THE GRIZZLY SLEDGE HAMMER

MATERIALS LIST

Hook - TMC 2487 #8-#14 (or equivalent 'grub' hook)

Thread - Black 6/0 or 8/0.

Ribbing - Fine dark (enameled) copper wire.

Wing Post - White calf body hair.

Thorax - Peacock herl.

Abdomen - Hare's mask dyed medium olive.

Hackle - Grizzly parachute style.

TYING INSTRUCTION

Attach thread behind eye, wind back 2/5 down the shank in touching turns, then forward to the 1/5 point.

Cut a small amount of calf body hair and level the tips in a stacker. Using the pinch & loop method, tie in the calf body hair with the tips facing over the eye. Total length of the wing post is 2/3 hook shank.

Lift the wing post to the vertical position and fix it by wrapping enough turns of thread immediately in front of the calf hair to prop it into the upright position.

Next make a number of tying thread turns circling the wing post base to lay the foundation for the parachute hackle which will be wrapped later.

Fill the 'drop' in front of the wing post with a very small amount of dubbing so it is level with the tied down stubs behind the wing post.

Cut the calf body hair butts in stages (make a tapered cut from hook's front to hooks back), in order to create a tapered underbody. Wrap tying thread over the butts, ending well into hooks bend.
Tie in the copper wire, dub a thin dubbing rope and form a slender, tapered abdomen, leaving 2/5 of the shank for the thorax.

Counter wrap the abdomen with the copper wire in open spirals tie off and trim excess wire.

Tie in 2 or 3 strands of peacock herl by their butts at the abdomen/thorax join, tips over bend of hook. Wrap the tying thread forward to immediately behind the wing post.

Prepare a grizzly hackle one to two sizes larger than standard dry fly proportions for your hook size. Strip the hackle fibers as you would for a standard dry, then strip away a few more hackle fibers from one side. (If you look down on the feather, butt towards your body, shiny side on top, then strip a few extra hackle fibers from the right side of the stem) The reason for this extra fiber removal will become clear, once the hackle wrap is started.

Tie in the hackle immediately behind the wing post, tip facing the hooks bend. Make sure the hackle is lying horizontally, with the shiny side on top. The hackle tied in by the butt, in such a way that a small piece (some 3/32) of bare stem is visible before the hackle fibers start. Tie down the butt in front of the wing post until just behind the eye and clip the excess hackle butt.

Wrap peacock herl first behind, then in front of the wing post. Tie off and clip excess. (Keep the hackle out of the way as you wrap the peacock)

The parachute hackle will wind *down* the wing post in the clockwise direction. In order to do this spiral the stem *up* the wing post for a half turn. This is where the bare section of stem helps, as there will be no wayward hackle fibers obstructing procedures. Then, as the first turn in the downward direction starts the side with the extra stripping will be next to the wing post and because no hackle fibers are next to the wing post the hackle fibers will not splay.

Wind down the wing post (towards the hook shank) in touching turns, 4-5 turns in all. After finishing the hackle wraps come over the hook shank towards you and pull hackle tip down over the hook shank. Snake the thread over the hackle tip, yet under the wound hackle, over the hook shank to secure the hackle tip with two or three turns of thread. Clip the hackle tip.

Make an almost horizontal whip finish, avoid tying down any hackle fibers. Here I find a hand whip finish easily wins out over a whip finish tool. Clip thread and finish of with a touch of varnish on the head. Optionally place a small drop of thin varnish into the base of the wing post to help secure the hackle.