Copper john body

[mikechell 0]

I believe it means something like this.

 

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Yep, t'was what I was thinking/visualizing from the conversation/s relayed to us - but wanted to be sure.

BCT

[flytire 0]

yep just 1 of a number of ways to build a tapered body

[Crackaig 0]

Yes Mike has it, and has answered his own question.

 

Take an open turn back towards the eye.

So the thread spans the entire hook shank in one long (open) turn, from previous 'few turns short', to near the hook eye?

If you look at the whole point, I described the length of the open turn.

 

Take an open turn back towards the eye. About the same distance as you made this layer short of the previous layer.

"...back towards the eye" describes the direction of the turn. The second part describes its size. It is very easy to chop up instructions and end up not understanding them.

 

 

Does a 'open turn back towards the eye.' happen at the last turn at the hook bend before starting back up the hook shank toward the eye?

The first return layer wouldn't have the open turn so that the tail isn't tied in on with an initial open turn.

 

What seems to be happening here is thought not action. Try doing it as described, before trying to out think it.

 

Cheers,

C.

[damntrees 0]

I just started tying a bunch of these for opening day here in PA. Im new to tying but Ive tied a bunch of these and like someone said, I found it easier to pull the wire towards the back as Im wrapping forward. I actually tied a few where I didn't taper the body at all, I covered the lead wrap with thread, made a thread base to the bend, tied everything in and they look better than the ones with a taper.

[Orvis4wt 0]

switch your thread to 70 denier, it helps with making smother under bodies..

[Randyflycaster 0]

Great post. I too am struggling with my Copper John bodies. A guy in a flyshop suggested that, after I lay a thread base, I tie in some clear sow-scud back and tightly wrap it around the thread, tie off, then wrap the wire around the scud back.

 

Seems like an interesting technique. Haven't tried it yet. Any thoughts?

 

Randy

[flytire 0]

wrapping wire is a very easy technique

 

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=17

[epzamora 0]

 

 

The very, very best tutorial I know of was by Harry Mason who passed a few years ago. Fortunately his SBS instruction for the Copper John is still available although his web site no longer is. It can be found at the web archive...

 

Copy and save Harry's step by step instruction because who knows how long it will still be available. His technique is impeccable. RIP Harry. You were one of a kind and your instructions still hold up to this day.

 

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20130222022739/http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/cjohn/index.shtml

 

While you are at it, you might want to copy the rest of his tutorials:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20100421201255/http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/

 

 

Harry's Troutflies web site was Da Bomb. I found that when I restarted fly fishing a decade ago. Great design, incredibly highly informative, and excellent flies to buy. I always considered some of the flies to be worth buying and keeping as models for future ties. Does anybody else offer nicely tied flies like Harry did?

 

Some of the SBS pages no longer load the images but the copper john is still there in its entirety

 

eric

fresno, ca.

[hairwing 0]

John Barr is the originator of the Copper John and you will find some very good incite in his book "Barr Flies: How to Tie and Fish the Copper John .......". SBS of the original Copper John is included in Chapter 1, giving detail as to how it's done.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=sP8e25Vh050C&printsec=frontcover&dq=john+barr&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr2vv214vLAhVKvYMKHUlgAzMQ6AEIKzAA#v=onepage&q=john%20barr&f=false

[notenuftoys 0]

Great post. I too am struggling with my Copper John bodies. A guy in a flyshop suggested that, after I lay a thread base, I tie in some clear sow-scud back and tightly wrap it around the thread, tie off, then wrap the wire around the scud back.

 

Seems like an interesting technique. Haven't tried it yet. Any thoughts?

 

Randy

 

That's an interesting technique. I use UNI-Stretch to build a tapered body and smooth "platform" for wrapping wire on most of my nymphs. Once you get used to working with it, the taper comes out very nice.

[mikechell 0]

 

[126lineman 0]

Thumbs up for the UNI-Stretch. Builds a smooth, uniform underbody quickly. Works equally well for woven nymph underbodies also.

[ffs_bob 0]

I found that using wire sized a bit larger helps a lot. Barr's book recommends medium Ultra Wire for a size 12, Brassie for 14-16, and Small for 18-22. These sizes made things a lot easier for me.