Bodkin / Patterns

Jack Cabe Hopper

Terrestrial · Dry Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 2 versions

Savage Flies dressing

  • Hook dry fly, 10-16
  • Thread Black

Materials

  • Tail Red hackle fibers
  • Body Molehair dubbing (or semi-buggy tan fur)
  • Wing Calftail, light brown or white
  • Hackle Grizzly and brown dry fly hackle

How to tie it

  1. Lay a black thread base all the way back to the bend.
  2. Take a good-sized clump of Red Hackle Fibers a little longer than a hook gap, take a couple of wraps, check the position, then secure the butts along the shank or snip them.
  3. Touch-dub the Molehair dubbing onto the thread a couple of pinches at a time and wrap the body forward; expect about three applications to reach the front of the shank.
  4. Stack a small bunch of Calftail (it stacks poorly, but better than not) and bind it in on top as a downwing almost as long as the tail. Use a pinch wrap, a couple more wraps, then a few looser wraps to keep it lined up on top before adding tighter securing wraps.
  5. Snip the calftail butts at a slight angle and bind them down to make a smooth ramp for the hackle.
  6. Lay the Grizzly and brown dry fly hackles together the same way and bind both in at once at the front of the wing, leaving a little bare stem showing so the first turn starts right back at the calftail. Snip the butts and smooth the thread toward the head.
  7. Wrap whichever feather is in front first, three or four turns forward, secure with a couple of wraps and trim the excess. Start the second feather right behind the first and zigzag it forward through the first so it traps as few barbs as possible, about three turns, secure and snip.
  8. Sweep the fibers back with your fingers, clearing a small area behind the eye without going so far back that the fibers lie flat; they should stay perpendicular to the shank. Whip finish (two three-turn finishes if space is tight) and add a small drop of head cement.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Tyer Recipe.

Tying videos

← All fly patterns