EP Step by Step Part 3
STEP 11 Take the finished fly from the vice, lay it on a flat surface, and give both sides of the fly a real good brushing through until you are satisfied that the two major colours blend in nicely with each other, rather than show as a distinct line along the colour change area.
STEP 12 Trimming to shape:- Your fly will now look something like this, nothing at all like it is supposed to, so now you will need to trim it into shape. A sharp pair of scissors is a must for this purpose, and I also have a little trick, oft scoffed at and much maligned, but which is really very useful in helping to trim such flies to shape quickly and easily. The sparser the tying the more useful an aid it is.
You may laugh, but here we go...... Take your fly, and either put it back in the vice, or hold it with the aid of a pair of hackle pliers, and give it a real good spray all over with womens hair laquer!! Smooth the fly out a little if necessary after applying the laquer, and leave for a few minutes in the vice or hackle pliers to dry out.
When dry, the fibres will be as stiff as a board. It is then a simple matter to trim to the desired shape with a sharp pair of scissors (this one took me less than 30 seconds to get to shape)
If you want to add some stripes or other markings with the aid of a permanent marker pen, now is the time to do it, whilst the fly is still stiff, and the same goes for the addition of the eyes.
STEP 13 Adding the Eyes:- You may add eyes in any manner you wish, but I prefer to use EP eyes, which avoids the necessity of any epoxying or applying other such like applications to the fibres and over the eyes to stop them falling off.
Having said this, you will need either a Cauteriser or a fine tipped Soldering Iron, as you need to burn a little hole in the fibres right through so as it exposes the hook shank within.
(See picture above) This is more easily achievable with a Cauteriser for you can control the heat emitted from the point, but a fine point soldering iron will do the job OK.
Take an EP eye, and cut the stem off, being careful not to cut it flush to the eye, as you need to leave just a tiny bit of stem still attaching to the back of the eye. Fill the hole you have just made with super glue gel
(Please do not try this with ordinary super glue as you will get into a right mess, and probably ruin the fly) and carefully place the eye, with the little stub left at the back, within the hole. Gently press this down against the hook shank, where it will bond. Repeat the process on the other side of the fly, and you are done.
Whew!!....As usual I have gone a bit OTT with this SBS and have made it sound a lot more difficult than it really is to tie this style of fly, and I can assure you, it is probably more difficult to make EP fibres behave themselves in the packets and hanks than it is to tie flies with them! With with a little bit of practise you will be able to knock the tying sequence out on the smaller flies as above, in about 5 minutes.
There are countless combinations of colours and profile styles that you can tie with EP, and you can even tie them with the body all on top of the hookshank, and in wide bodied or slim bodied profiles, in lengths from about 1.5" right up to 10".
When tying flies any larger than the one illustrated, you will need to adjust your tying sequences accordingly, and add a couple of mid ties, and maybe increase the ratio of lo-ties to high-ties slightly. It may also be advisable on the larger flies, to secure the tie down points with a bit of head cement each time.
Despite what some may tell you, these flies are very popular and catch everything that swims, and despite the fact I may have made the tying sound complicated, it is anything but, so it is well worthwhile carrying a few different colours and styles in your box. I have never fished the salt in the UK, but I am sure you can adapt them to work over here.
Finally, I apologise for the inconsistency of the pictures, for as you can tell, I am no great shakes as a photographer
Brian G