Deer Hair Popper

Tying Instructions:

Step One- weedguard

Secure the 6/0 thread to the shank parallel to the hook point and wrap back to the hook bend. Cut a five or six inch section of monofilament. Personally, I don't like to use anything bigger than 17 lb. mono, and will often go as small as 6 lb. on the the smaller flies when I know the weeds or brush won't be tight.

Hold the mono against the hook so one end is halfway between the hook point and the bend, the rest extending beyond the bend. Wind the thread back over the mono, pulling it toward you slightly to keep it on top. Keep the thread wraps tight and pull down every third or so wrap to pinch down a little into the mono. Continue winding to about a third of the way into the bend, then wind back up to the hook point. Cement the wraps and let this dry.

For the weedguard and tail section, I like to use black, brown or olive thread. Brighter colors seem to detract from the ovaerall appearance of the finished bug.

Step Two- tail

Select a color of bucktail that closely matches the planned tail color, in this case chartreuse. Clip a matchstick-size bundle and even up the tips by hand (pulling out the longer hairs and replacing them into the clump at the right lenghth). Leave the tips just slightly uneven, as this just looks better for this purpose than perfectly even tips.

Measure the clump against the hook and mark with you thumb where it is as long as the shank. Tie the clump in at this point at the bend. To do this, take a couple loose turns of thread, holding the clump tight. Now pinch the bundle and the hook together, placing a finger on the far side so the bundle doesn't slide over, and pull down on the thread to tighten. If the bundle flares too much around the shank (we want to keep it as much on top as possible), hold the tip section and the butt section, and wiggle or pinch the bundle into place.

Take four or five more tight wraps in front of the first couple to secure. Lift the butt section so it is at about a 45 degree angle to the shank, and clip this with the scissors parallel to the hook shank. This gives us a nice taper to the butt ends. Do not cover the ends, but leave them as they are for now.

Tying in this small clump of bucktail, a tip from A.K. Best's "Production Fly Tying," helps keep the tail seperated when the fly is fished, and gives us a flatter base to tie in the tail feathers on each side.

Select four or six wide saddle hackles to use for the tail. The best source for this is either the "strung" variety commonly sold or from Bass/Saltwater capes. Alternately, the large feathers found at the base of many dry fly necks will work fine. Two feathers per side is okay for a size 6 or smaller, but larger than that should have six. In this case, I'll use three on each side in different colors: chartreuse, black, and olive. When selecting your feathers, you will notice they will curve to one side or the other, and downward (looking at the top of the feather). Select three that curve to the right for one side of the tail, and three matching feathers that curve to the left for the other side.

Stack the feathers that curve to the left. This will be the near side of the tail, so be sure to put your chosen inside and ouside colors in the right place (the tail will curve outward and down). Manipulate them so the tips are even.

Measure the feather bundle against the hook and mark with you thumb where the feathers reach from the tip of the bucktail to the front of the hook eye. Switch the bundle to your "holding" hand, using the thumb on that hand to mark the length.

I find it is much easier to leave the feathers as they are rather than trimming any fibers. This helps keep them from twisting out of place when tying in. The thread works itself between the fibers, and any that get bound down are not noticeable on the finished fly.

To combat thread torque moving the tail out of alignment, hold the feathers up to the light and arrange them so the stems are touching, but the inside stem is on top, the outside stem on bottom, and the middle stem sandwiched between them. In this way, the feathers support each other and stay in place.

Hold the tail feathers so the stems are lined up with the shank and on the near side. Your thread should be at the rear of the tie-in area for the bucktail. Take two turns of thread through the feather fibers. If the feathers move out of place, ease the tension on the thread, readjust the feathers, then reapply the thread tension.Take three or four more turns of thread in about the same place to secure. Clip the excess butt ends, wind forward a couple turns over a portion of the exposed clipped ends, then back to the rear of the tie-in area.

Turn the hook over and repeat this procedure for the far side. This time, once the feathers are tied in, wind the thread forward to cover all the exposed ends of hackle stem, and most of the bucktail ends.

While we've got the fly in this position, we can go ahead and tie in the Flashabou for this side. Bring the thread back halfway into the tying area. Use two turns of thread to secure four strands of the Flashabou (I'm using gold for this fly). Reposition if necessary to line the strands up with the saddle hackle stems. For a different effect, you can spread the strands out to extend in a 90 degree angle beyond the tail. This will make the Flashabou really twist and move when the fly is fished. Here, I'm opting for the subtle flash of the standard method.

When the strands are positioned to your liking, continue winding the thread back to the rear of the tie-in area to secure them.

Turn the hook back over and use a similar method for the Flashabou on that side. This time, as you wind forward, continue to wrap thread forward to cover the remainder of the bucktail ends.

Step Three- collar

For the collar, select two saddle hackle feathers similar to those used for the tail. I'll be using olive and chartreuse. Stroke each feather from tip to butt to get the fibers to stand out almost straight from the stem. Place them together and align them so most of the fibers on both feathers are matched up and even.

Measure these against the hook and find the point on the feathers where the fibers are a lit bit longer than the hook gap. Clip off the tips of the feathers here, leaving about 1/4 inch of the stem for tying in.

Wind the tying thread back, stopping about two hackle hackle stem widths from the very rear of the tying area. Tie the collar feathers in here by the tip, leaving a thread width between the first wrap of thread and the first hackle fibers. It is helpful to place the stem of the front feather against but above the stem of the rear feather.

Take a couple loose turns of thread with the feather stems about 30-45 degrees to the hook shank. Pull down on the thread while holding the feathers in place to tighten. Take a few more tight turns of thread in front of the first couple to secure, and continue wrapping forward to the front of the tie-in area. Now wrap back to halfway between here and the tie-in point of the collar feathers.

Keeping the feathers aligned, lift them together and use your index finger and thumb to "pinch" and fold the fibers back. Hold these fibers in place as you make your first wrap around the shank. Continue to stroke the fibers rearward on the next wraps, as you lay each wrap against the previous one. Four or five wraps should bring you to the tying thread.

Hold the feathers in place and take three tight turns of thread to secure them. Clip the butt ends.

Now stroke the fibers back and wind the thread to the rear, taking two or three turns over the last wrap of hackle. This will give the collar a permanent lean. Be careful not to over-do this. We want the collar to lean just slightly. (see photo below)

Wind the thread forward and create a smooth, sharply tapered "head." Whip finish the thread, clip it from the hook, and cement the wraps well. Allow some time for this to dry completely before moving on to the body.

For a different look, you can add a feather to the front of the collar, such as guinea hen, pheasant, or mallard flank, dyed to match the body. Keep this down to one or two wraps and the tips as close to even with the hackle fiber tips as possible. Do not substitute these feathers for the saddle hackle completely- use at least one to help support the softer body feathers. Additionally, on poppers, where we want the fuller collar, avoid very soft feathers like marabou, which will absorb more water and force the collar back into a non-moving part of the tail.

Step Four- body

Look closely at the photos above. Halfway along the bare shank you will see a black mark. This is where I'm going to add legs later. Once you start spinning the body, it gets harder to tell where this point is. A small mark with permanent marker will let you know when you've reached the place for tying in the legs.

Secure a strong thread for spinning immediately in front of the collar. I usually use 3/0 waxed monocord, but you can also use Kevlar thread or any of the other stronger threads. Be aware, though, that some threads for spinning are very thick...these won't break on you, but you really have to load up the deer hair to make up for the gaps the thick thread leaves. The waxed monocord, when the bobbin is spun, becomes quite thin, yet it doesn't cut through the hairs the way some fine diameter, strong threads will. Its drawback is that it will break if too much tension is applied.

For this fly, I'm going to build the body of deer hair by spinning it. Optionally, you can make a two-tone body by tying in one color on top, not letting it spin all the way around, and another color on the bottom. You can also stack different colors on top of each other to create circular patterns. A few other techniques you can experiment with: place two different colors together and use this as the "top" color, with a third for the belly (creates a mottled back); mix two colors thoroughly before spinning for a "peppered" look; use a combination of all of these for a specific color pattern, such as that found on frogs or various baitfish. Use you imagination and be as creative as you like. Here, however, I just want a simple body with a different color head- chartreuse and olive, separated by a band of black.

Be selective when getting your deer hair. The best for spinning is long enough that you won't end up with tips in the final trimmed body, is somewhat flexible (not brittle), and thick enough to be "sponge-like" (you can feel the give when you squeeze it, but it springs back into shape).

Clip a bundle of deer hair about as thick as a pencil. Clean out the fine underfur with your dubbing needle or a fine-toothed comb. Don't skimp on this part- the more thorough you are with this part, the easier it will be to spin the hair and your fly will look and perform its best.

For the first couple of clumps, before spinning, trim away the tips so the remaining butt ends are slightly longer than the hook gap. This prevents the spinning clump from catching on the hook point.

Place the deer hair clump at an angle against the near side of the hook shank, at about the middle of the clump. Take two loose turns of thread around it in exactly the same spot (lay the second wrap directly on top of the first.

Hold the bundle as you pull down on the bobbin slowly and smoothly to tighten the wraps. The hair will begin to flare. When you've tightened the thread about as far as it will go with medium tension, release the bundle and let it spin around the shank slowly. As it's doing this, take a third turn of thread through the flared clump and apply some torque by pulling downward. You can help it along by rocking the bobbin a little and "fluffing" up the hairs. Take a fourth turn through the clump and tighten.

Carefully (so you don't bend the hairs) stroke all the hairs back and push/pull the clump reaward to compress it. Work the thread through the fibers and take two turns directly in front of the spun clump. Use a packer or (as I do) your thumbnail and fingernail to push the thread back along the shank, further compressing the clump. Immediately take another turn of thread directly on op of the previous ones.

Add a drop of head cement to the thread wraps. I like to apply the cement every three or four clumps. Does this help? I don't know for sure but it seems like it would and I've never had a bass bug fall apart. I figure if I'm going to spend quite a bit of time making a nice bass bug, I want it as durable as possible!

Spin another clump onto the shank in the same way. After two or three clumps, it will no longer be necessary to trim away the tips. Continue with additional clumps up to the tie-in point for the legs. Once there, take an extra turn of thread and definitely cement this so it stays in place while we do the legs.

Step Five- legs

If you choose to add legs to your popper, there are a few different ways to do this, each with different results. I'm going to use a method that puts two legs directly out to the sides, and two more that protrude from the bottom out to the sides. To do this, use round rubber leg material, medium or large in diameter. Turn the hook over in the vise to perform this step on the underside of the hook.

Trim two strands of the leg material so they are twice as long as the hook (for skinnier poppers, trim them twice the shank length). Hold them together so the ends are even, then place against the shank at an angle, similar to the position for the deer hair. Take one loose turn over the strands, come under the shank with the thread, then up on the near side in front of the strands (between the hook shank and the leg material that is pointing downward). The section you are holding will be the legs on the far side, so go ahead and pull them gently over while pulling up with the thread. Immediately take the thread across the strands on top and down behind the legs on the far side. Come under the shank, then up on the near side behind the legs on that side. Continue by crossing over the top of the strands again, going down on the far side in front. Take two turns of thread in front.

Basically, we have criss-crossed the thread over the strands to tie them in. You will notice this flares the rubber a bit where the thread has pinched it down. Push back on the thread with your fingernail and thumbnail to pack the legs into the deer hair. This will force one strand under the other. Take one more tight wrap of thread to hold it in place, then cement well. Allow this to dry before continuing with the body.

To get two legs on each side protruding from the same spot, use flat leg material tied in the same way, or tie one strand on top of the shank, another on the bottom. You can also tie in one strand, spin a clump of deer hair, then tie in another strand in front of that (be sure to tie these in on the underside of the hook shank).

Rubber strands tend to misbehave and twist. Keeping your criss-cross wraps down to a bare minimum, and not applying too much tension to the thread will help with this.

Step Four- finishing the body

Spin another clump of chartreuse deer hair in front of the legs, then a clump of brown. Finish up with the olive deer hair up to the hook eye. When you pack and compress the last spun clump, you should have about half a hook-eye's width of space left on the shank. This space will give us room for the weedguard and enough space for a clean whip finish knot at the end.

Here's a nifty little trick to help you get the spun hair up closer to the hook eye. Hold the clump in your right hand (if you're right handed) and divide it into two even sections as shown in the photo. Use your other hand to drape the tying thread over your fingernails. Pull down on the thread to slide it off your nails and onto the deer hair. Do this a second time. When both wraps are on the thread, pull down to tighten them, at the same time pushing the clump into the body. You will feel the thread get snug and the hair want to turn. When you do, let go and allow the hair to spin. Take another tight turn through the middle of the spinning clump, tighten down, then compress it and work the thread through to in front. Secure with three wraps of thread and compress some more as in building the body.

Stroke all the fibers back and whip finish the thread. Take care not to trap any fibers in the knot. This may require a little wiggling and working of the thread. You can also use a bodkin to pluck any trapped fibers out from under thread before the knot is tightened. Clip the thread and cement the knot.

Fluff up the deer hair and shrug off any comments from on-lookers who don't know any better. Use your fingers (for the fluffing, not the shrugging!) or to really get the hairs to stand out, use pliers to hold the fly in the steam from a tea kettle for a few seconds.

And there you have it! The first few may take some time to tie, but the finished product is usually well worth it and something to be proud of. The more time you invest in your bass bugs, the better you will become at tying them, and the better your flies will perform. The only thing left to do is offer it up to the local bass to get their approval.

04/02/05