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Other than a couple of fresh water nymphs during a summer when I was 11 I have never tied before... disclaimer over

We will call this a proof of ability/concept.

I bought some siwash hooks, bucktail, A nylon thread, tying scissors, and a vise. Plan is to tie jigs, flags, siwash hooks, and the occasional fly.

During that aforementioned summer, I begged
enough to get a cabelas tying kit which I never used. A buddy of mine has had it for a while and I haven't gotten it back yet. Not having the hair stacker and bobbin from that kit (or any experience) I decided to give it a whirl tonight and see what happened.First, the thread got very dirty from my fingers (lesson 1.) I was able to keep the wraps fairly tight by hanging a piece of thru wire between the oversized spool of thread and the vise. I was able to keep the hair fairly straight in my fingers after cutting it off the tail, but a stacker would have been nice just for piece of mind.

Wrapping wasn't difficult at all. The half hitches to finish it off were a pain in the butt (as you can see in the pictures) but that was mostly me being careless due to the dirty look of the wrapping (its still getting fished.) I could have used more hair, but I was afraid of what it would look like and wanted to waste as few materials as possible while not having all the tools in front of me.

I think when I go "production" with my methods I will end up coating the wrap in epoxy.

The most important thing is good bucktail. Generally this means long crinkly hairs. You seem to have used stiff straight hair which is hard to get a tapered result with. It also helps to roll the bucktail in your fingers before tying it on, this makes it into a neater bundle. Don't pull the rear thread loops too tight, this makes the bucktail spread. You can whip finish the thread (check youtube) or lay a loop of mono along the shank, wrap over it 5 -6 times, pass the thread end through, and then pull the mono loop back so the thread end passes under the overwraps.

If you live near Taunton, stop by the Bear's Den and the guy there can help you a lot.

The most important thing is good bucktail. Generally this means long crinkly hairs. You seem to have used stiff straight hair which is hard to get a tapered result with. It also helps to roll the bucktail in your fingers before tying it on, this makes it into a neater bundle. Tie it on then with a dozen wraps then push it evenly around the hook with your fingers, then sock it down with more tight wraps. Don't pull the rear thread loops too tight, this makes the bucktail spread. You can whip finish the thread (check youtube) or lay a loop of mono along the shank, wrap over it 5 -6 times, pass the thread end through, and then pull the mono loop back so the thread end passes under the overwraps.

If you live near Taunton, stop by the Bear's Den and the guy there can help you a lot.

Thanks for the tip. I noticed the tail flared out quite a bit and wrapping it like a guide wrap on a rod crossed my mind. The half hitches weren't as bad as you might think once I started to put some effort into keeping them bunched to one end. I was pretty sloppy with 2 of them which is why you see some odd strands covering the wraps in the close up.

I do have one question for the masses, I bought a ceramic bobbin but the A thread I ended up getting is on a huge spool. Any tips on where to find a smaller empty spool that I can wind some of the large spool into for use with the bobbin?
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Danville's flat waxed nylon is probably the best for what your doin. i 've tied so many flies ,tails an jigs i lost count decades ago. switched to duro super glue as my head cement about 15 yrs back. Water proof and penetrates to the hook shank.All i use now. No need for epoxy. Kevlar thread is good but the price isn't worth it unless your doin spun deer hair an such. Saltwaterflies.com -Chris Windram has some nice tutorials an good supplies which will help you a lot.

Oh by the way on big jigs I use A rod thread as a filler an tie the rest with the flat waxed.

Lots of good tips so far.

Here's my method for siwash hooks which I like a lot for needles.

I do about 1/3 of the shank with thread first, then I start adding bucktail. This helps the hair not slip in the shank and gives the next threads something to bite into.

I build up slowly, tying tighter in the front so the hair lays flatter then working my way to the back.

I finish my wraps like a guide wrap with a thread pull.

I also use super glue, give it a good coat, then ill hit it with clear nail polish, Sally Hansen hard as nails, cheap and easier than epoxy.

It's a jig or tail hook, it's going to get trashed, epoxy isn't worth the effort IMHO

For bucktails it's pretty much the same, I usually tie some hackles or flash and bucktail on the shank, helps build it up and gives the jig a fuller look.

If you have a big spool of white thread use a cordless power drill and pencil or some kind of arbor with a small spool on it and it will transfer fast and easy.

Plus if you use white thread you can buy colors of nail polish, cheaper and endless colors and coat the wraps in whatever color you want to match or accent your jig.

BTW wonderbread colored jigs crush!

I have a bunch empty small spools too if you need some
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Thanks everyone. I'm gonna give some of this stuff a shot.

Question though, with the tail siwash, wouldn't the flared look accomplish a rear fin type profile?

...Question though, with the tail siwash, wouldn't the flared look accomplish a rear fin type profile?

I can see that, but personally I don't like the flared look.

What matters is:

What you like
What the fish like
What others appreciate about your work
Keeping with tradition
Trying something new and off-the-wall
Any or all of the above, in any order you like. :)

I hope you continue with tails and maybe fly-teaser tying (and plug-building if you haven't already). We'd love to see your work.

PS: I also wanted to endorse a visit to a fly shop; I walked into Eldredge Brothers Fly Shop in Cape Ned#^&#^&#^&#^&, ME many years ago with a picture of a saltwater fly I wanted to tie as my first and I was amazed how helpful the staff was in getting me started with materials and thread work. As mentioned, Bear's Den is another great shop and is worth a visit.

...For bucktails it's pretty much the same, I usually tie some hackles or flash and bucktail on the shank, helps build it up and gives the jig a fuller look...

...BTW wonderbread colored jigs crush!
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Chris,

Do you happen to have any pics of your bucktails? I'd love to see what a Wonder Bread jig looks like.

...Saltwaterflies.com -Chris Windram has some nice tutorials an good supplies which will help you a lot.

Not sure if it's still there, but the E-Z Shape Sparkle Body sand eel fly from that site used to just murder them at the Mousam...

Chris,

Do you happen to have any pics of your bucktails? I'd love to see what a Wonder Bread jig looks like.

Eric here is a few of different jigs I've tied.

I usually tie mostly white, chartuese and pink, but started tying more colorful ones to match the bait, mostly herring patterns.

The one in the fishes mouth is a 2.5oz pink and blue herring jig the pattern was by a guy on sol who use to tie and sell, ive copied his pattern on some of mine. painted heads and flash too.

The wonderbread colored plugs always did well for me so why not on a jig? Ive been doing really good on em, I tie .75 to 3oz in that scheme. I personally like tying them, breaks up the boringness of tying all one color over and over.

The blue/white one i tied last last fall when we had a sea herring run, the blue hair outfished all white everytime. On that jig in the pic its actually tied with white berkley braided line and super glue.

Those are very nice, Chris. The Wonder Breads remind me of the Ken Abrames style of bucktail color selection in flies.

I think I see some saddles in there; do you add pork or a grub tail to these when you fish them?

Thanks Eric.

Yes I almost always add a strip either a 70 or 240 strip, all white, all yellow or white/red.

The nice thing about the saddles is they add a nice action and don't cut down the casting distance like the strip does.
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Thanks guys, got a thread spool today that fits my bobbin... Still had sewing thread on it, so I figured what the heck... see how it works... not much different than last nights... but this one is 4/0 and the hair goes all the way around the hook shank.

I'll have some flat waxed thread sometime this weekend, I'll use that till the spool runs out and reload it with the A thread when its empty... Also plan on getting some heads soon and tying on those... need to get some better quality tail, these cabelas tails suck. Might be time for an edge order.

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LOL Wish you luck on the tails. You need to go somewheres an pick through them to get what you really want.I have over 1000 tails downstairs an let me tell you it's a pia to get consistant good stuff through the mail. Go an look through the stuff so you can get the ones you want for what you need.The person packing your order will only do what can be done quickest an the best for where they work.

The edge offered to pick through some tails for me if I place the order over the phone. Think I'll taken them up on it. Any tips on what to ask for?

I like long stufff as I can always trim it shorter depending on what I'm using it for. Be carefull of some of the kinky twisted stuff. Thats a sign of hair that got too hot an twisted. It's much more brittle than long straight stuff.Try to stay away from the real short stuff as that's good for mackeral flies an small teasers but you can't make it longer.

I'm probably going to just trust the edge guys to send me something of good quality. Those guys are good to me... or have been so far.

These cabelas tails have hair that all looks like the hair in my pics above. Varying lengths, but all that straight hair I am now hearing is not great. Is it my tie that is making the hair undesirable, or the quality?

well that's something that is a matter of choice . Long ago a guy named Lefty was usin one of my deceivers.He liked it. caught some stripers an hopefully still has some of the ones I swapped with him to use. All had straight hair.he said the fish don't really care most time as a fly or teaser is supposed to be an illusion in the eye of a fish that looks close enough so it will eat it.If your catchin fish on it don't change it as it's workin. Look at all the plugs,jigs,hooks,teasers an flies out there. None are the same.All work.But do so enjoy the fun of tryin new stuff an ideas you come up with.Don't worry too much as to what some like or don't as all of the stuff catches fish.

Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna fish this stuff. Cabelas and CVS are on the agenda for tomorrow to pick up thread and nail polish. Siwash hooks are already in, considering tying my teasers on those. Might pick up something else.

I also have plans to come up with a contraption that measures the drag created by an item. Hoping it allows me to compare bare trebles with dressed hooks and flags. My goal is to try to replicate the existence of those pieces on stock plugs where I really like the action but not the rear treble. Good example is the largest magic swimmer. I like the plug but with a large belly treble only. I feel like fishing bit with just that layout kills its action, especially at slow speeds. A flag on the rear hanger tied with enough bulk and the right material should fix the action and keep the plug from catching my hands and other plugs in storage.

Road kill missing deer tails? any thoughts?

I've considered it, but I'm pretty sure its illegal. And the bloody mess involved combined with the added humiliation of having my name in the paper for something like that... not sure its worth it. I have a few buddies that are gonna let me know if they get any tails this fall.

There is actually a guy in fall river who has some right now, I just can't make it up there... pretty upset about that as they look great.
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Scratch, if you don't want your deer tail hair to flair out on the hook, don't pull the wrapping thread tighter as you wrap further away from the hook's eye. Don't think I am not saying to wrap tigh enough to hold it in place, I am not. Just wrap tight enough to secure the far end of the head wrap. Pulling more tight, and tightest, closest to the eye just before tying it off. This keeps the shank end from flairing if thats your preference. My preference is not crinkly deer hair. When you see crinkly deer hair it generally comes from northern, local deer. Southern deer produce the finest tail hair there is. I know, I am sitting next to a rubbermaid container with about 125 unused tails. In the next container there is a 100 tails I work from to make my stuff. Don't just wrap the head to wrap the head. If you want it to look nice it takes practice, and paying close attention as you go. I have sold literally hundreds of teaser rigs, and flys in the last ten years, slowing as the economy slowed, but I still find it very rewarding. I stopped fly fishing several years back when an #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& walked off with an Orvis flyrod on Chappy on me. Shouldn't have stopped, but it was a karma thing. If you need any help with where to get supplies or anything, PM me.

Road kill missing deer tails? any thoughts?

Contact some hunting buddies, they will have the deer processed and sell them to you for $5

I've tried taning myself and they sink real bad! Not worth it in my opinion. Find a fly fishing shop and stay focused because you will see a lot of interesting materials.

Getting a little better... watching football keeps me methodical :)

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looks good man, i like the thru wire aka grs style flags too.

you using colored nail polish to match the colors?

Thanks Chris. I bought three colors of nail polish and a clear coat too. Chart, red, and a gray/black...

The flags are a work in progress. The wrap is a pain. Got the hang of it by wrapping it around a bolt... all about diameter