Hook House Fly Jig Short (a Fulling Mill jig force short is a good substitute)
Thread Fluorescent hot pink Danville 6/0
Materials
Bead House Fly slotted tungsten, pink (3.5mm)
Body McFly Foam, Creme Delight (one strand, spun in a doubled thread loop)
Veil Hareline CDC, pale pink (two feathers stacked)
Adhesive Zap-A-Gap brush-on (a touch on the shank and before the whip finish)
How to tie it
Mount a House Fly jig short hook with a 3.5mm pink slotted tungsten bead and start fluorescent hot pink Danville 6/0 about halfway along the shank.
Bring the thread back up towards the bead and form a dubbing loop with your loop tool, double the strands over so it is a two-strand loop. Sean stays on 6/0 rather than jumping to 140 denier because he wants the finer thread for the CDC collar later, and doubling the loop gives him the strength without the bulk.
Cut a single strand of McFly Foam to a workable length and tease it out evenly.
Clamp the foam in a material clip and trim it so it is even on both sides of the clip, somewhere between an eighth and a quarter of an inch wide, depending how big an egg you want.
Seat the clipped foam in the loop as close to the shank as you can get it, pinched at its centre, then spin the loop up tight. Do not worry if it looks rough at this stage.
Brush a little Zap-A-Gap along the top of the shank before you wrap. The glue is what makes this egg last.
Wrap the spun foam forward to the bead, preening the fibres rearwards as you go. It takes on an egg shape almost immediately.
Brush the body out to pull the long straggly pieces free, orient them rearwards, then pluck and trim the over-long strands. It will not be perfectly spherical, and that is fine.
Stack two pale pink CDC feathers on top of one another, lining up the stems and matching the bends. A single feather is not dense enough on its own.
Clamp the stacked fibres and trim them off close to the stems.
Make a second loop, this time single-stranded so you do not over-bulk the head, insert the CDC and push the butt ends in towards the thread and the bunch down close to the shank. The closer it sits, the fewer wraps you need.
Spin the loop, preen the fibres rearwards and wrap a few turns at the head, keeping the fibres swept back as you go. Lock it off with one wrap in front and two behind, and trim the loop thread close.
Brush the collar out with velcro or a dubbing brush so the CDC veils back over the whole length of the egg. Add a couple more thread wraps in front of the CDC and up onto the bead to make a hot spot.
Run about a quarter of an inch of Zap-A-Gap onto the thread and whip finish.