FLYMPH FORUM

Ginger Honey Dun Flymph
Hook - Mustad Model R50/94848 (Size 12)
Thread - Pearsall's Gossamer Silk (Ash/No. 10)
Hackle - Honey Dun Hen Neck Feather (Natural) - prepared by stripping all the fibers from one side
Thorax - Silk Dubbing Brush (Natural Hares Ear dubbing on Ash Silk waxed with cobblers wax)
Tail - Pheasant Tail Fibers (Bleached Ginger)

PREPARATION (done before tying the fly):
- Create a silk dubbing brush by waxing a length of silk with cobblers wax. Lay the silk on a Clarks dubbing block and lay hares ear dubbing along the waxed silk. The dubbing needs to be very sparce, allowing some of the silk color to show thru between the dubbing fibers. Twist the silk to form a dubbing brush, and allow it to set for a while (helps the wax to dry, holding the dubbing fibers in place).
- When selecting the hackle feather, look for one with fiber length between 1.5 to 2 times the hook gap.
- Prepare the hackle feather by stripping off the fuzz at the base of the feather, and then strip all the fibers off the right-side of the feather. You will be left with a feather with fibers radiating from only one side of the hackle stem.

DETAILED TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Mount hook in the vice
2) Pull out several inches of silk from the bobbin and wax it with cobblers wax. Wind the silk back onto the spool by twisting the spool. Leave enough silk to grasp onto to start the wraps.
3) Mount the tying thread with two tight wraps, just behind the eye of the hook. The cobblers wax helps hold the silk in place, while grabbing the hackle feather.
4) Tye in the hackle feather by the stem (feather should be facing out over the eye of the hook - tyed in with the good side towards the hook shank).
5) Tye in the silk dubbing brush, parallel to the hook shank (again leave the end hanging out over the eye of the hook).
6) Wrap the tying silk back towards the bend of the hook. Stop wrapping roughly halfway between the barb of the hook and the point.
7) Tye in four strands of pheasant tail fibers with two secure forward wraps. The length of the tail should be roughly the same length as the hook shank. Twist the butt ends of the pheasant tail fibers around the tying thead, then wrap forward to the midpoint of the hook shank. This will be the rear edge of where the thorax will be. Tye off the pheasant tail fibers with two wrap of thread. Untwist the pheasant tail fibers and clip off the excess. The tying thread should be hanging at roughly the midpoint of the hook shank.
7a)Now would be a good time to rewax the tying thread. Well waxed thread will later help strengthen the head of the fly. The wax will help lock-in the whip finish in the last step.
8) Grasp the silk dubbing brush in a hackle pliers. If it has come untwisted, give it a few twists to make sure the dubbing is captured in the twists of the silk. Wrap the dubbing brush back towards the midpoint of the hook, forming the thorax of the fly. Secure it in place with two wraps of the tying thread, then trim off any excess.
9) Grasp the tip of the hackle in a pair of hackle pliers. Make two or three wraps just behind the eye of the hook, then wind it back to the tying thread in three open spiral wraps. Secure the hackle with two wraps of tying thread, at the intersection of the abdomen and thorax (midpoint of shank). While keeping tension on the feather stem, trim off the excess hackle by placing one blade of your open scissors parallel to the hook shank. The scissor blade should be flush with the body. A firm tug on the hackle will slice off the excess, without harming any of the hackle fibers.
10) Wind the tying thread forward to the eye of the hook. Remember to wiggle the silk back-and-forth, as you wrap, so the hackle fibers are not trapped.
11) Pinch the front of the fly, forcing the hackle fibers to tilt back towards the tail. This helps get them out of the way, when forming the head.
12) Make a three turn whip finish to form the head of the fly. Clip off the tying thread and add a small drop of head cement or nail polish.

EDIT - PHOTOS ADDED TO CLARIFY TYING INSTRUCTIONS (Sorry Hans - No Video)

Here are some photo showing the major steps in the tying sequence.

Materials all prepared and ready for tying: (prepared silk dubbing brush, hackle stripped, pheasant tail fibers, wax & sissors)

Hook installed in vice and two wraps of thread: (Step 3)

Feather tyed in: (Step 4)

Dubbing brush tyed in and wrapped to the midpoint of the shank. Clip off the tag end of the silk and the butt end of the hackle stem. Now that I think about it, this is an important detail in helping to form the body taper. The silk thread and hackle stem, help build up the front of the fly a tiny bit, helping form a tapered profile in the finished fly. (Step 5/6 - along with a new intermediate detail)

Tying in the pheasant tail fibers (I should have evened the tips again - oh well, I was focusing on the photos, rather than my tying): (Step 7)

Pheasant tail and tread wrapped to the midpoint of the shank, secured and ends trimmed off: (Step 7)

Dubbing brush wrapped back to the midpoint of the hook, secured with the tying thread and excess trimmed off: (Step 8)

Finished flymph: (Steps 9 thru 12 completed without photos)

Excellent tutorial, lots of reading there, but precise and fool (Jeff) proof. Well done Sir.

Not only is the tutorial top notch Ray but that pattern is simply magnificent. Great work on both.

letumgo wrote:4) Tye in the hackle feather by the stem (feather should be facing out over the eye of the hook).
5) Tye in the silk dubbing brush, parallel to the hook shank (again leave the end hanging out over the eye of the hook).
6) Wrap the tying silk back towards the bend of the hook. Stop wrapping roughly halfway between the barb of the hook and the point.
7) Tye in four strands of pheasant tail fibers with two secure wraps forward. The length of the tail should be roughly the same length as the hook shank. Twist the pheasant tail fibers around the tying thread and then wrap them forward to the, midpoint of the hook shank. This will be the rear edge of where the thorax. Tye off the pheasant tail fibers. untwist the excess fibers and clip off the excess. The tying thread should be hanging at roughly the midpoint of the hook shank. Rewax the tying thread at this point, which will later help strengthen the head of the fly. The wax will help lock-in the whip finish in the last step.
8) Grasp the silk dubbing brush in a hackle pliers. If it has come untwisted, give it a few twists to make sure the dubbing is captured in the twists of the silk. Wrap the dubbing brush back towards the midpoint of the hook, forming the thorax of the fly. Secure it in place with two wraps of the tying thread.
9) Grasp the tip of the hackle in a hackle pliers. Make two or three wraps at the eye of the hook, and then wind it back to the tying thread in three open wraps.

Hi Ray,

I like the fly a lot - thanks for sharing.

Your detailed tying instructions have me a little confused, though (easily accomplished, I know ) so please set me straight - or feel free to tell me to go take a hike

In step 7, would that not be: "Twist the pheasant tail fibers around the tying thread and then wrap them forward to the, midpoint of the hook shank. This will be the rear edge of where the thorax. Untwist the excess fibers, tie off and clip off the excess."?

Step 8 - I am missing the cutting excess brush after forming the thorax, but can figure out where and when that occurs.

Step 9 - Looking at the fly in the image it looks to me the hackle turns end about 2/3 into the section covered by the brush, where I expect the tying silk at the boundary between pheasant tail and dubbing brush. I assume you cover that distance with an open thread turn to reach the hackle tip to tie down?

As an aside, or rather an alternative approach, have you considered wrapping the brush thorax as step 5.5? The advantage I see in that is not having to negotiate the dangling brush as you form tail and abdomen.

Your thoughts?

Cheers,
Hans W

Hans - Excellent questions and feedback. I can see that my tying instructions need another edit (or two) to work out all of the details. I was typing a bit quick so that I could get it all in before the 15 minute editing window. I will go back and clarify some of the steps in the tying instructions, to hopefully make it more clear.

Step 7 - Agreed. Good catch. I will add this clarification.
Step 8 - Agreed. Good catch. I will add this clarification.
Step 9 - The thread crosses the hackle at the junction of the pheasant tail and the dubbing brush (midpoint). Remember that the hackle is wrapped in an open spiral, so it can cross at any point around the circumference of the hook. The photo only shows the front side of the hook (tyers side). I am guessing that the hackle and thread intersect on the back side of the hook.

I had considered wrapping the dubbing brush as you suggest, but decided to do it as described above. I am a big fan of counter wrapping the bodies on flies (wrap the body towards the bend and wrap the thread forward as a counter rib. This results in a very durable body and is well worth the difficulty of negotiating the dangling brush. Keep in mind the hackle is also hanging off the front, and has the same issue. By wrapping both of these components (dubbing brush & hackle) backwards, they are both reinforced when the tying thread is wrapped forwards.

That being said, folks are free to improvise/modify the tying steps to suit their preferred methods. The instructions are intended to accurately capture how I tyed this fly. I find them helpful, to review the tying sequence to refresh my memory of what happens when.

Thanks again for the feedback. It is very welcome, and much appreciated.

Yep - that 15 minute editing window is a pain, innit?

letumgo wrote:Step 9 - The thread crosses the hackle at the junction of the pheasant tail and the dubbing brush (midpoint). Remember that the hackle is wrapped in an open spiral, so it can cross at any point around the circumference of the hook. The photo only shows the front side of the hook (tyers side). I am guessing that the hackle and thread intersect on the back side of the hook.

Understood.

I had considered wrapping the dubbing brush as you suggest, but decided to do it as described above. I am a big fan of counter wrapping the bodies on flies (wrap the body towards the bend and wrap the thread forward as a counter rib. This results in a very durable body and is well worth the difficulty of negotiating the dangling brush. Keep in mind the hackle is also hanging off the front, and has the same issue.

Ah.... but the hackle tends to be shorter, and the feather stem will ensure it projects forward over the eye, while the dubbing brush is limp and will droop

By wrapping both of these components (dubbing brush & hackle) backwards, they are both reinforced when the tying thread is wrapped forwards.

Bit confused yet again.

How would wrapping the brush earlier alter the fundamental durability I also strive for?

You mention counter wrapping - Counter wrapping is an interesting concept, one which means different things to different people, and has proven to be quite a confusing concept to agree on, terminology wise and implementation wise.

I have modified my wording for it - and moved to describe it as cross-wrapping. In essence it occurs when the two materials, the lower material and the upper material, are wrapped at a (substantially) different slant, regardless of the left-right direction they happen to get wrapped. As long as the slant is different, the materials end up cross-wrapped and the durability improvement has been achieved. Please note that this means that while often one material's slant is top left to bottom right, and the other material has a slant top right to bottom left, this is not absolutely required to achieve the result.

Cheers,
Hans W

Hans - The silk dubbing brush is only about 75 mm long (`3 inches). Not that much longer than the hackle feather I was using. Yes, the dubbing loop will droop somewhat, but it's manageable. The wax tends to stiffen the dubbing brush, which help make it easier to work with.

Your comments about "cross-wrapping" are exactly right. I think your way of describing the technique is more clear. In this instance, when I describe counter-wrapping, I mean that the materials are wrapped in the same rotational direction, but in opposing directions along the hook shank. As a right-handed tyer, I tend to wrap materials in a clock-wise fashion (as viewed from the eye of the hook). All of the materials in this pattern were wrapped in a clock-wise motion. The dubbing brush and hackle are wrapped in a clock-wise motion towards the midpoint of the hook. The tying thread is wrapped forward, in an open spiral clock-wise motion, to the eye of the hook. The opposing direction of the wrapping motion, results in "cross-wrapping", as you describe.

Clear as mud, huh?

*chuckle* Ray, indeed...

Materials can be wrapped eye to bend, bend to eye. Over shank away from tier, or over shank towards tier. It all becomes very confusing to try and put it into written text, with many permutations possible. I will stick to using cross-wrapping and be done with it

Cheers,
Hans W

And make a video tutorial, to make it crystal clear...hint hint...*smile/wink*

letumgo wrote:And make a video tutorial, to make it crystal clear...hint hint...*smile/wink*

*chuckle2*

Ah.... but then I would do split thread, not use a separate dubbing brush - and nothing would be gained. Now if you could/would do a video tutorial, on the basis of a dubbing brush... *smile/wink back*

Cheers,
Hans W