TIE-IN AND WRAP HACKLE FOR
PARACHUTE STYLE FLIES
See Hackle Prep for Dry Fly and Hackle Selection Page
| 1) Take your hackle and hold trimmed area of stem against wing base with dull side face down. | |
| 2) Make a loose wrap over stem and hook shank behind wing base.
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| 3) When you get under hook shank, tighten thread. | |
| 4) Continue wrapping thread, using heavy tension, going forward in front of wing base. | |
| 5) Make about 5 or 6 wraps at same place moving to eye of hook. Do not build up thread here. We will need as much space as possible later when we tie off hackle and whip finish. | |
| 6) Bring thread up and behind wing base. | |
| 7) Bring thread down farside of hook shank and leave hanging.
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| 8) Attach hackle pliers to hackle tip. Make sure pliers are in line with hackle stem so that stem is not bent when we put pressure on hackle as we wrap hackle. Start first wrap of hackle in an upward motion so that by the end of first wrap, the hackle is at top of thread base. Leave a little space between bare wing material and top hackle wrap. |  |
| 9) As we continue first wrap, maintain tension on hackle so that stem does not jump track. A little slack and stem could go over thread base and rest on unsupported wing material. This will allow hackle to bend wing and slip off wing and unravel. This is a common malady of mass produced flies. This is why you learn to tie your own and stop cursing fly tiers. |  |
| 10) The second wrap should be directly under the first with no gaps between. Slowly continue wrapping in a downward movement with no wraps on top of another. If you just wrap helter skelter, you will develop slack in the hackle and hackle could slip over wing. Stop wraps when you reach wing base with hackle tip extending over hook eye. |  |
| 11) Bring hackle over and down your side of the hook shank. |  |
| 12) Maintain a little tension on hackle tip while you take your thumb, forefinger and middle finger of your left hand and reach around to the front of and under the hackle barbs. |  |
| 13) Close fingers and pull up and back to get hackle barbs out of your way so that hook eye is clear.
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| 14) Let go of hackle pliers and make a wrap of thread up your side of hook shank and over hackle tip in front of wing base. |  |
| 15) Repeat this wrap about 4 or 5 times. All these wraps should be light. Be careful to keep a little tension so that thread does not jump out of line. |  |
| 16) Hold thread in left hand and take hackle pliers in right, apply downward pressure on hackle pliers then tighten thread, pulling bobbin toward you and in a rearward direction. Holding pressure on the hackle will prevent thread torque from pulling hackle stem back over hook shank and loosening hackle. Most people wrap hackle the opposite way so that thread torque will help tighten hackle. The only problem with that is the hackle stem and some barbs will get under hook shank and into eye of hook. This later leads to difficulty in threading the leader into the hook eye. Always happens during an evening hatch when you can't see well enough to remedy the problem and every fish in the river is rising. |  |
| 17) Hold pressure on thread and cut excess hackle stem. After you do this, quickly make 3 or 4 more wraps of thread over same area to anchor hackle stem. You may have to pull hackle barbs out of the way again like you did earlier. This will help when you start to whip finish and if you slip and get slack in thread, your hackle will not unravel
You are now ready to Whip Finish |
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