, gently wind down towards the bend of the hook keeping the material on top of the hook shank.

Step 6

Take your thread back to the bead and repeat step 5 to tie in another piece of squirmy for the body!

Step 7

Tie in and take your thread down to the bend of the hook and then with your thread make a nice tapered body finishing with your thread behind the eye.

Step 8

Wind the body material up. You’ll find that it can be a tricky material to work with. Aim to put a little tension on the squirmy material and as you wind up on each turn take some tension off to create a nice tapered body. Take tight secure turns to tie secure the material in place.

Step 9

Trim off the waste piece of material. At this point I like to make 5-6 more turns just to make sure nothing is going to come undone

Step 10

This is an optional addition to the fly, I like to sometimes add a little bit of sparkle dubbing before finishing the fly.

Step 11

Whip finish and the fly is done! Remember don’t go in with regular varnish you’ll need uv resin to finish this fly!

Thanks for reading this weeks step by step! Next week is the final week in my little feature on here before Christmas! In the new year im looking forward to bringing you some exciting content reviewing some top fly tying materials from Semperfli!

Also next week as it will be the final fly. Keep a look out on my Facebook page phillippa hake fly tying as I’ll be giving away all 10 flies that I’ve tied in the step by steps! Watch this space!

What’s In My Fly Box Week #8 – CDC & Elk Hair Sedge!
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What’s In My Fly Box Week #8 – CDC & Elk Hair Sedge!

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!

The finished fly!
A couple of rows of these excellent flies!

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!

What’s In My Fly Box week #7 – Hot Ribbed Hares Ear Jig!
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What’s In My Fly Box week #7 – Hot Ribbed Hares Ear Jig!

This weeks fly is taken from the Fulling Mill Tactical River Range and is called the KJ hot ribbed hares ear.

A little bit about this fly – It’s a simple fly to tie and A “modern” take on the classic hares ear nymph, which might I add is still a widely used pattern used with confidence all over the world! With the added hot orange rib this variation of the hares ear stands out and looks super fishy! I know if I was a fish on the hunt I wouldn’t be able to resist this coming past! I use this fly when I’m targeting both trout and grayling, see the materials I’m using below and have a go and tie some up your self!

Hook – Fulling Mill Jig Force #16

Thread – Semperfli Waxed thread 12/0 black

Tail – Coq De Leon

Rib – Glo Brite no°5

Body – hares ear dubbing

Thorax – hares ear

Bead – Get Slotted Black Matt Slotted Tungsten Bead 3.0mm

Step 1 – place the bead on the hook and fix the hook in your vice.

Hook in the vice

Step 2 – start your thread off and secure the bead in place so it doesn’t move. trim away the waste piece of thread

Secure the bead

Step 3 – take your thread down toward the bend of the hook and prepare your tail material. I tend to use 6-7 Coq De Leon fibres. The tail you want to aim it to be the same length as the hook. When you’re happy, trim away the waste pieces of coq de Leon.

Adding the tail

Step 4 – take a length of Glo-Brite, here I’m using shade number 5, tie in and cover over any remaining pieces of tail and the rubbing materials.

Tie in the rib

Step 5 – take a pinch of hares ear and dub on to your thread. In this fly I’ve opted for fox squirrel to achieve a much more buggy effect to the fly.

Getting the body material ready

Step 6 – dub all the way up to just behind the bead. Aiming for a slim but tapered body.

Dubbing the body

Step 7 – take the glo brite and take open even turns up to the bead. Tie off and trim away the waste piece.

Rib the body
Trim away the waste piece

Step 8 – take another pinch of hares ear or Fox squirrel, as I’m using in this fly. this is to make the thorax of the fly.

Step 9 – take wraps to make the thorax. Whip finish and add a dab of varnish to finish the fly off

Finish the fly with a whip finish and a dab of varnish
The finished fly!

Be sure to have a go and tie your self this pattern up for your fly box!

Recent fishing outings!

Over this last weekend I’ve had the opportunity to get out and tempt some of the local grayling to my net. On Saturday I ventured out quite early before the rain set in and was rewarded with some fine looking grayling.

Sunday saw a trip to a different stretch of water I dont fish much but I know holds some great fish and sport. The river was up a little compared to Saturday but still running quite clear.

Without a doubt the fly of the weekend was a red tag Jig on the point which the majority of the fish fell victim too! See some pics below!

Fly of the weekend for me! The red tag jig 
What’s In My Fly Box week #6, Super Simple Midge!
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What’s In My Fly Box week #6, Super Simple Midge!

This weeks fly tying step by step I’m tying you a super simple midge emerger pattern. Minimal materials are required for this fly and in terms of hook sizes it’s a fly I’ll tie right down to #24

This fly is an excellent choice when the trout are feeding on midges and gnats. It’s a great fly when targeting the more spooky and wary fish in the river. With only a few materials it’s quick and easy to tie. See below the materials I’m using for this fly.

Hook – Light grub/Buzzer hook size 16

Thread – Semperfli waxed thread black 12/0

Flash – Semperfli flat mirage tinsel

Thorax – Pine squirrel

Wing – 2 CDC plumes

Step 1 – Place your hook in the vice and start off your tying thread, cut away the tag end when secure.

Hook in vice
Start thread

Step 2 – taking your thread part way down the hook, just enough to tie in the small body and thorax. take the thread back towards the eye and select 2 CDC plumes. Marrying them up so the tips are the same.

Marry up the Cdc

Step 3 – offer up the cdc to the hook to make the wing, on flies like these I like to make the wing around the same length of the hook. To tie it in I take 2 tight turns then lift the tips up and take 2/3 turns in front of the wing to make it puff up.

Tying in the wing

Step 4 – like in the other step by steps where I’ve tied in a cdc wing trim the waste pieces away at an angle, this gives the fly a lovely tapered look!

Step 5 – cover over any bits of waste pieces and prepare the flash body material.

Adding the flat mirage tinsel

Step 6 – to make the body take the flat mirage and wind up toward the eye, making touching turns I usually get around 3/4 make 2 tight turns to lock in place.

Step 7 – take a pinch of pine squirrel, you don’t need lots of this, just to add a tiny little bit of scruffy ness to the fly! Dub it on to your thread and make the thorax. Finishing in front of the CDC.

Step 8 – whip finish and add a dab of varnish or super glue to finish the fly off.

The finished fly

This really is one of the most simple flies you’ll ever tie. Minimal materials and you can whip them up in a couple of minutes! The perfect fly for picky fish! Be sure to tie a few up and like I said above I tie these in sizes down to #24 and up to #18 for the rivers. They have brought me many fish to the net so make sure you tie some up for your river box in anticipation for the coming trout season!

What’s In My Fly Box – Week #5, Purple & CDC Jig Nymph
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What’s In My Fly Box – Week #5, Purple & CDC Jig Nymph

Week 5 of my step by steps of some of my favourite and most productive river flies, this week I’ll be tying you a Purple & CDC jig fly. With just a hint of purple UV dubbing on the thorax the Grayling go mad for it! this fly has brought me great success on them days when your stood scratching your head wondering what you’re doing wrong!

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What’s In My Fly Box week #4 Pearly Butt Dry Fly
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What’s In My Fly Box week #4 Pearly Butt Dry Fly

This weeks fly tying step by step is a Pearly Butt dry fly. its a fly that is super easy to tie. I generally fish this fly to represent all manner of upwing dry flies when out fishing the river for trout. However, its also a fly I’ve had tremendous days fishing in the colder months for grayling. the pearly but can be added to many different fly patterns such as the F Fly or the Water Hen Bloa. with the pearly butt added to the fish is not only a glimmer of attraction to them but also represents a part of the shuck of the real fly. more often than not, fooling them into taking the fly!

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What’s In My Fly Box Week #3 Perdigon Nymph

With a new lockdown due to take place from Thursday in England I think many fly anglers will turn their attentions to fly tying if they are stuck for things to do for the next month!

This weeks step by step is a Perdigon nymph and it was a fly that was requested I do a blog on! They aren’t my strong point and in all honesty it’s not a fly that I tend to use very often or have many of, although to many anglers they do have their time and place whilst out fishing!

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What’s In My Fly Box Week #2 Flashback Hares Ear

This weeks step by step is a Flash Back Hares Ear Jig. A variation of the standard Hares ear nymph, this fly is certainly one that is a proven fish catcher, a simple but deadly pattern.

I’m tying this fly on a size 16 Fulling Mill jig hook with a 3.0mm tungsten bead and using it when fishing a french leader. However, when fishing the duo method otherwise known as klink and dink/dry and dropper. I tie this fly on a much smaller hook and usually I’d opt for a hook such as the Fulling Mill Ultimate Dry Fly Hook, and sometimes down to #20/24 this is because the fly In this step by step below would be too heavy to fish under a dry fly and would just pull it under. See how I tie it below and be sure to add some of these in all sizes in your river fly box

The materials I’m using here are the following

• Hook – Fulling Mill Jig Force Hook size 16

• Bead – Lathkill Fly tying 3.0 Slotted Tungsten in Silver

• Thread – Semperfli Black Waxed Thread 12/0

• Tail – Coq De Leon

• Flashback – Semperfli Silver Holo Tinsel

• Rib – Semperfli Bright Silver Wire

• Body – Lathkill Hares Ear

Step 1 – Place the bead on the hook and fix the hook in your vice.

Hook in the vice

Step 2 – Start your thread behind the bead and make thread wraps to secure the bead so it doesn’t move about. Trim away the waste thread

Fixing the bead in place

Step 3 – Taking your thread down to the bend of the hook, catching in your tail fibres, I like a bunch of around 5/6 fibres. For the length of the tail you want to aim for around the length of the body/hook shank Trim away the waste ends of the coq de Leon.

Catching in the tail

Step 4 – Take the thread back up towards the bead tying down any ends of the coq de Leon, making a nice level body.

Step 5 – Prepare the wire and catch in tightly with your thread.

Catching in the rib

Step 6 – whilst making thread turns back towards the tail just before you reach the bend of the hook I like to catch in the flash back, this makes it easier for you to control, adjust and make sure that it will sit directly on top of the hook and not slide around the shank.

Catching in the flash back view from the top
Catching in the flash back side on view

Step 7 – Once you’re happy that the flash back is in the right position trim away the waste piece and tidy up.

Step 8 – Take a pinch of Hares ear dubbing or similar, I like to make sure that it’s nice and spikey! Dub onto the thread. Like I always tell any beginners it’s much easier to add more than to take it off so if your not too sure if you have enough subbed on you can always add more along the way!

Making a dubbing rope

Step 9 – Make the body by wrapping the dubbing all the way up to the bead, your looking to make a carrot shape body, nice and tapered!

Making the body

Step 10 – Taking the tinsel, gently pull it over the top of the body and make a couple of turns to catch it in behind the bead. Make sure that it’s sitting right over the top of the body and not pulling towards the sides of the fly. Once your happy take a couple of tighter turns I like to do one behind the tinsel and one in-front then trim the waste piece away.

Pull the tinsel over the body

Step 11 – Take the wire and make open turns up towards the bead. Make sure that they don’t pull the tinsel to the side of the fly. Take a few turns of thread to secure the wire then wiggle the wire until it snaps off, try not to use your scissors as it will make them blunt! On this size fly I would expect to get 4/5 turns of wire.

Ribbing the fly

Step 12 – take another pinch of dubbing and dub onto your thread make a few turns to make a nice spikey thorax.

Making the thorax

Step 13 – whip finish and add a dab of varnish to secure the fly.

The finished fly
The finished fly

Again I hope this step by step gave someone the inspiration to pick the vice up and tie a few flies! I always like to have a varied selection of these in my box in a range of colours and sizes! Thanks for reading and come back next Monday to see another step by step of some of my favourite flies!

Tight lines

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What’s In My Fly Box – Week #1, Orange Hot Spot PTN Jig

Over the next 10 weeks each Monday I will be posting a fly with a step by step on how to tie it and a brief description on how and where I would fish it.

To get the ball rolling the first fly I have chosen is an Orange hot spot pheasant tail nymph. A fly that I use for both Trout and Grayling all year round. I love to fish this fly as part of a team of 2 flies when fishing a “euro nymph” set up. A brilliant method to use while river fishing when nothing much is happening on the surface and a method That is deadly whilst fishing for grayling In the colder months. Its a versatile pattern with many different variations weather that be a different colour bead or a different colour hot spot. its certainly a fly that produces the goods for anglers all over the world. and is definitely a fly you should have in your box!

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