Crowding the Head

[Bob Cunningham 0]

Hi All! I would like to throw a question out there for the seasoned tyers. No matter how hard I try I always seem to get the materials too close to the eye and then have a problem whipping a nice clean head that doesn't booger up the front of the fly. Any rules of thumb that you use when planning out your wraps?

Thanks!

 

[ILikeFish 0]

I believe its a good idea to tie wings, para posts, or whatever like 1-2 hook eyes, behind the eye of the hook... hope that helps

[letumgo 0]

I like to attach my tying thread roughly 1 hook eye distance away from the front of the hook. I leave the front of the hook bare, which holds the space for the head until the body is finished. When I get close to the front of the body, the bare hook shank reminds me to not crowd the head and it helps reduce the size of the finished head on the fly.

[Bob Cunningham 0]

Thanks, guys. A couple of good ideas to try. I really would like to get rid of sloppy finishes to my flies.

[ILikeFish 0]

I like to attach my tying thread roughly 1 hook eye distance away from the front of the hook. I leave the front of the hook bare, which holds the space for the head until the body is finished. When I get close to the front of the body, the bare hook shank reminds me to not crowd the head and it helps reduce the size of the finished head on the fly.

 

 

agreed, I used to start it right behind the head, and it made a nice tapered head much harder

[DancesWithHeadCement 0]

Often a crowded head can be a sign of misplacement of another part of the fly. If you attached your wings too close to the head, or if your wingcase on a nymph is too far forward, when you finish the fly off you're already consuming the area reserved for the head.

 

If you are consistently crowding the head it's likely you're mounting your wings too close to the eye. Hackling the dry fly usually has 1/3 of the hackle behind the wing and 2/3 in front, you may want to look at the wing placement to see if the fly head is the problem, or a symptom of an entirely different problem.

 

As a rough guide, divide the flat area of the hook shank into thirds, wings are mounted about 1/3 of the way back from the eye. (assumes traditional proportions on a "standard" dry)

 

With today's genetic necks, and their high costs, it's always a temptation to use the entire feather. As these are quite long, that's a lot of wraps ...

[rhinorods69 0]

it depends on the fly and the hook like a dry 2/3rd body and 1/3 wing / hackle and i try to stay back on big streamer about 1/8 of a inch all the way down to dries being 1/32 of a inch back from the eye you will get it sooner or later plus like i said it depends on the hook like 2x verses 4 x for nymph hook etc.... also count wraps you should not do more then 3-4 warps to tie some thing down like not to build it up to much then when you get to the head you can use the thread also i like clear nail polish over black thread it thicker then head cement and takes about 6 good coats to build up

[Grunt 0]

Sometimes when I'm finishing a ty and the head looks as if it will be a tight fit I put my thumb nail right on the last thread wrap behind the eye and I am able to scoot the thread back a tad. I can usually gain one or one and a half thread wraps and complete a neat head. It doesn't happen often but it will save doing the fly over. If you have hair or barbs getting into the eye put a straight pin in your hackle pliers and heat it with a lighter. Take the hot pin and touch it to the offending material and it will be gone. Do this after your head cement is dry and do not touch the tying thread. A clean eye makes threading a 7x tippet a lot easyier when you are standing in ice water up to your cojoneys.

[Bruce Derington 0]

Letumgo is right on, If you leave the width of an eyelet bare this should help. Commit yourself to not advancing anything past that point and your eyelet will never get crowded!(head wraps only) Also, Danceswithheadcement has some great advice :headbang: Proportions can be tough to stay true to, but especiallywith Dry flys, they are critical. Look here

http://www.derekspace.net/prop.htm

 

Bruce

[atroutbum2 0]

Ive found crouding the head to be an expierience thing, i used to do it all the time when i was starting to tie but as ive tied more i do it less and less. Its all part of the learning curve of fly tying. Knowing when to end one sectioin and start the next part leaving room for the next part . Once you do it enough, it becoms second nature. Its like being able to think 4 moves ahead in chess.

 

But letumgos suggestion is very good, i wish i would have thought of it when i starteed to tie,