Snow-shoe-emerger, step by step.

[Hans]

The snow-shoe rabbit lives in hard conditions, and to keep it's feet dry and warm the hairs are very greasy.
We can use this to tie flies that float very well.
the first picture shows the leg as it comes from the package, dyed olive in this case.
Cut a wee bunch of hairs close to the skin, and remove the underfur. Do not throw this away, you will need this in a later stage...
See the second picture.
The third pic shows the bunch tied onto a hook 14, TMC 2488 in this case.
The bunch of hairs at the bend of the hook is cut of, and put aside, do not throw away please.
Pic 4 shows the bunch tied straight up into a wing position, and it also shows a strand of Krystal flash.
Make a few wraps round the base of the wing to secure it in the correct position.
Use the underfur from pic 2 to dub a body, see the 5th pic
and rib it with the Krystal flash. ( pic 6)
In the 7th picture you can see the loop formed in the tying thread, and the hairs from pic 3 put into the loop.
Picture 8 shows the dubbing-loop after twisting it.
Wrap this dubbing-loop round the base of the wing, use a whip-finish to finish the fly.
Picture 9 shows the finished fly...
Good luck tying.
Hans

[deergravy]

Great looking fly, Hans,
Wrapping the underfur round the wing post is a brilliantly simple idea - will definitely use it.

For the smaller sizes, I've found tying in a slim bunch of hair by the middle, then pulling up both ends and wrapping the thread round it,forms a wing post which eliminates any bulk , leaving you with basically a bare hook to tie a nice slim body on.
I'm sure you know this technique, but worth mentioning anyway - my small SSEs (#16 and below) look much more delicate for it.

This is a #20

Cheers
Dave

[Crawhin]

Lovely Dave - not a single superfluous turn of thread in there!

Cheers,

Ian