Simple Shad

Fly of the Month

Bob Ireton brings together his experience in fly fishing, aquatic entomology, and knowledge of fly tying techniques and materials, to design and tie durable and effective flies.

Volume 6, Issue 12 December 2005

DRESS WULFF
Fly, Text, and Photography by Bob Ireton

There are not many people that fly fish, or tie flies, that haven’t heard of the legendary Lee Wulff. Not only did he develop and tie some great fly designs, he tied without the aid of a tying vise, using only his hands. Around 1931, he developed his ‘WULFF’ series of flies. Most of us are familiar with the ‘Royal Wulff’. Can you even imagine tying this fly only using your fingers, and no tying vise?

The ‘Royal Wulff’ is a beautiful fly that fishes well, and also looks great on the hatband of your favorite hat. I have taken the liberty of tying a modified version of this fly to wear on your hatband. Feel free to modify this design however you like. It will look great on your favorite hat!

By looking at the archives of the ‘Fly of the Month’, you will see that I have done this article each month for the past five years. I hope you, the readers, have enjoyed my efforts, and have learned some tying techniques in the process. The ‘Dress Wulff’ is my final fly, and Joe Cornwall will be doing the FOTM starting in January, 2006.

Best Regards,

Bob Ireton
December, 2005

MATERIALS

Hook – TMC7989, or equivalent.
Size – 2-6.
Thread – Orange, 3/0 & 6/0.
Wing – White calf body hair.
Tail – Moose body hair.
Body – Peacock herl, red, white, and blue floss.
Hackle – Brown.

TYING STEPS

1 – For this fly, I am using a TMC 7989, in size 6. The hook is forged to be strong, and has a black finish that looks good. I think any size smaller than 6 would be too small to look right on a hatband. Bigger is good, but you will find that tying a large fly is as difficult as tying a small size, due to the difficulty in finding appropriate sized materials. Place the hook properly in the vise. Don’t mash the barb down, as it will help hold the fly in the hatband.
2 – Using 3/0 thread, apply a double layer of thread for the base. If you use a whip finish to secure the thread, it will be smooth, and not noticeable like half hitches. Snip off the 3/0 thread.
3 – For most people, the wings are the most difficult part of this fly. I do the wings now, so if they get screwed up past repair, I will not have wasted my time on other parts of the fly. Attach the 6/0 working thread behind the hook eye. I snip off some calf body hair of the needed length, and comb out the underfur at the base. Then place in a stacker ‘tip first’. Tap the base of the stacker on a solid surface to line up the tips of the hair. As this is a large size, I actually do the above step twice, once for each wing. The wing should be upright approximately 1/4 hook shank length behind the eye, and the height should be approximately the length of the hook shank. I tie the wings in one at a time. Now secure both wings together, facing forward, and then snip off the excess hair with a rearward sloping cut. Now finish securely tying in the butts of the hair.
4 – Lift the wings upright, and tie wraps of thread in front of the wings to hold them in this position. Then separate the upright hair into two wings of equal diameter, and use figure eights to keep them in this position. I then wrap the thread up the base of each each wing with spaced wraps, and then come back down using tight, close wraps. When the wings look right to you, bring the thread back to the tail tie-in position, and tie a half hitch. I put some head cement on the thread all around the wings and base to insure the hair remains in place.
5 – Snip several hairs from the hide of the moose, and comb out the underfur. Stack to align the tips. Lay the hair on top of the hook with the tips facing rearward, and adjust so the tail is the length of the hook shank. Tie the tail in, snip off the butts, and finish securing the hair. Tie a half hitch.
6 – Select two nice, long peacock herls, snip off the weak ends, and tie in by the tips at the base of the tail.
7 – Palmer the herl, one strand at a time, to form a band. Tie off, then half hitch. Do not cut off the herl! Now tie in a piece of the blue floss. Tie a half hitch.
8 – Palmer the blue floss over the tag ends of the herl to form a band of the floss several wraps thick. Secure with the working thread, and tie a half hitch. Snip off the tag end of the blue floss, and tie in a piece of the white floss. Tie a half hitch.
9 – Make a band with the white floss right over the herl, as before. Secure, snip off the white tag, and tie a half hitch. Now tie in a piece of red floss. Tie a half hitch.
10 – Palmer the red floss over the herl as before to make the red band. Secure as in previous step.
11 – Form a band with the peacock herl. Secure, and snip off the tag ends of the herl. Tie a half hitch.
12 – Since this fly won’t be used for fishing, and due to its large size, don’t worry about finding dry fly hackle big enough. I found a proper sized feather on a saddle. Cut off the weak tip, and cut off the fibers on the side of the feather shaft that will lie against the hook shank. Shiny side will face the hook eye. Tie in the hackle feather by the tip, next to the herl band. Tie a half hitch.
13 – Palmer the hackle on each side of the wing. I needed more hackle than the first feather provided, so I tied in a second feather to finish. Tie off the hackle, and snip off the excess, and form a head. Tie a couple of half hitches, and then a whip finish. Snip off the working thread. Apply cement to the head. Use your fingers and bodkin to dress up the fly.
14 – Cut a small piece of foam, and run the point of the hook into the foam. Since you left the barb intact, it will lock into the foam. Now slide the foam with the attached fly into the band of your favorite hat. Enjoy!

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