How to Tie: Brad Wrights Taneycomo Sculpin
What You’ll Need
Hook
BODY
RIB
HEAD
THREAD
Step 1
Tying in the eyes: As you notice in the picture I already secured the eyes on top of the shank. If you know how to do this step go ahead. For those people that don’t know here we go. You can buy a lot of hour glass eyes that come in many different shapes and styles but the ones that I prefer are the presentation eyes. The reason is when you look at the eye closely you will notice the middle comes more to a “V” shape which really keeps the thread wraps sliding down in the center to keep each wrap tighter. Let explain the reason why. I don’t like the other eyes as much as this presentation eye because of the center part that connects the two sides together. Let’s say that you have some other eyes lying around the house. If you look at the difference between the others compared to the presentation eye you will notice that the lead eyes or dumbbell eyes, the centers don’t taper to a V. It has more of a long post in the middle like an axle on a car. Think about it like this, you have a rod connecting the two tires together. So what I’m trying to explain is because the style of the eye is harder to cinch the thread wraps to the shank without the eye slipping or shifting. I understand that you can use types of glues to secure the thread and the eye from shifting but the key is not to use too much glue because it could be detected by the fish and they will refuse it because it has to much of a smell. I have found out about the presentation eye is it holds around the shank more securely verses the other styles. Of course I always use a little glue to keep the eyes from shifting faster because of the way the eyes are tied on the top of the hook. This will allow the fly to ride upside down (keeled style). So when you’re striping this fly you need to remember that the rocks will get the best of it over a period of time and will definitely shift and create the eye to start turning around the hook shank.
Another tip I would like to share is how you tie in the eye to the shank. I have seen this way tied so many ways. What I have found works best is try not to tie this in and go one direction a lot of turns and then the other direction in a lot of turns. What you want to do is one turn around in a figure eight repeating that same process going the other direction in a figure eight motion. Do enough turns to fill in the “V” and then rotate the fly upside down and do the same thing on the other side. This will really secure the eyes on the shank. Also move the eyes with your fingers to see if they shift. If they do not then I would say that you did well. The next thing I do is when you’re done with the figure eights on each side. You can use a technique called posting. What this means is post around the eyes. What this does is cinch down any loose wraps of thread when you were tying the figure eight. It also tightens it up all together. I believe you will notice a big difference next time you do it this way.