Set the Daiichi 1110 Large Eye hook in the vise and start the Veevus Black 16/0 thread. The oversized eye is what keeps a small fly from crowding, and it takes a tippet easily on the water.
Strip the barbs off the base of a Grizzly Dry Cape hackle to bare a clean tying point. Bind the stem in right at the back of the shank with an X-wrap so it sits perpendicular to the hook.
Reach back for the hanging stem, pull it down onto the shank and bind it there; snip off any of it that will not lie flat, then walk the thread up and back over it to keep an even profile.
Tie in the Uni-Floss Burnt Orange along the side of the shank at the back, wrap forward over the tag to bury it, and hang the thread a short way behind the eye to leave finishing room in front of that oversized eye.
Wrap the floss forward, running your fingers over it as you go to flatten it — you want a smooth even covering, not segmentation — up to the waiting thread. Secure it with a few wraps and snip the excess.
Half-hitch to hold everything, swing the bobbin out of the way, and take one turn of hackle right at the back to get it started.
Palmer the hackle forward in open, evenly spaced turns, keeping it perpendicular to the shank so the barbs flare and the open wraps create the segmentation.
Capture the hackle at the front by sneaking the thread back up against it, then up and under — that avoids trapping barbs. Snip the excess hackle.
Build a small thread head and whip finish; a midge-sized whip finish tool makes this easy on a fly this small.