Step-by-steps for the "One Feather Fly"

Part 5 of a 6 part series

So..., using the information and suggestions from the first four parts of this series on photographing your fly tying steps, I have prepared a few images showing the construction of a very simple yet effective fly I call the "One Feather Fly".  It is a great pattern for practicing dubbing, both direct dubbing and dubbing loops.  And it involves using feathers that don't often get much respect, these being rump feathers from upland game birds such a pheasants and quails.

This fly has a very similar construction to the Conehead Combo, which uses turkey maraboo.  Step-by-step instructions for the Combo can be found my Website here: http://www.fishingwithflies.com/MyFavoriteFliesTheConeheadCombo.htm

The picture below is how I set things up tonight for tying the One Feather Fly.  The purpose of the large white foam board (left over from a picture framing project) is to reflect light upward and underneath the fly.

[Edit: The white foam board was an experiment, and I'm not sure it made enough difference to bother with it... and after tying a few flies I think I had spots in front of my eyes because it was too bright for me looking down at an angle as I tied the fly.]

Many people place a third or even fourth light under the fly to match the light from the two lamps above the fly.  But, its hard enough to tie a fly with the front of the camera lens only  2" away from fly, so I don't bother with lights below.

One thing I forgot to mention in the prior posts is that the camera's built-in self timer is very helpful.  If I am holding any materials, the timer allows me to press the shutter button and quickly position materials, which I did in several of the pictures below.  By default, most cameras will give you a 10 second interval.

Here are the ingredients: hooks, beadheads, and one pheasant rumpfeather
with aftershaft for each fly.  Cut the main feathers in half.  Do not
cut the smaller aftershaft feather.

Tying Steps

Tie in the tip of the front half of the pheasant rump feather.

Twist the feather into a rope and wrap forward
like chenille on a woolly bugger.

Tie off the rope about 2/3 of the way up the body or when
the stem gets too thick to wrap.  Snip off the excess. 

Create a dubbing loop into which you will insert
the back half of the feather.

I use a dyna-king dubbing spinner.

Stick the back half of the feather into the loop.
To make it more dense you can fold the feather in half (which is
a standard technique I find difficult)
or insert two feather halves (as I did here)

Cut off the stem.

Spin the thread with the dubbing spinner.

Wrap the dubbing loop forward and tie off.
There will likely be some additional hook shank to cover.

Resort to direct dubbing to finish the front of the fly.
Aim the butt of the stem of the soft aftershaft feather
toward the beadhead and twist the feather onto
the thread just like you'd do with rabbit dubbing.

Wrap the dubbing forward while helping it with
the fingers of your left hand.

Stroke the fibers rearward as you wrap the dubbing
behind the beadhead.

Finish by tying off behind the bead head with a few whip knots.
I cheat by using a whipping tool.

Set up for the One Feather Fly: gather all the parts and dusting off the Web site template

Part 1 of a 6 part series

I was shocked to see that it was last May when I published a blog post about the One Feather Fly and promised to prepare step-by-step instructions for this simple fly. The months go by so quickly!  After that blog post, it was fun to receive a few emails from others who get a kick out of tying and using the simplest of flies.

Now, in March, I find myself motivated to get tying and photographing because I am all out of these little delicacies! Unfortunately I find today that I only have two remaining 5/32" gold beadheads. I like to tie in groups of 10 or 12, and this is my favorite size when added to a TMC 3761 size 8 1xl wet fly hook. I'm sure the silver ones I have will work just as well; but they just don't look as good to me. I'll pick up some gold ones tomorrow at the Orvis Store.

10 size 8 TMC3761 hooks and 5/32" gold beads from the local Orvis store.

I'm going to need some nice rump feathers (one per fly) from my Ring Neck Pheasant skin. I'm sure I will find some decent feathers, but the skin has been pretty picked over. The closer the feather looks like blood marabou the better.

Rump feathers are on the left (and this skin has been used a lot)!  Back feathers are on the right.

I found that the last set of step-by-step instructions that I prepared was about four years ago when I used it for the Conehead Combo. I like the template/format I used back then, and will use it for my upcoming step-by-step instructions. Unfortunately and unpredictably a few of the old pages on my Web site sometimes take more time to open in Internet Explorer than I like.  I don't have any idea how they open in other browsers like Firefox or Safari. I am still using Microsoft's Frontpage 2003 for my Website and it is very old software.  This blog is done through Blogger (which is Google) so the software behind the scenes is taken care of automatically and continuously by Google.  The blog pages open nice and fast.

Next Post: Getting out the camera equipment

Switching to simple flies: The "One Feather Fly"

Over the years I have switched more and more to simple flies. It gives me a thrill to catch fish on a fly that is made with just one or a few simple and easy-to-find materials. To be sure, if I felt that such flies compromised my fishing success I would not use them. But I am convinced that most of the time the fly chosen makes very little difference.  As long as it is presented effectively (eg. action, depth, speed) by the flyfisher, I believe that most of the time the fly chosen is perhaps only 10% of the success equation. I say "most of the time"; there are of course times when the fish are very selective and fly selection is correspondingly more important. Such selectivity is experienced when "fishing the hatch".

But most of the time I would say that the fisherman's skill is 80% of the formula, the equipment is 10% and the fly is the final 10%. The fly is just part of the "tool kit". It is up to the fisherman to know how to present the fly and "work it".

This is why over the years I have worked to reduce the number of flies I carry (though I always have a few "experimentals" along). Instead I am concentrating on a smaller selection of flies. By doing this I have become more confident in the flies I am fishing.

A couple of the the subsurface flies I have concentrated on in recent years are the Conehead Combo (clickable for recipe and pictures) which I now carry only in olive and only in two sizes, and the Hare and Herl Bugger (clickable for recipe and pictures) which I carry weighted with 10 wraps of lead and in only one hook size.

There are two other simple subsurface flies that I have enjoyed fishing that I have not yet reported on. The first one is tied with just one feather. The second pattern requires two feathers. 

I plan to follow up this post first with step-by-step instructions and photos for the "One Feather Fly". But until I do, pictured below are the simple materials required: 5/32" beadhead, sizes 8 Tiemco 1xl hook, and one rump feather from a ring neck pheasant.

If you had to tie a fly with only these materials, what would it look like?



Directions for the One Feather Fly