Sexyloops fly tying school part 5 - Red Tag

So let´s recap what we have done so far:

In part 2 we talked about THREAD. How to attach it to the hook and how to finish the fly with a whip finish knot. What happens when it breaks and so on. Check it out if you haven´t done that already. http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-2-thread

Than we right away hopped in to cold water tying a tiny little dry fly - the black gnat. A killer pattern by the way. This fly features a technique I use very often - twisting brittle stuff around the thread to reinforce the construction. Part 3 - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-3-your-first-fly

In part 4 that „twisting-brittle-around-sturdy“ technique is used again to tie the famous Pheasant Tail Nymph in it´s original way Two new modules were added as well. The TAIL, and the WING CASE module, if you so will. Part 4 - http://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/sexyloops-fly-tying-school-part-4-ptn

So in part 5 - we put the „TBAS“ technique into use again. The Red Tag is consisting of three parts. Tail, body and hackle. The tail is made from red wool, the body consists of peacock herl and the hackle is done with a cock feather. Pretty straight forward. If you have mastered the Black Gnat, the Red Tag will be piece of cake. It is a „separated“ Gnat if you so will.

Attached a set of images I took quite a while ago - as you can tell by the rusty vice. No worries, I got a new one ;-)

The tying steps:

hook in vice


red wool for tag / tail


cover the wool


peacock herl


twist herl and thread


and wind this onto the hook


and secure


tie in hackle feather


tie down the stem ..


bend the stem backwards and ....


with thread ... this secures the hackle very well


so well that you can simply "rip" of the stem remains


wind feather and thread around each other


and wind this onto the hook
 


separate feather and thread


whip finish

 
done - the Red Tag