Tying in hair on Elk Hair Caddis

[troutdynamite 0]

Hi everyone. I'm pretty new to the site, but I've been lurking for a little while in anticipation of a tying vise as a Christmas gift. Now that I have one, I've been on here quite a bit looking for information from patterns to techniques. Tons of info on here.

 

Anyway, here's the deal. I'm working on tying the elk hair caddis. I'm using deer body hair, it seems to flare just the right amount so I'm good with that. The problem I'm having is keeping it from spinning around the hook. It's getting a lot better than the first few, but there are always a few hairs that seem to wrap all the way around the hook. I've been just trimming them which is ok, but I'd really like to know how you pros keep the hair completely on top of the hook in the first place.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jason

[Mr. Vegas 0]

its pretty simple. Here is a pic of another fly but same principle. Place the index finger of your thread hand along the far side of the hook right up against the hair to keep it from rolling. Make sure to have 2 soft wraps around the hair. With your finger in place, pull straight down on the thread with your material hand to flare the hair in place. Make one smooth pull on the thread and the hair should flare up nicely...

 

[gaffer 0]

What works for me is to pinch the hair in your left hand over the hook, like it show in most videos etc.

 

Make a somewhat loose pass over the hair. It should not flare all the way yet. Next make a tighter pass over that. When you are pulling that tight dont pull down on it, but rather towards to. Pull right to your chest with it to flare it out. You may have to work with it to get the angle that works for you.

 

As well, holding the hair right at the base might also help to stop it from wraping around.

 

I also like to make some wraps throught the ends of the hair, on the eye end to secure it a little more

 

Hope that helps,

 

Andrew

 

 

[phg 0]

It depends a little on what kind of deer hair you've got. Winter killed northern deer belly hair simply won't work. That's what is used for deer hair spinning, which is what sounds like is happening to you. For an EHC, if you aren't going to use elk, you will want coastal deer hair or comparadun hair, because it doesn't flair as much.

 

To keep the bundle in place, I simply hold it in place while I wrap it on. The first wrap is loose, second is tighter, 3rd, I snug down pretty good (pulling the first 2 snug). I continue to hold the bundle of hair while I add another 3 or 4 tight wraps. I then clip the ends, in line with the hook eye, and whip finish over the tie in point.

[troutdynamite 0]

Sounds good gents. I'm going to give this a try right now. I'll let you know how it goes. Was working on a couple Hares Ear Nymphs just now.....getting the fur off of the hairs ear to dub to the thread is a real pain.

[djmyers 0]

One thing I do to keep it from sliding down the hook is to make a loop around the hair before it is on the shank. Then make a soft loop around both (the hair and hook) and the second make it tighter and pull it down hard. The other thing that I try to do is make sure there is a little thread base on the hook, not a tying it on at a spot where there is no thread. There is more for the hair to hold to. The hook won't grip and allows for spinning.

 

Hope that helps

 

 

[perchjerker 0]

dj:

 

Reading the preceding comments, I was going to suggest what you did. Our approach differs VERY slightly; I was taught to use two loose loops around the hair bundle before putting the hair to the hook shank. You are faster on the draw than me!

 

perchjerker

[Flytyer14 0]

PM me your addy....i'll get a piece of elk off to ya.

[strmanglr 0]

when i started tying these i was using elk hair. what a pain in the . . . i could never understand why mine didn't turn out like the ones i bought at orvis. then i started using deer hair. they instantly started looking better. i still didn't understand though that it looked like they only went around the hair 2 or 3 times. i thought how do they do that and keep it on the hook? finally i took my deer hair did my two loops tightening after the second loop, went around once more, i then pulled back what i would end up trimming off. and did several wraps below the excess hair, whip finish and trim off extra. and bam!

[flytire 0]

watch hans weilenmann tie the cdc & elk and apply the same principle to the elk hair caddis you want to tie

 

http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenmann/cdcelk.htm

[Mr. Dryfly 0]

I might be late to the game on this post, but here are a few other things to consider.

1. Using too much (elk or deer) hair can cause the hair to spin.

2. The type of elk hair can have an impact as well. Bull Elk does not flair as well as Cow Elk.

3. Make sure you brush out the underfur (the fine inner layer of fur next to the skin) after you cut your hairs for tying.

Just figured I'd add to the post as a new member doing some surfing.

 

Cheers and Tight lines

Andy V

 

[SilverCreek 0]

On 1/10/2011 at 4:24 PM, troutdynamite said:

 I'm working on tying the elk hair caddis. I'm using deer body hair, it seems to flare just the right amount so I'm good with that. The problem I'm having is keeping it from spinning around the hook. It's getting a lot better than the first few, but there are always a few hairs that seem to wrap all the way around the hook. I've been just trimming them which is ok, but I'd really like to know how you pros keep the hair completely on top of the hook in the first place.

Thanks in advance!

Jason

Read these instructions:

https://www.theflyfishingforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/cdc-and-elk-two-minute-tying-video.902492/#post-1554501

 

[utyer 0]

I recommend this method from Kelly Galloup.  He never uses elk hair.  

 

[Sandan 0]

charlie craven:  https://charliesflyboxinc.com/mounting-hair-wings/

 

[BobHRAH 0]

Small denier (50 or 70) GSP is good for any smaller hair fly.  It's all that Dennis Potter uses for hair flies.

 

Thanks, Bob H