Fly Tying - Body

[ tools ] [ Parts of a hook ] [ Attaching to the vise ] [ Attaching thread ]
[ Attaching tail ] [ Attaching body ] [ Attaching wet hackle ] [ Finishing the fly ]

Attaching the body - 1

Grasp 3-4 peacock herl fibers in your left hand.
Hold the herl in front of the hook at a 45 degree angle. The butt end of the herl should point down.
NOTE: The left-most wrap of this layer of thread should line up just barely to the left of the left-most thread holding the tail in place. It should still be on the flat part of the shank, and not curving down onto the bend. This ensures that the thread holding in the tail and body will not show when we create the body.
Cut off the butts of material (again being careful to not cut the thread).

Attaching the body - 2

Wrap the thread forward to the eye of the hook. This will leave the thread at the front of the hook so it is ready to tie off the body when we finish the next few steps.

Attaching the body - 3

Twist the herl around each other to form a "rope"…

(An alternative to this step is to include the thread inside the "rope" as you twist the herl. This can sometimes prevent the body from unraveling if an individual herl is cut by a fishes tooth.)

Attaching the body - 4

…then wrap the "rope" around hook to form the body.

Attaching the body - 5

Wrap the body, building a tapered body. Stop when you get close to the eye - leaving the equivalent of 2 eye diameters of free space on the hook shank.
Tie off and clip the butts, wrap thread over butts to "tidy things up".

[ tools ] [ Parts of a hook ] [ Attaching to the vise ] [ Attaching thread ]
[ Attaching tail ] [ Attaching body ] [ Attaching wet hackle ] [ Finishing the fly ]

Fly Fishing & Tying

Fly Tying - Body