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One of the most rewarding aspects in the fly tying field is to develop a lure extremely effective and useful to fish successfully on a lot of waters. Succeed in deceiving the smarter and selective trout with a small hairy tuft, born on the jaw of our vice, is a source of great satisfaction, if not of exaltation, for many of us and this explains the great care we normally reserve in the tying process of our flies.
Personally I am able to set a valid fishing strategy and take maximum pleasure from my sport only if I use lures that I built by myself. These are designed to satisfy the way I see a fly on the hook shank and their primary function is to attract trout and grayling, but even to infuse in me a sense of optimism and security, which helps me to keep constant and high the concentration during fishing. The catch of a nice fish with my own fly causes me a stronger emotion, because I consider it as a double success: I draw pleasure from my fishing competence, but also from my skill as fly tier.
For my own fly, however, I do not necessarily mean an original pattern fruit of my creativity. Many flies I use are originated from the work of plagiarism that I do regularly when I work at the vice: books and magazines, as well as boxes of friends, are for me a valuable source of inspiration and I am always inclined to copy a fly if this interests me and gives me confidence, curious then to put it under test on the river. From here, my boxes are full of patterns described on the most common manuals on fly tying.
One of the most famous fly of my collection is the Royal Wulff, which was designed by the famous American fisherman Lee Wulff. This pattern can be classified as a fantasy pattern, useful to stimulate the aggressiveness and curiosity of fish thanks to its fanciful appearance and vivid colors. The remarkable buoyancy of his collar makes the Royal Wulff a fly suitable for fishing on fast flowing rivers, being visible from a long distance: the tuft of calf hair helps it to be easily distinguishable also in dim light conditions. This dry fly is a typical pattern for “searching fishing”, excellent when the trout are not very active on the surface, but it can be useful even if we notice the presence of large reddish mayflies on the water, like the Ecdyonurus.
Personally I am able to set a valid fishing strategy and take maximum pleasure from my sport only if I use lures that I built by myself. These are designed to satisfy the way I see a fly on the hook shank and their primary function is to attract trout and grayling, but even to infuse in me a sense of optimism and security, which helps me to keep constant and high the concentration during fishing. The catch of a nice fish with my own fly causes me a stronger emotion, because I consider it as a double success: I draw pleasure from my fishing competence, but also from my skill as fly tier.
For my own fly, however, I do not necessarily mean an original pattern fruit of my creativity. Many flies I use are originated from the work of plagiarism that I do regularly when I work at the vice: books and magazines, as well as boxes of friends, are for me a valuable source of inspiration and I am always inclined to copy a fly if this interests me and gives me confidence, curious then to put it under test on the river. From here, my boxes are full of patterns described on the most common manuals on fly tying.
One of the most famous fly of my collection is the Royal Wulff, which was designed by the famous American fisherman Lee Wulff. This pattern can be classified as a fantasy pattern, useful to stimulate the aggressiveness and curiosity of fish thanks to its fanciful appearance and vivid colors. The remarkable buoyancy of his collar makes the Royal Wulff a fly suitable for fishing on fast flowing rivers, being visible from a long distance: the tuft of calf hair helps it to be easily distinguishable also in dim light conditions. This dry fly is a typical pattern for “searching fishing”, excellent when the trout are not very active on the surface, but it can be useful even if we notice the presence of large reddish mayflies on the water, like the Ecdyonurus.
INSTRUCTIONS
I start to build the Royal Wulff by clamping the hook into the vice jaw and tying on its shank the black thread. I bind in a tuft of elk or brown bucktail hairs: these tails must extend from the bend for a length similar to those of the shank
I cut two or three herls from a peacock tail feather and I bind in their apical
section on the fastening point of the tails; then I wind them around the rear
fifth of the hook shank
In front of the body portion just built, I tie in a piece of red floss and I
wrap it along the second fifth of the hook shank, by passing it over the peacock
herls
I complete the body of the Royal Wulff by winding the surplus of the peacock
herls around the central fifth of the hook shank
I tie in two hackles of a brown cock neck in front of the body: the fibers of
these hackles must have the same length of the hook shank. I cut a tuft of hairs
from a white calf tail and tie it in the middle of the front two fifths of the
hook, the hairs must be placed with the tips protracted forward
I cut off the basal excess of the hairs, then I raise the white tuft, I
divide it into two and I bind in it this position with some turns of thread: in
practice I build a pair of wings spread wide at "V" upwards. These wings must
have a length equal to one and a half of that of the hook bend
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With the hackle pliers I wrap one after the other the two hackles around the hook section between the body and the hook eye, so to create a fluffy collar
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I make the fly head
with a few turns of thread and then I finish it with a whip finish. I apply a
small drop of clear varnish to the head to prevent the thread of untying itself:
this increases the life of the Royal Wulff
MATERIALS LIST
HOOK: regular shank size 16 to 12
THREAD: black
TAIL: elk or brown bucktail hairs
BODY: in three equal sections, the first and the third made with two or three herls from a peacock tail feather, the second made with red floss
WINGS: white calf tail
HACKLE: natural brown
THREAD: black
TAIL: elk or brown bucktail hairs
BODY: in three equal sections, the first and the third made with two or three herls from a peacock tail feather, the second made with red floss
WINGS: white calf tail
HACKLE: natural brown
