FLYMPH FORUM

Herl and Dun Pupa
Hook - Daiichi Model 1150 / Size 14
Thread - 8/0 UNI-Thread (Red)
Hackle - Metz Hen Hackle (Dun)
Thorax - Two Strands of Peacock Herl (reinforced in a thread dubbing loop for durability)
Under Body (Abdomen) - Tying Thread
Body (Abdomen) - One piece of Peacock Eye Herl (wrapped over a layer of clear nail polish)
Optional Wire Rib - Fine gold wire (counter wrapping herl)

Preferably clipped from the right side of a nice peacock eye. Depending on where you clip the peice of herl from, you can control the color of the abdomen of the fly (shades can vary from a golden olive (more towards the tips and outside the eye, to and electric blue, near the center of the eye). I was having better luck with the shape of the abdomen, by choosing herl from the right side of the stem. I tyed the herl in by the tip end, and then wrapped the herl fiber forward over a layer of SHHAN clear nail polish for durability. The abdomen herl is wrapped forward in open spirals, allowing the tying thread to show between wraps, and it helps the little fibers along the herl to form a segmented body, very similar to those formed by biots.

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Mount hook
2) Attach thread and make four or five wraps, directly behind the eye of the hook.
3) Select a hen heck feather. In this case, since it is a smaller fly, choose one from up near the neck of the hen (one of the smaller feathers). Prepare the feather by stripping off the basal fluff. Tye the feather in by the stem. The tip of the feather should be facing out over the eye of the hook, with the good
side tyed against the hook shank (dull side up).
4) Wrap the tying thread in close touching turns, all the way along the shank. Wrap well into the bend of the hook. You may notice that as you get further back into the bend, the thread starts to catch on the hook point. I have a rotary vice, and find it helps at this point to rotate the hook 180°, flipping the hook over so it's point faces upwards. It is then much easier to make thread wraps deep into the bend, without snagging the hook on the point.
5) Clip a single strand of eye herl, from a nice peacock eye stick. Depending on where you clip the fiber, you can adjust the color of the fly. Take this peice of eye herl and tye it in at the back of the hook.
6) Wrap the tying thread forward, again in close touching turns, to form a smooth underbody. Stop the tying thread at the back of where the thorax will begin.
7) Paint a thin coat of fast drying clear nail polish on the thread under body. This will help glue the herl in place, adding durability to the fly. Do not use too much nail polish. After painting a layer onto the tying thread, wait a couple seconds for most of it to soak into the thread. The under body will darken, but it should still be wet when you do the next step. CAUTION: Excessive nail polish will gum up the abdomen and ruin the body.
8) Wrap the strand of eye herl forward, in open spirals. Allow space for the thread underbody to show thru. CAUTION: Be careful not to pull to hard while wrapping the herl, so as to not break it off. Secure the herl with one or two wraps of thread and clip off the excess herl.
9) Tye in two strands of peacock herl, and then form a thread loop, slightly shorter than the tying thread. Advance the tying thread to roughly 1/16" behind the the eye of the hook.
10) Twist the herl in the thread loop to form a peacock herl chenille. Wrap it forward in close turns, to the tying thread. This will from a durable thorax.
11) Grasp the tip of the hen hackle feather in hackle pliers and then bend the feather 90° to the hook shank. This little maneuver helps prepare the feather for wrapping, and helps prevent twisting of the hackle. I like to run the tip of my scissors along both sides of the feather, to loosen the fibers before wrapping the hackle. The fibers will then flare outwards and lay better on the finished fly. Wrap the feather backwards, towards the tying thread. Use only one or two wraps.
12) Wrap the tying thread forward thru the hackle. The tying thread will lock the feather stem down adding durability.
13) With the fingers of your left hand, pull the hackle fibers back out of the way, and whip finish the fly.
14) Add a drop of head cement (nail polish) to the head of the fly, or simply add a second three turn whip finish.

DONE!

Hello Ray, your fly tying and macro photography skills here are perfectly matched.
Both are stunning!
Well done, I really like this.

Thanks Tim.

You really are an artist Ray. I would love to fish these, but I do not have the skill to duplicate them. It's a pleasure to see your work.

Thanks Wayne. Nice of you to say, but I know you have the skills to tye these flies. They are actually simple flies. The most difficult part is wrapping the herl along the thorax. You just need to be gentle with the first couple wraps... I found that swearing helps.

I encourage you to give them a try.

Darn thing's almost to pretty to fish. Keep'm coming Ray.

Regards, Jerry

Send me one so I can frame it!

Remarkable pattern Ray. That really is beautiful but I'm sure the fish would find it just as appealing as we do. Photo is top notch as well.

Hi Ray,

Nice pictures and nice tying too, thumbs up!!

greeting


Ruard

In a word, masterful.

Thanks guys. Glad you liked the fly. Peacock is such a beautiful material, and makes such fishy looking flies. I think these would look nice with other thread colors as well (olive, dun, primrose, brown, etc.). I have a few spools of Veevus thread which I stole from Eric during our Yellowstone trip last year (ha ha ha).