We’re excited to have our good friend and world-renowned fly tyer, Stuart Foxall, in house this week at Alaska West. That means evenings in our ‘lounge-tent’ have been transformed from a casual social hour to a fly tying masterclass, and in no way is that a complaint.
Stu recently shared a great tip with us for securely catching in jungle cock eyes on salmon/steelhead flies, and today we share that tip with you.
Anchoring Jungle Cock Eyes
As most fly tyers know, jungle cock is not cheap, and there are few materials more disheartening to have pull free during an errant cast or wily fish. Luckily, there are two simple techniques (shown below) that can help reduce slippage for a more durable fly.
Here we’ve prepared two sets of jungle cock eyes to be tied in. The pair on the left have had the fibers peeled off to the tie-in point (bare stalk). The pair on the right have had the fibers cut off to create ‘barbs’ up to the tie-in point.
When catching in a bare quill (the left pair of feathers shown above), first tie the pair of feathers in with a few wraps of thread to hold them in position as shown
Then, fold the feather stalks back, wrap over with thread, and whip finish before trimming excess. This technique works well to ‘lock’ the feathers in place (see photo below).
Next, we’ve tied the right hand pair of feathers (with barbs trimmed) and got them positioned correctly with a few wraps of well waxed thread.
Then, snip the stalks off at the tying in point. As you can see, the barbs are under the tying thread, thus ‘locking’ the feathers in place. Whip finish and add cement. This technique can work well when minimum bulk is desired.
And there you have it.. The jungle cock eyes are secure and won’t pull out while casting, or better yet, when being munched in by fish. Give both techniques a try!
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