| 1/ First
off wrap a nice even base of thread starting from
near the front of the hook and extending to the
point where you are going to tie in your first part
of the fly, the tail. This point should be roughly
level with the barb on the hook. Once this is completed
and you have a good bed of thread proceed to step
two. |
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| 2/ Take
a small bunch of pheasant tippet fibres and make
sure the tips are aligned. Measure off against the
hook shank so that the tippets are equal to the
length of the shank. Tie in and trim any excess.
You should have something as is shown in the accompanying
photo. |
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| 3/
Next take a piece of copper wire and secure it to
the hook at the rear of the fly. This wire should
be tied in so that it protrudes out from the rear
of the fly and is out of the way of your working
space for constructing the rest of the fly. Once
this is done trim the excess wire and cover with
a few well placed turns of thread. |
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| 4/
Next take two pieces of good bushy peacock
herl. These should be tied in extending to the rear
of the fly and with the bushiest side of the feather
on the outside. This will allow a good body to be
easily constructed as the wrapping of the herl around
the hook shank will cause it to stand out at right
angles to the hook. Trim the excess and wind the
thread forward to a point roughly 1/3 the shank
length short of the hook eye. |
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| 5/ Now
take one of the herl pieces and very carefully wind
it forward towards the thread. Make each successive
wrap just to the front of the previous one to construct
a nice plump body. Care must be taken to avoid breaking
the very delicate herl which would mean untying
the last step and replacing the broken herl with
new pieces. Once finished, tie off and trim the
excess herl. |
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| 6/ Take
the second piece of herl and wind forward toward
the thread. This time the object is not so much
to make each turn in front of the previous one but
more so to avoid crushing the previous herl and
also to fill in any gaps that may be obvious to
the tier. Winding it in a gentle to and fro motion
will help you to not squash the herl already in
place. When you reach the thread tie off and trim
like in the last step. |
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| 7/ This
step requires you to select a small ginger/brown
cock hackle. This will be to used to form the palmered
hackle body which part of the reason why this pattern
is so deadly. Tie it in angled slightly back and
shiny side of the feather facing forward. Trim any
excess hackle feather stubs and add a couple of
turns of thread to strengthen. |
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| 8/ Wind
the hackle back toward the wire at the rear of the
fly. Use 4-5 even turns to get there and when you
do use the wire to make 3 tight wraps around the
hackle securing it in place. You can can then remove
the excess feather and begin the ribbing of the
pattern. When
you are happy that the feather is secure and won't
unravel go to step 9. |
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| 9/ Once
again using 4-5 turns of the wire wind it forward
to the front of the fly. Be careful to not crush
the hackle fibres already in place. This ribbing
strengthens the fly and stops the palmered hackle
from coming undone. When you reach the thread take
tie off and remove the excess wire. |
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| 10/
We are nearly finished. Select a good quality
hackle feather from your cape. Either Ginger or
Brown, light or dark. I have used a normal Brown
Cock feather here. Tie it angled backwards and with
the dull side towards you. This will assist in getting
the hackle to stand up correctly right from the
very first turn. Once this is tied in trim the excess
feather stem and wind the thread forward to the
eye of the hook. |
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| 11/ Lastly
take the hackle feather and carefully wind it forward
to the thread. Make sure each successive turn is
just forward of the previous one just like in Step
5 with the peacock herl. When you are satisfied
with how the fly looks tie off the hackle, trim
the excess and apply a couple of half hitches. |
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