Hairy Mary part 4

The Hairy Mary

Click to open new window with full size picture	Wind the hackle in close touching turns be carefull not to wind the stalk on top of the previous turn. Catch in the tip as shown left and trim off.
Then catch the fibres in your left hand and draw forward. Tie down as shown at the same time laying a base of thread for the wing.	Click to open new window with full size picture
Click to open new window with full size picture	Select a small bunch of hair, in the picture I've used natural brown bucktail, and tie in. This is a tricky stage and takes quite a lot of practice. Align the hair evenly on top with about six or seven turns of thread.
Trim off by catching the whole bunch of loose hair in your left hand and lift slightly upwards. Place the scissors close to the eye with the bunch of hair between the blades and cut off in one cut. With practice no further trimming is necessary.	Click to open a new window with full size picture
Click to open new window with full size picture	Tie off the ends of the wing and build up a nice neat head in the process try not to build up to many turns of thread. Then varnish with black or clear varnish.

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Bucktail tip: Remove as much off the fluff and short straggly hairs as possible. Removing the fluff etc. keeps the volume of the hair to a minimum. With Salmon flies huge fat heads, or bodies if the tail is bucktail, are unsightly. Another common mistake with hair is to tie in far too many hairs, again adding to the volume to be tied down.

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