tying question

[gmwhipple]

two of the soft hackles I fished yesterday suffered the same fate. after fishing them for a while, I noticed that the silk thread fly body and hackle had slid back on the hook shank, leaving a bare hook shank gap between the head and hook eye.

i was going to try a drop of glue at the start of my thread wraps next time I was tying them, but I thought I'd ask if anyone had a better idea of how to correct this issue, please?

[DUBBN]

A proper thread base with steady tension usually prevents that from happening. For me.

[Ruard]

Try some wax on the first 4 inches of the silk.

greeting


Ruard

[Ron Eagle Elk]

What Ruard said.

[Mataura mayfly]

Yes, try wax- but then there may be some reason you did not wax.... maybe colour.... or maybe you did use wax.

I am a bit lost, the entire body slipped back on the hook shank? Or the thread started to unravel in front of the hackle?
It is usually the latter with me......
If the entire body is slipping it sounds more of a thread tension issue to me- as Wayne stated. So we might have to look at what kind of bobbin holder you are using and how to add some more tension. You say body and hackle has slipped back, so this is most likely the cause. Wax and thread tension should lock the thread in place and the only thing that is going to trash the fly is many trout teeth (not a bad thing).

If it is the thread loosing tension at the head- how are you finishing the flies? Whip finish or half hitches? Waxed thread or head cement? Bare untreated silk thread?
If you watch a youtube video of Hans tying you will see him pull down the thread before snipping off to ensure the whip finish is well seated. Then if you watch a video of Davie McPhail, you will see him constantly taking the thread to the wax he has sitting on his finger- especially when it comes time to whip finish the head.

You could dab a tiny bit of head cement on the hook prior to starting the thread- but there should not be the need to with a bit more tension and waxed silk (if wax application is not going to change your pattern colour too much) and if the head cement soaks through the silk (ie: you apply too much) it will change the colour and look of the finished fly

[gmwhipple]

thanks guys.

i have not been waxing the silk so i'll try that next

g

[letumgo]

The other thing that may help is to make sure your wraps are done in closely touching turns. If there is a gap between your wraps, it may allow the wraps to be compressed when there is force at near the head of the fly. Once the wraps compress, it will tends to also loosen the tension of the wraps against the hook shank.

Silk is very slippery thread to work with. The wax helps a lot, as do firm wraps.

Let us know how you make out.