Tying on single salmon hooks; where to tie in the tag ends?

[despatiesim 0]

Hi all, I'm going to tie up a few patterns on single salmon Hooks (Partridge M2 series). This is the first time I tie on singles since all my flies I used to tie on doubles. I was wondering if there are any strategies to where to tie in the tag ends of materials (tinsel, floss, etc...), due to the "offset" eye bend (sorry don't know how to call this)? On doubles I'd tie in underneath or above, which would keep body shape nice and symetrical. How do you go about it on singles, so the body of the fly stays nice and round? Tie in on the shank on the side when the hook eye offset is? Anything else?

 

Thanks for your feedback!

 

Simon

[Frank G. Swarner III 0]

One option is to take a hackle stem and tie it in by the butt right at the return wire from the eye, then wrap back over the stem to get the taper you are after. Try to match the diameter of the butt end of the hackle stem to the diameter of the return wire. Hen hackle stems are pretty good for this technique.

 

Frank

[Piker20 0]

Ah, I thought at first you meant the tag on the fly. One way I was shown; and it does seem to work, is to leave the tag end long enough to reach to the point the eye leg is folded back. As you tie in materials keep the tags lying along the shank to the dead leg point and as you move up the shank you will find the body forms a lovely level shape. As Frank says, lying any stems along is a quick way to achieve this. If you have been tying on doubles already you'll be fine. It'll click in no time.

[Bugsy 0]

Tail material is tied on top of shank. Any tinsel or floss used for tips, tags or bodies is tied on underside of shank; usually this is at 5-6 o'clock when viewed from front. At least that's how I do it.

 

Flat tinsels and floss creates minimal tie-in bulk. I often strip oval tinsels to the core; this further reduces the profile.

 

Good hooks have a nicely tapered return wire. Any asymmetry of the loop eye to the centerline of the shank is natural for this style of hook. Not only am I not bothered by it, I hardly notice it.

[despatiesim 0]

Big thanks to you all for your input. I tied up 2 flies tonight (a Mickey finn and a Green butt) and seem to be getting my sense of proportion back pretty quickly. On thing that has changed since last time I tied is my eyesight! Thanks god I won't be tying anything much smaller than a 10....

 

Thanks again!

 

Simon