Shucking Palewatery

[scotfly]

A little while ago, Toby Merigan. aka (on various lesser forums  :lol:) ?westcountryboy? ?wcb?  ?wcbflytying?  and "tobym",  sent me some of his dubbing to try and to get my opinion on it. I liked it a lot and have used it in a couple of step by steps. This is the first one. He does three types. Beaver, featured here, easy dubbing mix, which is used in the other sbs, and super fine dry fly. The first one is a natural dubbing, the other two are polypropylene dubbings. All three are the equal of similar I have used, but, significantly cheaper.
The dubbings are supplied in packets of individual colours, or in plastic tubes of six colours each. I think the tubes cost ?6.00 each. Or ?10.00 for two. The tube is quite a clever idea, you simply snip a small hole over the colour of dubbing you want and pull it through.




Onto the fly. A few years ago I used to tie and fish quite regularly with shuck emergers, using seal?s fur for the shuck. For some reason I stopped using them, I guess they just fell out of fashion with me, but they came to mind the other day, and I thought they deserved a resurrection. This one here is tied to (vaguely) represent a Palewatery.
You can, of course, alter the colour and size to suit.

Instructions assume right-handed tyers.

HOOK ? TMC 2487 (Or other similar continuous bend hook) #18
THREAD ? Spiderweb
WING POST ? Single strand of TMC Aero wing (doubled)
HACKLE - Golden Olive Cock
SHUCK ? Fiery Brown Seal?s Fur
BODY ? Yellow Beaver Dubbing
THORAX ? Brown Beaver Dubbing.

STEP 1
Lay a bed of silk for the post, finishing with the thread in the position shown.



STEP 2
Loop the post material round the thread and lift as shown.



Allow the weight of the bobbin to pull the post down directly on top of the hook shank.



Make a couple of tight wraps to secure.



Take a couple of wraps round the base of the post to draw both ends together and complete the post.



STEP 3
Take a few strands of Seal?s Fur and tie in to represent the shuck. Return the thread to the point shown.



STEP 4
Apply a pinch of dubbing to the thread and wrap down to the shuck to form the body.



Then wrap the thread back up to form a lightly ribbed/segmented body. Finishing with the thread at the base of the wing post.



STEP 5
Tie in the hackle. I tie the hackle in normally, then take two wraps up the post, securing the hackle stem to the post.



STEP 6
Apply another pinch of dubbing to the thread and wrap to form the thorax.



Make a couple of figure-of-eight wraps directly under the wing post to ensure you have no bare spots.



STEP 7
Wrap the hackle and tie off at the head.



Trim the post to length, then whipfinish and varnish for the completed fly.