How To: Extended Body Mayfly

With temps hovering well below freezing I hit the vise again today to try a fly that I've often considered but never tied. The extended body mayfly is tied on a size 14 curved caddis/scud hook. I'm not sure if the angle on the hook will lead to increased hook ups or more missed hook sets but I'm optimistic that this fly will work well!

 Begin by tying the thread onto the hook as shown above. Stack a decent chunk of deer hair and tie it down as you would on a caddis type pattern. Once the deer hair is tied down FIRMLY, begin wrapping the thread around the deer hair. This is the difficult part. As you wrap pinch the deer hair together in your non-bobbin hand. This will ensure that you are able to wrap tightly.

 After wrapping a short ways cut out about a quarter of the deer hair from the tail as seen above left. Continue wrapping and cutting every so often until you get a good tail (above right). The purpose of cutting out some of the deer hair is to get a more tapered look.

 Now it's time to tie in the parachute post! Tie down your post material with two tight wraps of thread. Then pinch the post material in your non-bobbin hand while wrapping the thread around the base of the post. All of these wraps must be tight to ensure that the post stays firmly planted on top of the body. Tie in a piece of hackle where the post meets the body, wrap the thread to the front of the post, and wrap the hackle around the post.

 Now tie the hackle down to the fly. This part is difficult to explain. I try to wrap the thread around the post (under the hackle) a few times to push the hackle up a little. This makes it easier to whip finish the fly without getting barbs of hackle tied down as well.

Trim any wild hackle barbs and place head cement on the bottom of the fly and where the whip finish was done. For many tying the parachute is the most difficult part. Check out this video for a quick guide to tying the post and hackle- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knLQgVXVnis

This fly can also be tied with as a CDC emerger. The fly pictured below was tied on a size 20 dry fly hook. Can't wait to get out and try these!

???Feel free to post any questions???