Fireball

[scotfly]

This is the Fireball. Not a fly I?ve caught on, but it has its fans and I think one of the prettiest flys.

Instructions assume right-handed tyers

HOOK     ? Singles, Doubles or Trebles #10-1/0
THREAD ? 6/0 Fire Orange
TAG          - Flat Gold
TAIL         - Golden Pheasant Tippets
RIB            - Oval Gold
BODY       - Rear ? Yellow Floss, Front ? Purple Floss
WING        - Dyed Red Squirrel (optional 2 strands of Red Flashabou)
HACKLE  - Scarlet Cock

STEP 1
             Mount the hook in the vice and wrap the thread down the shank. Prepare the gold tag by cutting a point on it.

STEP 2
            Tie in the tag under the shank with two or three turns of thread.

STEP 3
            Wrap the tinsel over the bare shank and round the bend a little then back up to the tying in point.
Do not tie in just yet.

STEP 4
            Undo the two or three wraps you used to tie in the tag, then tie in the tinsel. By doing this you cut down on the bulk at the tail, but still have a securely tied tag.

STEP 5
             Select a suitable tippet, here I have used one dyed red.

STEP 6
             Pull off a bunch and tie in on top of the shank.

STEP 7
            Wrap the thread to a point half way along the body, catching in the rib as you go. Then tie the Yellow floss in with two or three wraps of thread.

STEP 8
            Wrap the floss to the tail then back to the tie in point. As with the tag don?t tie in just yet. Again undo the two or three thread wraps then tie off the floss.

STEP 9
             Take the thread to the shoulder and tie in the purple floss with two or three wraps of thread.

STEP 10
               Wrap the floss down to the mid point and back to the shoulder. As with the tag and yellow floss, undo the tie in wraps then redo tying off the floss.

STEP 11
              Wrap the oval tinsel in even wraps to the shoulder, try to place one of the turns on the join between the two flosses.

STEP 12
                Select the Squirrel tail. You can use either plain dyed or bleached and dyed Squirrel, my preference and what I have used here is the bleached and dyed.

STEP 13
              After aligning the tips in a hair stacker (or not if that is your preference) tie them in on top of the hook shank, making sure that none roll round on the far side.

STEP 14
              After securing the wing, trim the butts at an angle and apply some varnish to the roots before over-wrapping.

STEP 15
               Prepare a red cock hackle for tying in, I prefer to double mine beforehand, but other methods work just as well.

STEP 16
             Tie in the hackle.

STEP 17
             Wrap the hackle sweeping the fibres back with every turn. Tie off and  whip finish for the completed fly.