Salt fly body

[nu2trout 0]

hey Guys,

I am new here and I am a novice/intermediate tyer (unless compared to you guys then I am a guy that wastes material on little curved pieces of metal).

Anyway, I try to tie some salt patterns for my striper fishing, mainly clousers. I have noticed that many salt patterns have the nice body shape starting from the eye of the hook and gradually sloping up and back.

How do I get that shape. I seem to just get something that looks like a tarpon toad head.

 

If this is in the wrong area please let me know where you move it.

Thanks

Keith

[Peterjay 0]

Keith, I'm not really sure which patterns you're referring to, but one way to build a nice tapered body is to shape it with thread. If you wrap lead wire (or a substitute) on the shank, just leave some room front and rear and use the thread to fill in the sections you want tapered. I use cheap sewing thread on larger flies (to keep expenses down) and give the body a good dose of a construction cement like Flexament. Then you can wrap your body material over it while it's still tacky. A coat of epoxy over the (dried) body will make it virtually indestructible. If you don't want the weight, you can do the whole thing with thread. I tie a lot of saltwater patterns in weighted and unweighted versions; I usually put a thin red band on the heads of the weighted versions as a way of keeping track of what's in the box.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I'm not sure either what your asking, but here's my take on it. If you're tying tails on a fly using materials like bucktail, saddles, or any long material, extend the material up the full length of the hook shank, leaving plenty of room for your front end materials & head. This will give you an even base along the hook shank, instead of a hump where you tie in your tail material. Then any material you tie along the body will be evenly shaped.

 

If you need to build up the body, then do as Peterjay has said & use thread, especially over lead wire. I prefer flat threads for this, like Danville Flat Waxed, because I can better control how much I'm building up, and it lays flat, bulks up less than round threads, so I get a smooth body, but with practice, most any thread can be used.

 

Novice tiers also want to use too much thread, & too many wraps. I know I did when I first started tying. You want to use just enough, and the only way to do that is with experience & lots of practice. If your bodies are looking like a tarpon toad head, then you're likely using way too much. Use less wraps, keeping in mind that each subsequent material you add will also add bulk, so the less bulk in your base thread wraps the less bulk the end result will have.

 

There are different materials used for bodies, some are easier than others to get the shape you want. If you're having trouble with a particular material, try something else. For example, if you're having problems wrapping flat tinsels, maybe try wrapping mylar tubing or estaz bodies instead. This won't fix your problem with tinsel, only practice will do that, but it will give you alternatives for producing better flies, until you get better with the tinsel.

 

 

I hope this helps answer your question.

[nu2trout 0]

Ok, I was afraid I was being a little too vague, let me try again.

On something like a cowen baitfish or an EP fly where the thread starts right behind the hook eye and goes up quickly and makes a nice full sillouette

 

something like this

http://www.orvis.com/store/productchoice.a...6525&bhcp=1

 

Cowens Baitfish

[KayakerStan 0]

Ok, I was afraid I was being a little too vague, let me try again.

On something like a cowen baitfish or an EP fly where the thread starts right behind the hook eye and goes up quickly and makes a nice full sillouette

 

something like this

http://www.orvis.com/store/productchoice.a...6525&bhcp=1

 

Cowens Baitfish

 

EP flies are not started right behind the hook eye. They are started further down the hook shank and you work your way forward. Here's how you tie that type of "fly".

 

[nu2trout 0]

Ok, I was afraid I was being a little too vague, let me try again.

On something like a cowen baitfish or an EP fly where the thread starts right behind the hook eye and goes up quickly and makes a nice full sillouette

 

something like this

http://www.orvis.com/store/productchoice.a...6525&bhcp=1

 

Cowens Baitfish

 

EP flies are not started right behind the hook eye. They are started further down the hook shank and you work your way forward. Here's how you tie that type of "fly".

 

Thanks

 

[lookalike 0]

I think what you must practice is leaving your self enough room for the head of the fly .....

a lot of people loose the shape by crowding every thing at the eye of the hook......stop 1 eighth of an inch before the eye.......you will see the shape form better......

hope this helps .... I do a lot of saltwater epoxes

Lookalike

[biginjapan 0]

try hollow tying, o.e tying the materiel in th wrong way round then folding it back, it'll create a bit of flare as long as you dont wrap back too far when your sinching down. also you can lightyly brush your materials with softex or similar to get it to hold a rough form before you finish off.