Fly Tying for Alaska fishing trips can be a great way to keep your mind on the fun trip ahead. Tying flies that will produce more Rainbow trout and salmon for your trip will save you money.
The first entry will deal with putting together an articulated hook system. Articulated flies work well imitating leaches, minnows, other fish. I enjoy fishing them but tying for example an articulated leach takes some time.
No Matter what hooks you use and where you make your articulation the steps are basically the same. On this particular fly I made the head articulated to the shoulder of the fly. This is different way to make an egg sucking leach.
1) put your front hook in the vise (cut at the shank or not) and make a few wraps with you bobbin and thread.
2) take your Dacron or other rope like material and loop it through the eye of the trailer hook.
3) Now you can take the tag ends of the Dacron and tie it to the front hook. 3 or 4 wraps to start and pull straight down to lock it into place. then continue forward with wraps up the shank of the front hook.
4) Once you are 3/4’s of the way up the shank fold the material back towards the bend of the hook and wrap back over the tags. This will lock in the material and it shouldn’t be able to pull off the front hook. I always add super glue between any step in the process. It’s cheep and it also adds strength to your fly.
For this fly I prefer the head to be weighted with lead eyes to achieve the action I want. To add lead eyes I first add super glue where the eyes will be laying on the hook then with many figure 8 wraps lock the eyes on.
Tying flies can be fun, it allows you to be creative and it also passes the time in the cold winter months. I highly recommend it and if you have an idea and would like me to share it on my blog, don’t hesitate to let me know through my website at www.driftingonthefly.com
Thanks and tight lines