Hand Whip Finish

[DUBBN]

Lazy Sunday afternoon. I didnt get to go fishing this morning. I decided to try my hand at some of cicvara's style of Pheasant Tails. The color Orange seems to be consuming me lately, so, an Orange PT.

I am out of the long primary tail feathers in Orange Pheasant so I used the shorter feathers. It was a struggle to tie in the tail and use the same feathers for the abdomen, so I cheated. I tied in the tail, clipped off the waste then added more feathers to construct the fly. Still, tough going on a size 12, but I managed, and it looked great (to me).

I have been practicing hand whip finishing on some Streamers lately. I dont mind saying I am getting pretty dang good at it. I just threw my shoulder out patting myself on the back. Anyhow, I looked at that Orange PT. All it needed was three whips from the whip finisher and it would be done. I said to myself, "Wayne, it's a size 12. Hand Whip it." So I did. Three whips and it looked great. I think I may have smiled a smug smile too.

Then it happened. I went to cinch the thread down. DOH!

I think the picture speaks for it's self.




I will go buy a new Orange Pheasant Tail later this week.

[Smuggler]

Hahaha, oh man I've done that waaay too many times. Glad I'm not the only one!

That picture is great.

[redietz]

When I hand whip finish, I usually insert a dubbing needle into the loop before I tighten it. It lets me place the knot where I want it.

[hankaye]

DUBBIN, Howdy;

You be a much better man than I Gunga DUBBIN...

hank

[Donald Nicolson]

I learned to hand whip-finish a very long time ago. About thirty years ago I bought a 'Thompson' type whip-finisher from Veniard, I got very good with it.
Since then I have bought a couple of 'Matarelli' whip-finishers. The Thompson is best for front tied flies, and the Matarelli for all others especially bead-heads.
I tried a hand tie recently, made a real pig's ear of it.
I'll stick with the whip-finishers.

[letumgo]

Wayne - I like it! Seriously, I do. I think this would fish perfectly fine, just the way it is. It looks like a partially emerged insect (caught in the vulnerable stage of emerging). Don't trust my word, there are better judges than I in your local stream. Give the trout a chance to review your creation, and I am sure they will approve. After catching a few fish on the fly, just slide a hook point under the hackle fibers and draw them back out from under the whip finish. The hackle will then be just as you intended. Toss it back out into the stream and see if it fishes any different. You may find that it fishes better just the way it is now.

I look forward to reading your next field test report! See, now you have a reason to go fishing again ASAP...research!

[Mataura mayfly]

If you had not have pointed it out as a "mistake" I would not have picked it as one.
Like Ray I feel this is well worth fishing just the way it is.

On the hand whip (I suck at it and use a Matarelli style tool exclusivly) I have seen others use the tips of their scissors just as suggested with the dubbing needle.

[Johnno]

I have never used a whip finisher having always used a hand whip finish. Never thought about using a tool, especially for commercial tying which I have done and still do to a very limited extent. Just something else to pick up and put down...

[gig]

Hey I've done that before, one too many times

[NJpatbee]

I used to hand whip but found that I perform much better with the standard (preying mantis style) whip finishing tool. I do like the looks of the orange pheasant tail and plan to give it a try.