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Tying Neater Heads

How to tie neater heads on flies
Nice and tidy. Photos: Stuart Foxall.

Nicely finished heads are the mark of a great fly tyer, and today professional fly designer, Stuart Foxall, is here with some step by step tips on finishing your flies with cleaner looking heads.

Enjoy!

Stuart Foxall on Tying Neater Heads

A consistent problem I see from most inexperienced fly tiers are beautifully tied flies that are unfortunately slightly spoiled by a big ugly head.

Here’s a classic Dee style pattern called the Gledwing which deserves to be finished with a lovely clean head. After all, as he’s off to chase some chrome ladies, he needs to look his best!

Below are the final steps for tying the Gledwing that emphasizes a few techniques I like to use when finishing a fly. These should help you create tidier heads, no matter what style of fly you are tying.

How to tie neater heads on flies
Catching Hackle: You can see I’ve tied the hackle off with a few tight wraps, each wrapped slightly ahead ahead of the previous wrap, rather than wrapping the thread ‘backwards’ over itself which can create a large bump at the tying off point.
How to tie neater heads on flies
Catching Wings: Fix your wings and securely wrap to hold them in place as close to the hackle as possible with well waxed thread. Waxed thread can be a huge help as wax will help grip your materials.
How to tie neater heads on flies
Trimming Excess: Cut off the tag ends of the wing as neatly as possible. I find snipping a few fibers (or hairs if tying hair wings) is much better than cutting them off in one go with a single snip. This can displace your wing.
How to tie neater heads on flies
Adding Cement: Ok. I don’t do this for all my flies. Particularly old traditional patterns for framing as we want to be as historically correct as possible. But this is a fishing fly and we want this fly to last. So I’ve run a very small bead of superglue to the thread (not the tying in point as it’s harder to control).
How to tie neater heads on flies
Building a Head: Wrap over the tie-in point of the wing securely. Try and create a nicely tapered head shape. Think slightly cone or bullet shaped that’s narrowest at the hook eye and thickest towards the wing of the fly. Note how I’ve finished with the thread at the front of the head (not at the back) to leave room for a whip finish.
How to tie neater heads on flies
Whip Finish: With my whip finish tool, I prefer to whip my thread ‘backwards’ towards the back of the head. Whipping from the front towards the back of the head keeps your thread from slipping, as well as wraps back over your head, keeping roughly the same taper you worked to create.
How to tie neater heads on flies
Varnishing: Add a dab of varnish to protect your thread. It’s much better to add a few thin coats than one heavy coat of varnish. I like to use one coat of Loon black varnish followed by two or three coats of clear Sally Hanson nail varnish. This leaves the head bulletproof, smooth, and shiny.
How to tie neater heads on flies
And there’s the finished fly – Nice and tidy and ready to be swung!

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