Complete White River Fly Fishing Website

Step 1.

Start the thread where you see it.

Step 2.

Rotate the hook and tie in 8-10 strands of krystal flash and wind to the bend. Stay back with your thread for the next step.

Step 3.

Tie in a fairly big clump of bucktail. If you don’t know how to prep bucktail, you might want to go type it in google. But a small note about it. You will want to grab the tips of pull out any excess or loose pieces that are at the butt section where you made the cut. There is a lot of bulk down there that you don’t want to tie in around the shank. That’s why when you cut bucktail you want to cut twice the amount you think you will tie in. Also, once you pulled out the excess on the butt ends, you will now pull any tips from the opposite ends that not really make since with the majority of what looks right. When measuring this you will want to be twice as long as the hook shank. The way you tie this down is simple, but if you don’t do this one little step you can create too much bulk from the bucktail. It’s a coarse hair so it is not forgiving in the sense that you can cinch it down to make it a smaller profile. So what you always want to do is cut the tips at an angle where the slope goes towards the eye. Tie down in the back and make each wrap side by side as you wind forward locking in the bucktail firmly on the hook shank. Whatever you do make sure no bucktail from this step goes past the bend in the middle of the hook.

Step 4.

Now you are ready to repeat the same step in this step. Always prep it before tying bucktail. You will get the same amount as you used for the tail. Make sure the ends you tie down don’t go pass the next bend on the hook. Lock it down with thread wraps winding forward.

Step 5.

Rotate the hook and you are ready for your last clump of bucktail. I don’t show you in the picture, but it’s easier to pay attention to detail when you do it this way. First thing first, tie in some more krystal flash. You can as little or as much as you like, depending on what you want it to look like to the fish. I like to go settle with flash when building this particular fly. When tying the bucktail you will only go half of what you used in the previous steps. Make sure you don’t have any bucktail crowding the eye. Tie it down, but don’t go happy with thread wraps. The marabou will do that.

Step 6.

Now position the hook how you see it in step 5. This is where two big clumps of marabou will go. The only way to select the correct marabou to be long enough to hang way back to be proportioned accordingly is to have select marabou. You want to find the fluffiest marabou you can find. What I mean by this is some marabou is stringing looking instead of fluffy and bulky. Match two pairs and cut the ends to be tied down on the ends you cut. You want the marabou to hang back to about the same length as you did with the bucktail. If not it needs to be close. Once you have tied it in securely you will then start thread wraps getting the head proportioned for the eyes you will either paint or eyes that stick on the sides. If the stick on eyes is not flat against the thread wraps, go more wraps until they do.