Deer hair (overwing and head) Natural deer hair (3 clumps, cleaned and stacked)
How to tie it
Mount a size 8 hopper hook and start 6/0 thread at about the 75 percent point, laying a base back to the bend.
Tie in a small clump of red EP fibers at the bend and trim the tail to about one hook gap long.
Tie in a length of yellow Para Post on top of the shank at the bend, taking care not to let the thread torque it around, and form a small bubble of it at the rear.
Tie in a brown hackle at the rear. Do not waste good dry fly hackle here. It gets cut down.
Wrap the Para Post forward to the 75 percent point to form the body and trim the excess. Yellow dubbing works as a substitute.
Palmer the brown hackle forward in evenly spaced turns to the same point and tie off. Now trim the hackle back close all the way around so it reads as segmentation rather than a collar. It is not there to float the fly.
Tie in a pheasant body feather hit with a little Flexament as the underwing, and trim the butts.
Make each leg from five pheasant tail fibers with an overhand knot tied in them. Tie one leg on each side, working the knot joint onto the side of the hook rather than the top, and trim. A drop of superglue here is worth it.
Clean and stack a clump of deer hair, trim the butts short, and tie it in on top as the overwing with a couple of good tight wraps.
Rotate the fly. Tie a second clump of deer hair, tips trimmed off, onto the underside with a few very tight wraps, keeping it from spinning, then move the thread forward.
Tie in a third clump of deer hair right at the front, push it all back so you can find the eye, add a couple more tight wraps, and lock it down with a couple of half hitches.
Trim the head with a straight razor blade: start on the bottom, pulling the legs clear, and cut straight back, then trim straight up the front and flat down each side to form a squared-off head. Do the top last, then finish the shaping with scissors.