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The Undertaker – Tying Instructions

How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Classic steelhead candy. Photos: Stuart Foxall.

Yesterday marked the first official day of winter, and for many that means it’s officially fly tying season.

To celebrate, today we present you with a great step by step by legendary fly tyer, Stuart Foxall, on how to tie a classic salmon/steelhead pattern, the Undertaker.

Not only is the Undertaker an effective fly for steelhead and Atlantic salmon, it’s also a great pattern for those looking to create better looking and more durable tags to classic style flies.

The Undertaker – Tying Instructions

Many folks have a little difficulty tying flies with tags that don’t slip down the hook shank. There’s not much worse than finishing a nice fly only to take it out of the vice to watch the tag has slipped, thus spoiling the fly.

So, here’s a really awesome steelhead fly where you can practice not one, but three tags per fly. Best of all it really catches fish. Sometimes simple is best! The ‘Undertaker’ is well worth having in your box. 

How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 1: Starting with white tying thread, catch a strand of silver fine oval tinsel onto the shank of the hook.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 2: Wrap the oval tinsel as tight as possible (being careful not to break it) three times around the shank and tie off. Advance the thread forward trapping the excess of the tag underneath the shank of the hook. This makes sure the tinsel is securely attached to the hook and won’t slip.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 3: Catch in some green Glo-brite floss and wrap down towards the tinsel tag, leaving the tag end of the floss long and positioned underneath the shank. You can now see why we used white thread to really let that floss glow. Using black thread would dull it down.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 4: Wrap the floss down and up the shank twice resulting in a nice smooth tag.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 5: Tie the green floss off and tie on red Glo-brite floss, once again leaving a long tag underneath the shank.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 6: Pull the green floss tight underneath the shank and wrap down. This secures the green floss down and keeps the wraps from slipping. You can see I’ve tied the red over the green tag slightly creating a wider body at this point.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 7: Create a nice smooth red tag and tie off at the head of the fly. This will help us create a nice smooth body.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 8: Tie on some black thread, once again leaving a long tag end of thread under the shank. Pull the remaining excess red floss underneath the shank and tie down tight. Now your red tag is securely locked in.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 9: Just in front of the red tag, tie in 3 or 4 strands of peacock herl by the tips, and lay a thin bed of clear varnish to the shank. This will help protect the delicate peacock herl body when a fish eats. Twist the peacock heels to create a ‘rope’ and wrap in neat touching turns toward the fly head.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 10: Tie off the peacock herl and counterwrap with the remaining black thread that was left loose at the start of the body. This rib will also help protect that peacock herl body.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 11: Tie in wing at the head of the fly. I’ve used black opossum here as it’s not as slippery as squirrel. I’ve tied the wing as long as the hook length, longer than the body length.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 12: Tie in a black hen hackle by the tip.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 13: Wrap the hackle forward neatly, covering the tie-in point of the wing. This will help us create a nice neat head.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 14: Catch in some small jungle cock cheeks. I’ve folded the jungle cock stalks backwards and wrapped the thread over. This securely locks the jungle cock eyes down.
How to tie the undertaker steelhead fly
Step 15: Create a nice clean bullet shaped head, whip finish, and varnish.

There you have it, a finished ‘Undertaker’ with safely secured tags. Although it’s a fairly simple looking fly it tests your tying skills fully as there is no where to hide shaky techniques.

Now all that’s left is to tie it on your leader and hold on tight!

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Comments

  1. What happened with the tag & body gold oval tinsel? Love how you dress in the Jungle cock. I dress in the black hen hackle before the Black bear wing to make a smaller black thread head, next with clear, and followed wit Black cellire. Still a nice fly and Great for steelhead in hook size 6-8 using PB Hooks! Strong “Open loop knots and tight lines!

    CALII

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