I must start proofreading my own writing. i should have said, "If you
point the butts forward, trim it off squarish at the head" then gone on
to say "But i prefer to point the butts rearward" As far as trimming
off to make a ramp, when you trim near the head there is not a whole lot
of room to ramp it. You are leaving the minutest amount of room in
which to form a head. I have found that by the time I finish tying off
the hackle at the head, the cut butts of the hair have been covered,
making a tidy looking fly. Hope that is a little clearer.

Pete Collin

Conan The Librarian wrote:

I was about to answer that I am using the right hackle size,
until I
saw the phrase "same size as the hook gape". I thought it was
supposed
to be between 1 and 1-1/2 times the gape (i.e., more than the gape so

that the fly sits on the hackle rather than the hook

It's probably *supposed* to be the ration you mention, on flies with
long tails, I prefer to keep the hackle the size of the gape. Which
puts it on the smaller end of the spectrum.


Do you use a manufactured guard or a bit of a drinking straw or
some
other homemade guard? I've been playing around with homemade things,

but find that I'm just as well off just using my third hand to hold
the
fibers back. ;-)

I use something I picked up a few years ago, it's metal with a slotted
round and slightly conical head. I looked online in a few places for a
picture but did not find one. I've also used a hair stacker in a pinch,
I tend to carry my wraps out too far and the guard keeps me honest.


I do like your suggestion of moving the wing. I've even been
playing around with tying Wulffs on 2X long dry hooks (TMC 5212?).
To
my eye the proportions still look OK, but I guess the fish will be
the
final arbiters of that. :-}

I tie almost all of my dry flies on 2x long hooks, Otherwise I'd really
be screwed

Thanks for your help. I was starting to think that either it was
a
dumb question and no-one else on ROFF(T) has problems tying Wulffs,
or
*everyone* has problems and no-one had any answers. :-)

I think of those who responded, Mr. Collin probably has the best
experience. The last fly swap I entered, I had to tie almost 60 to get
24 to send. :(

Wayne Knight wrote:
Conan The Librarian wrote:
snip
Do you use a manufactured guard or a bit of a drinking straw or
some other homemade guard? I've been playing around with homemade
things,

but find that I'm just as well off just using my third hand to hold
the fibers back. ;-)

I use something I picked up a few years ago, it's metal with a slotted
round and slightly conical head. I looked online in a few places for a
picture but did not find one.

When I started tying a few years ago, I would find those in almost every
fly shop. I think I picked up a set (for different sized hooks) from
Walt at http://ezflyfish.com, but now I can't find them at all. A very
handy tool when you're crowding the eye.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

Tim J. wrote:

When I started tying a few years ago, I would find those in almost every
fly shop. I think I picked up a set (for different sized hooks) from
Walt at http://ezflyfish.com, but now I can't find them at all. A very
handy tool when you're crowding the eye.

Are you talking about the Thompson hackle guard:
http://www.dhthompson.com/tools.php

I've got one of those somewhere in my stack of stuff. I bought it
thinking I'd use it all the time, and promptly stuck it in one of my
tying materials bins, never to be seen again. :-}


Chuck Vance (who tends to grab a length of plastic straw when he
gets desperate)

Conan The Librarian wrote:
Tim J. wrote:

When I started tying a few years ago, I would find those in almost
every fly shop. I think I picked up a set (for different sized
hooks) from Walt at http://ezflyfish.com, but now I can't find them
at all. A very handy tool when you're crowding the eye.

Are you talking about the Thompson hackle guard:
http://www.dhthompson.com/tools.php

Yeah - that's the set. I *guarantee* I didn't pay $14.95, though, so it
may have been a knock-off.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

Something about the hackle proportions: If you want to emulate the Wulff's,
as tied(tyed) by Lee Wulff and Dan Bailey, then the hackle will be 1-1/2 to
2 times the gap. or roughly the length of the shank from the eye to the
bend. I'm fairly sure that Lee Wulff used the Mustad 9671 (2xl) for his
Wulffs. Of course maybe he did that because he was tying without a vise.
Personally, I don't like the idea of a gentle sloping bed of wraps in front
of the wing. The hackle will follow that slope which will angle the barbs
forward. Build up a dam immediately against the front of the wing. Encircle
the individual wings to stand them up. Then lay a smooth layer of thread in
front of the wing as a base. That way, when you wrap the hackle, the barbs
will stand straighter then with a sloped underbody.

Allan

Hi

Sorry but i didnt read all the mails, i just noticed the title in the list
and read the first reply ;-) last night i was making this fly (or trying to)
so as usual i go online and search for video clips and pics/info etc looking
for variations to the fly im busy with at that moment! coincidently i found
a nice page with short clips and one of the clips was with this fly! here is
the link http://www.mustad.no/video_pic/royal1.wmv
and the page with 9 other short clips are here
http://www.mustad.no/video_pic/index.php they are all on a mustad site so no
spyware etc in sight.

Hope this helps

Stephen
"an irish man in holland"


"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...
Howdy,

I've been tying all sorts of things for my NC trip, and in the
process of doing various Wulff ties, I noticed that I always seem to
have one problem. To wit, when I wrap the hackle from behind the wing
to in front, it always splays forward and winds up crowding the eye. I
build up the area in front of the wing, so there's a gentle slope (or
"ramp" as I believe Harry Mason calls it), but that doesn't seem to help.

I've tried tying the hackle in both ways (i.e., shiny side facing
the shank and dull side facing the shank), but it seems that the last
move of the hackle around the wing always screws up the position of the
hackle and causes it to splay. I can usually salvage things by holding
the stray fibers back before the next wrap, but I'm guessing I must be
missing something obvious.

Any ideas of what I might be doing wrong or helpful hints from you
more experienced tiers (tyers ... tires ... tyres)?


Chuck Vance (and while I've got your attention, how many wraps do
you try to get in front of and behind the wings?)

SpamDumP wrote:

Hi

Sorry but i didnt read all the mails, i just noticed the title in the list
and read the first reply ;-) last night i was making this fly (or trying to)
so as usual i go online and search for video clips and pics/info etc looking
for variations to the fly im busy with at that moment! coincidently i found
a nice page with short clips and one of the clips was with this fly! here is
the link http://www.mustad.no/video_pic/royal1.wmv
and the page with 9 other short clips are here
http://www.mustad.no/video_pic/index.php they are all on a mustad site so no
spyware etc in sight.

Hope this helps

It doesn't help ... except to maybe convince me that I should just
give up and buy the damned things.


Chuck Vance (seriously, it's a cool video, thanks)