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.

Hook:

Thread:

Underbody:

Tail:

Body / Wing:

Hackle:

Clip, clean, and stack a clump of Deer or Elk Hair. The  thickness of the clump is of utmost importance. Too thin and your Humpy will turn out sparse. Too much and it'll be too hard to work with. After tying a few, you'll know the right amount. You want as much as possible without it being to difficult to work with. A clump about 1/4" in diameter is right for size 10 hook.

Measure the length to be twice the length of the shank, clip the butts square, and tie in the hair with the tips pointing toward the tail. Advance your tying thread towards the eye securing the hair to the shank. Hold the hair between your thumbs make a wrap then draw down. Repeat the process until you reach 1/4"  behind the eye. Make sure to leave amble space, this is one pattern where you don't want to crowd the eye. Advance your thread back to the bend of the hook.

Tie in the floss and return the thread to the point just in front of the hair butts. Wrap the floss to make the underbody and tie off when you reach the thread.

This part can be a little tricky. Separate the hair for the overbody from the tail hairs and bend it forward. Keep the fibers up on top and tie them down to the shank just in front of the hair butts. It should look like Figure 3. Then bend the tips up and make a bunch of wraps of thread in front of them to keep them upright. Separate the tips into two clumps and wrap a figure eight to form the wings.

Select a Grizzly hackle and tie it in with the tip pointing to the rear. Take three turns behind the hair wing and three turns in front. Tie it off, whip finish, and you're done.