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How To Tie Mo-Hair Leech
Mo-Hair Leech
Recipe: Hook: 5263 TMC size 4-10 Thread: Uni-thread 3/0 color to match body Body: Mo-hair yarn Tail: Marabou color to match body
Step 1.
Slide the bead on and advance the thread to the bend of the hook.
Step 2.
Measure the tail the length of the hook shank. I’m using wooly bugger marabou. It seems to work the best for wooly type flies or if your tying the rest of it up the whole shank to create a bigger body. Since the only other material is mohair being tied in it’s not enough to get the body the way it should look. I also add diamond braid sometimes to add a little flash to it. Because the fly is sparse it will show through after it gets wet.
Step 3.
Trim the excess off. Don't tie it all the way up to the bead. You need to leave a little room for the mohair to be tied down.
Step 4.
This is when you want to tie in your diamond braid if your wanting the flash look. I do this more when I'm fishing at night. During the day it doesn't seem to work as much. I'm not going to add it in with this fly so I'll be taking it back off. Just wanting to show you the step.
Step 5.
Tie in the mohair. Depending on how shaggy you want the hair to look has to do with how many individual strands you tie in. I like to use one or two and usually not exceeding that.This time I'm using one. Wind it to the back. One thing I like to do is make a few turns back further then all the rest of the material I tied in (at the bend). That way you'll know for sure that you won't see any material or thread wraps underneath when you start to wind the material forward.
Step 6.
Wind the mohair up keeping the wraps side by side. You also need to palmer the hair back after each wrap you do going up the fly. Cut the excess hair and your ready to whip finish the fly.
Step 7.
Take a brush and make the hair real messy looking. You can cut some of the loose pieces that are to long. Cut it to the look you desire. The uglier the better.
Step 8.
Whip finish the fly and glue the head.
Here's the other way to tie it if you want the woven look. Since the belly and the top are going to be two different colors you need to tie the tail the same way. I like to put the two colors together before tying them in.
Cut two different colors of mohair yarn about six inches in length. Advance the thread back to the front of the hook. Leave a little space between the bead. Tie the two strands on each side of the hook shank. Since the tail is purple on the bottom you need to tie that color on the side closest to you.
Parallel Weave
Now how you do this step is after you tied the strands to the back. Advance the thread back up to the front and whip finish the thread. You can’t do this step with the thread still attached. You’ll be going over and under with the two strands that are going to be woven.
Grab both strands with each hand. You won’t let go of these until you tie them off and cut the excess. So learning this step might be hard at first. I hope I can explain it right. The strand away from you will always be on top so remember that when doing this. The first thing you’ll want to do is, the strand (purple) on your side will go first. Wind it underneath and come up to the other side not going all the way around. Take the other strand (black) and go around the purple strand keeping the black one on top. Repeat this same step all the way up the fly.
To avoid gaps or it being loose on the sides add more tension.
To learn more about these and other woven techniques refer to the “The Fly Tiers Benchside Reference”. Turn to page 195 chapter 10.
Tying these off is fairly simple. Apply the thread right behind the bead. Make a few turns to secure it and cut the tag off. With tension still applied take both strands and pull them down towards the ground and wind over both of them with a few turns locking them in. Trim any excess off. Whip finish the fly and glue the head.
