Okay, so this is not going to be your ordinary step-by-step fly tying tutorial, instead it’s a certain technique I use sometimes.
No matter if you like to focus on semi-realistic fishing flies or full blown super realistic display flies I think there is one tying section that is a real pain in the ass because it takes the most time; doing the legs. Then again these are often the details you want to focus on because it is what sets the fly apart from an ordinary fly.
I started doing a variant of thread legs about 4-5 years ago, first for my super realistics and then adopted a simplified variant for my fishing flies.
It all starts with two pieces of thread, thickness depends on the fly you want to create. For the sake of visibility I’ve used quite thick sewing thread here, the same type I would use if I were to tie for example a golden stonefly.
Start with just doing an open over hand knot on one of the pieces, but don’t tighten the knot.
No slip the other thread trough the open knot.
Now tighten the knot and you should have a cross like structure like this.
Hold on o the top thread end and stroke the other ends downwards to make them clump together. You see where this is going don’t you?
Now, add varnish or super glue to the thread and repeatedly stroke the three ends together to make them stick together permanently. Super glue is actually (in my experience) the best for this because it gets the stiffest but still makes it possible to bend it to the shape you want. Voila! Two clear segments of a “leg”; femur and tibia!
Cut it to shape, colour it and make a compressed “foot” at the end of the single strand and there it is, the simplest of realistic legs.
Once you start experiment with it you will find many more uses, the right leg is the one we just did. The middle is a section of brown 6/0 thread together with black 8/0. But the far left is the most interesting because it involves three pieces of thread creating an even more realistic look to the leg, but still it takes just a few seconds to do it!
Finally here’s some examples of flies that uses this technique for the legs, including the ant from yesterday.
October 24th, 2011 at 22:36
[…] Hagström from The Way of The Fly explains in short, how to make realistic legs, which is actually quite […]
October 24th, 2011 at 23:20
Holy-Wowza ! thanks for that Ulf ! 😀
October 25th, 2011 at 22:02
wow Ulf
October 26th, 2011 at 00:05
[…] here How to do (simple) realistic legs another fantastic step by step from Ulf Hagström. share this:ShareFacebookTwitterStumbleUponLike […]
October 26th, 2011 at 00:08
Awesome. And to think, I’ve just been using turkey feathers! I’m definitely going to try this technique out soon.
October 27th, 2011 at 12:30
Fantastic Ulf!
November 2nd, 2011 at 03:02
I really liked the article. It helped me greatly with how to form more realistic legs. Step by step was greatly appreciated.
February 23rd, 2012 at 21:42
ulf , thank you for sharing this leg method . I have been doing ,similar using hair ( deer – moose – elk- ect . ) I agree that legs can be a pain in the ” arse ” using any method —–BUT- I certainly will be trying yours … You do Excellent work . Have a great up coming season …………………….Charlie
November 3rd, 2012 at 06:12
I am tying at an expo tomorrow all day. I have been looking for a simple way to incorporate realistic legs on my dries. The final thing needed for my series of patterns I am dubbing “Practical Realistic Flies”
September 13th, 2013 at 17:33
Extra specialist Ulf Hagström, just did it again. Now I’m gonna tie better semirealistic flies. Thanks, Uffe!
November 24th, 2013 at 03:54
This may be obvious but how do you keep the legs with the super from sticking to the table?
November 24th, 2013 at 03:59
You know what… It us obvious! Got it figuired out! What a great idea. Simple but very effective! Thanx for sharing!