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 Fly Tier: Andrew Cooper |
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Tying Instruction : 1) Tie in thread at hook eye and wind back approximately 1/3 hook shank length. 2) Tie on wood duck with tips facing forward (toward hook eye). Lift up wood duck wing and wrap thread in front of it until it stands by its self. Split wood duck in half with bodkin and use X wrap to separate wings. 3) Wrap thread back to bend of hook. Tie on hackle fibers for tails. Wrap over top of hackle fibers to wing base creating smooth tapered under body. 4) Tie in stripped hackle fiber at the base of the tail (use 2 stripped quills on large flies). Wrap thread to the base of the wing. 5) Wrap quill to just before base of wing (allow enough room to make 2 wraps of hackle behind wing). 6) Tie in Hackle shiny side toward the tail. 7) Wrap hackle forward to hook eye making 2-3 wraps behind the wing and 4-6 wraps in front of the wing. 8) Whip finish head - you're done! Note : The Catskill style of dry flies have been a favorite of mine for a long time, so when a friend asked if I could demonstrate one at the next meeting I didn't hesitate to say yes. The toughest part about the Catskill style is the wood duck wing. First of all wood duck is easy to find but very expensive for the small amount you usually get. The wing (if you wish to do it correctly) will take the whole feather. The feathers that you use for the wings are flat on top. When purchasing wood duck you will find that only a few of the feathers in the packet will be of the right quality for the Catskill style wing. If you know of anyone that hunts for wood ducks, ask them to save the breast feathers for you. This will insure you a life time supply of feathers. When tying wood duck wings cut the center quill out of the top of a wood duck feather and strip the fluff off the bottom. The piece of center quill you cut off should be a little longer than the wings you are going to tie. Now fold the feather in half and tie on to the hook as a whole. If you try to strip the fibers from the quill and tie them in as bunches on either side, you will waste a lot of time and will have a great deal of trouble. |
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When I was 13 my parents gave me a fly fishing outfit for my birthday. That year I spent a lot of time trying to fly fishing on our local trout stream. I caught nothing the whole summer. My dad, not being a fisherman, couldn't understand how I could keep going back day after day. One day a friend of his a work suggested we visit Carl Coleman who had a fly fishing store in the basement of his house. We went to Carl's and bought a fly tying kit, and Carl told us of a man who lived in my neighborhood named Lynn Holt who might help me tie some flies. That winter, Lynn graciously let me come over to his house on Wednesday nights to tie flies. The very first trip that next spring I caught my first Trout. Lynn did not ask for anything for all the lessons he gave me, he did it for the love of the sport. He was passing on a gift that will last me a lifetime.
ã Andrew Cooper 2000 All rights reserved .