Magic Hammer

[scotfly]

OK, a bit of a photographic handful this one. Don?t let the number of pics put you off, it?s actually a very easy fly to tie. I?ve used the Marc Petitjean Magic Tool, but if you don?t have one you can use some foam with a slit cut in it and some bulldog clips.
Alter the colours of CDC used to suit, here I?ve used Olive CDC for the body, Yellow CDC for the wing post and Old Yellow CDC for the ?parachute? hackle. As you will see the ?hackle? is not wrapped parachute style, but it gives the appearance of a parachute hackle.
The CDC used is the Marc Petitjean dyed CDC, normal CDC is not really suitable for this fly.
I?ve split this into two parts. The first part deals with preparing the wing and hackle. The second part deals with tying the fly.

Instructions assume right-handed tyers.

HOOK ? Kamasan B100 #14
THREAD ? Grey Roman Moser Power Silk
BODY ? CDC
WING POST ? CDC
?HACKLE? ? CDC

PART 1a ? Preparing the CDC for the wing post.

For this fly you will need one CDC feather for the body, one CDC feather for the wing post and two CDC feathers for the hackle (one on smaller flies)



First stroke the fibres out to 90? to the stem.



Then grip the tip and butt and push it into the clamp.





Trip the protruding butt and tip.





Then transfer it to the other clip





Finally trim the stem off.



Leaving you with the CDC ready to use.




PART 1b ? Preparing the CDC for the hackle.

The start of this process is as above, only this time you are using two CDC feathers. Stroke the fibres out at 90? to the stem then place one feather on top of the other and push them both into the clamp together, finally trim the butts and tips as above.



Again, as above, trim the stems off.





Transfer the trimmed CDC to another clip. You will now have the untrimmed side exposed.



Take your scissors and trim a straight edge and to the correct length for the fly.



That?s your wing post and hackle now ready. I know it looks long winded, but it?s actually a fairly quick and very easy process.


PART 2 ? Tying the fly.

STEP 1
             Attach the thread and wrap well round the bend.



STEP 2
           Tie in the CDC feather at the butt end as shown, with one turn of thread.



Then pull the CDC feather till it is trapped near the tip.



STEP 3
           Take the thread up to the shoulder, then twist the CDC into a rope. Don?t twist it too tight or you will snap the stem.



STEP 4
            Wrap the CDC feather to form the body, if necessary give the CDC more twists as you go to keep it tight.



STEP 5
           Tie off and trim the CDC butt. Then trim the body, being careful you don?t trim too close and cut through the stem.



STEP 6
           Split your thread and insert the CDC for the wing post.



Then give your bobbin a spin to make a CDC rope.



STEP 7
           Wrap the CDC, each turn goes directly on top of the previous one.



STEP 8
            Stroke all the CDC fibres upwards and then make a few figure of eight wraps to secure the wing post in position.



Your final turn of thread should finish behind the wing post as shown.



STEP 9
           Split your thread again and insert the clip with the two CDC?s into it. You want the loop to catch the CDC in the middle this time as shown.



Then spin your bobbin to form the CDC ?hackle?



STEP 10
              Wrap the hackle. Make a few turns behind the wing post.



And a few turns in front of the wing post.

.

STEP 11
              Form a neat head, whipfinish and detach the thread.



STEP 12
             Finally, trim the wing post to length. Then use your fingers to sweep the CDC hackles from under the shank as shown.



A spot of varnish on the head and you?re finished.





As I said at the beginning, this fly is infinitely easier to tie than it is to photograph.

[scotfly]

The abdomen will sink bri, twisting and wrapping the CDC like this negates the floating properties of the CDC.
I have some of the CDC ropes but haven't used them. I would doubt that they would be suitable for this type of fly though.