Need help on tying

[Chris G. 0]

I have been tying for about a year now and continue to struggle in 2 areas... When I tie a bead-head prince, I have an enormous amount of trouble with making the goose biot tail flare out and making them even. Any tips would be appreciated. I have no issues with the body or thorax, but I have similar problems with the goose biots on the wing. I am trying to come up with a way to be consistent and so far have struck out. Lastly is the hackle on this fly...maybe I am just using bad material, but what is the easiest hackle to tie in on this fly?

[oatka 0]

To flare them out on the tail tie a little bump of dubbing behind them, that should convince them to flare a bit.

[BBBruce77 0]

Biots have a natural curve to them and for the tails you want each tail biot to flare out or away from the hook and as the previous poster said small thread bump or dubbing will help flare the tails out. The amount of flare is controled by how closely you tie in your tail biots to the thread bump. Take your two white biots and leave them as long as possible and you want the natural curve to be down. Now take the biots and cross them holding the two behind the crossing point and place them behind the bead and take two wraps of thread over the point of crossing; then adjust the amount of flare you want in the wings and cinch down with tighter wraps. leaving a slight space between the bead head and your thread. cut the butt ends of your wings off as close to the bead as possible. Wrap your thread over the butt ends and as close to or on the edge of the Bead. Snug this wrap by pulling straight down and the ends of your biots should vanish under the bead itself. I rarely in fact never use a hackle per say on the Prince nymph. I simply do soft hackle flared beard and as before cut as close to the bead as possible and suck the hackle ends under the bead with a wrap of thread. Hope this helps. Much easier to show someone than to write it out. Hope that made sense.

The tail can be applied the same way as the wing to lock in a set flare to your tails. This is not correct if your set on following Doug Prince's pattern exactly. I haven't found that the fish are all that particular about this aspect.

[flytire 0]

do they need a lot of flare?

 

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/print.cfm?parentID=68

[Chris G. 0]

Thank you so much for the replies!!! I have never been able to make the butt ends vanish under the bead until reading this. And the web site with the instructions on how to tie in the tail is awesome. I have been tying them in 1 at a time, trying to get them in perfect position. You guys rock!!

 

Thanks,

 

Chris G.

[H.Champagne 0]

i lightly soak biots before tying, then make sure you are tying down the correct side, and, as stated, dub a small puff to aid in the flare. the closer the puff to the biot, the more dramatic the flare.

[pttroe 0]

Hi,

check out Davie Mcphail on youtube. I'm a beginner myself and he helped me a lot!! Too easy!( when you see it on screen ) a little bit harder in real life

greetz, PT

[H.Champagne 0]

After reading the response from pttroe i feel that i should mention that I had a really hard time with biots at first. I could get them on the hook but they never looked right, maybe one being too short or crooked or something. I think like most things in fly tying it just takes time on the bench, but don't be discouraged at all, there will be a day when you look back at certain techniques or materials and wonder why you had such a hard time. I remember when i bought my vise and a bunch of materials to tie a caddis fly and had watched all these videos about tying down hackle, which on youtube seems very easy, but when the material is in your own hands it feels impossible haha. I do believe though that tying like most things has building blocks, when you master hackle, or biots, or dubbing it will apply to so many other materials and techniques that will be easy because of what you learned using the first material. The list of things you need to learn how to do is not as long as it seems so just keep cranking and soon enough you will be telling other people how to use biots. Also, don't be afraid to try your ideas for using a material, you will be surprised how well they might work....