Your one-stop website for fly fishing the White River, the Norfork Tailwater, and Lake Taneycomo
How To Tie Mickey Finn
Mickey Finn
Recipe Hook: Streamer 4xl (down eye) size 2-6 Thread: Uni- thread 6/0 Body: Flat Tensil (large) Wing: Yellow & red bucktail Eyes: Flat stick ons (yellow) or paint
Step 1.
It doesn't matter where you start the thread. The only thing you need to do in this step is make a thread base in the back. You'll need to wrap in the same spot to build it up. Once you're done doing that advance the thread back up to the eye.
Step 2.
Tie your black thread in the front and cut the tag end off. You don't need to make alot of turns, just enough to get it started.
Step 3.
Tie in the tinsel the whole length of the shank. I'm tying large flat tinsel that comes on a spool. One side is gold and the other side is silver. There's also a step you can do with this that is optional. If you're wanting a rib also you'll need to tie in the oval as well as the tinsel and wrap back to the bend. Pay attention to the stopping point which is where you built the thread dam with red. So leave a little bit of red showing in the back.
Step 4.
When winding the flat tinsel (first) you'll need to make sure they overlap each other just a little. This will prevent ridges or bumps in the body along the shank. The best way to do this step is with a rotary vise because you have more tension as your holding it. If you tied in the oval tinsel you need to wrap that up next and tie it down. When wrapping the oval tinsel up make sure you make big spaces in between. I would count five turns and you should be up at the eye. Cut the excess off and you're ready to tie the wing in.
You don't need much bucktail. One thing to remember when selecting hair from a bucktail is where to find the right hair. The hair that is closest to the bottom will be more hollow like deer hair. When tying bucktail as a wing you don't want hair that will flare when you go to tie it down. If you apply to much tension with poor hair you will see the hair rise and that's not good. The wing needs to lay right next to the hook. Another way to keep it tied down is to make loose wraps and then gradually build it up with thread wraps from tying in the other colors of backtail.
Step 5.
As you can see in the picture just above this one this will be how much hair you tie for all three wings. This step is very important and the reason why is so you don't build the head wrong or add to many thread wraps. You'll need to cut the hair at an angle (like a ramp) at the ends your tying in. This will keep the head biulding in a taper from large in the back to small up at the eye. Notice how far and how much I tied down. You want to make enough thread wraps to secure the hair.
Step 6.
Repeat the same step as you did tyng in the yellow. You'll also cut this at an angle before tying it in. And it will slightly be tied in front of the yellow, like building stairs.
Example: The orange will be on the yellow and the yellow will be on the red. But make sure you don't tie them directly on top of each other.
Step 7.
This is the last set of hair you tie in. Once you've tied in the last wing you'll need to clean up the head and maybe build a little bit more to have the proper amount of room to put the eyes on. If your not using stick-ons then you don't have to build up so much head, but I'm taking the easy route and using flat stick-ons in the smallest size. Once you've built your head whip finish the fly and your ready to epoxy the head.
I like the old school ones the best. If you can find them, buy them. They don't make them like this anymore.
Step 8.
Attach the eyes to the sides and your ready for the epoxy. Don't worry about gluing the thread because the epoxy will take care of that.
Note: One thing you need to keep in mind is if the eyes don't match up with the diameter of the head you need to add more thread and build if up some more. The epoxy will not make a round ball if the eyes stick out pass the thread head. You'll find yourself adding more epoxy to fill up the mistake.
Completed fly. Let it dry over night before fishing it.
