The hot fly

Don

Well-known member
Melvin the thing that bothers me the most is all the precious animals that were sacrificed for you to have your little fly. Sculpins gave up their heads, BunBuns gave up their hides, and the rare Maribou gave up its feathers. Thats allot of killing and collecting, leaving a path of destruction all across the country.
Could you please post the sizes of hooks heads and components so I can try this as well.
 

Don

Well-known member
Sure looks Bassy and shiny.

now, for the info I asked for, C'mon, lets have it:

"Could you please post the sizes of hooks heads and components so I can try this as well."

I tried my first bunny brush last week and while it wasn't very schnazzy I now understand better why you like brushes.
I'd like to hear more about the above one you try it a bit.
 

Melvinp

Well-known member
Here you go don #1 cut a piece of rabbit zonker strip to the length of the hook add about 3/8 of a inch to the overall length of the tail and trim the hair from that point for a clean tie on point I like magnum strips better little wider tail
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
Run a good thread base and punch the hook through the hide side of the strip so the hair is towards the bend of the hook
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
#2 attach your feather and the bunny brush to the back of the hook I’ve shortened the width of my bunny brush a little by holding a pulling some of the bunny fibers to keep it away from the curve of the hook
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
#3 wrap the bunny and hackle up to the point where the bunny strip ends
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
#4 add the possum brush it a lot longer and fuller than the bunny so I only add it to the front of the hook to keep all that hair from plugging up the hook
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
#5 a few wraps of the possum hair at this time I test fit the helmet making sure that I don’t have to much or to little ( you need a good base to glue the helmet in place but to much and you won’t get the helmet on
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
#6 I made one more wrap (4) total this depends on how far up your materials are and I test fit the helmet again (you want it to fit snug not loose before the glue)
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
Hair clip helps keep the fibers in control before gluing add some glue to the thread head and slide the helmet over the eye of the hook (I’m using gorilla glue clear seems to hold better than uv) but wet the helmet before you slide it on according to the glue instructions I just spit in it lol. After gluing the helmet on I push it back against the fibers and add a thread dam in front of the helmet this helps hold it back as the glue drys add a drop of glue to the thread dam and let dry(24 hours)
 

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Melvinp

Well-known member
Clip a v on the end of the tail and then your ready to loose it under a rock or in a tree lol
 

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Don

Well-known member
Whoa Melvin. You wrote a book. Gotta order Possum and helmets. I’ll give it a try. I have brown rabbit hide.
I have #8 jigs but I feel I should be using #2 Or #4.
 

Don

Well-known member
I found Possum Hides for as little as 9 dollars and pre-cut patches for 2.75-3.50 what do you recommend?
 

Melvinp

Well-known member
I found Possum Hides for as little as 9 dollars and pre-cut patches for 2.75-3.50 what do you recommend?
I’m using wapsi awesome possum strips and making brushes just like I did with the bunny strips. I’m not really sure if it’s actually possum hair.
 

Melvinp

Well-known member
Whoa Melvin. You wrote a book. Gotta order Possum and helmets. I’ll give it a try. I have brown rabbit hide.
I have #8 jigs but I feel I should be using #2 Or #4.
I’m using #1 Gamakatsu and #2 mustad the Gamakatsu are a thinner wire and a little easier to get the helmet on.
 

Don

Well-known member
Hey, I wonder, uh oh, I have tied a number of flies that I couldn't cast very well even with my fiberglass 5wt......can't load it. So what would you say if I tied this down to a 6 or 4? I could fudge something together but I want to get it right. Since Im ordering this stuff in I can choose whatever. Thoughts?
Allot of the stuff you, Nippy and Sol tie is too much for my equipment. Some of the #12 Jig wooly buggers that Nappy ties worked well for me when I tied them.
 
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