This is video number 5 in Tim’s ongoing “How to Tie a Comparadun” series. In recent weeks, Tim has discussed what kinds of hair generally works best; hair length, alignment, tips, and color banding; which hides produce the best hair for Comparadun . . .
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Video: How to Secure Foam on Top of a Hook
Patterns that feature large pieces of foam—grasshoppers, Chubby Chernobyls, and the like—present a challenge for tiers: the foam wants to rotate around the hook shank. In this week’s One-Minute Tying Tips video from Tightline Productions, Tim . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Whip-Finish and Cut Your Thread Without Tools
This week, Tim shows you a cool trick that can come in handy if you can’t find your scissors, or if you just feel like impressing your buddies. Using just his fingers and thread tension, Tim makes a whip-finish and then comes the really neat part: he cuts . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Make a Sparkle Pupa Body
This week, Tim shows you an ingenious and simple method for creating the “bubble” body of a Sparkle Pupa, one of Gary Lafontaine’s greatest creations. Many tiers struggle with this feature, but Tim has an “automagic” way to “inflate” the . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Taper the Ends of Synthetic Materials
n this week’s lesson, Tim shows you how to create realistic, tapered bodies on baitfish patterns that use synthetic materials. Most baitfish are naturally tapered front to back, so a fly that ends in a straight line of fibers won’t . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie-In Mixed Brown and Grizzly Hackles
The recipes for some popular dry-fly patterns, such as the classic Adams, call for both brown and grizzly hackle at the front. As Tim points out, it’s only natural for a tier to wonder if they really need both; it would certainly be easier . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Match a Bead to a Hook
Figuring out which size bead to use on a particular hook can be the key to a well-proportioned fly, but there are a tons of options. Here, Tim explains how to choose the right kind of bead and how to match the sizes, as well. Once you’ve got this . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Trim Deer Hair
Spun deer-hair makes for a dense, buoyant fly body, whether you’re tying a large, traditional Tap’s Bug or a size 12 Goddard Caddis. Once you’ve got the hair spun on the hook shank, it’s time to trim it to shape. . . .
Read MoreVideo: Understanding Hackle Feathers
Hackles are used widely in fly tying, but the wall of your shop features several different kind of hackels–saddles, necks, strung hackle–from both cocks and hens. How do you know which to use and when? Here, Tim offers a basic breakdown of the . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie in Squirmy Material
Although some anglers balk at using the Squirmy Wormy or similar annelid imitations, these patterns catch fish. But they can be a pain to tie because the elastic, round materials want to roll, squish, and break when you try to lash them to the hook. Of . . .
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