The Dark Woodcock
Step 1
Clamp your chosen hook into the jaws of the vice. I've opted for a Kamasan
B160 because of it's short shank and wide gape.
Catch on the orange thread (Persall's silk for the purists) and tie it down
with a couple of trapping wraps.
Trim the tag-end.
Step 2
Take a dark hackle from the upper side of a Woodcock wing. The fibres of
the hackle should be between 1.5 and 2 times the length of the fly's body.
Prepare the hackle by stripping the down from the base of the feather, and
then hold it by the tip and stroke the fibres backwards, away from the tip.
Step 3
Catch the tip of the feather between the thread and the hook-shank, and
bind it down with 2 or 3 wraps. Trim the excess and then wind the thread
down the body until it's level with a point between the barb and the point
of the hook. Continue back up the body until you are approximately one third
of the body length from the hackle.
Step 4
Take a small pinch of dark coloured fur from a hare's mask and even it out
with your fingers. With your fingertips, hold the fur against the thread
and gently spin it on.
You don't need a lot of dubbing, the body is meant to be slim and transluscent,
with the thread showing through.
Step 5
Wind the dubbed thread forward in even, widely spaced turns. Try to avoid
any build-ups or uneven bumps of fur.
When you reach the point immediately behind the hackle, pinch off any excess
fur. Next pass the thread in front of the hackle.
Step 6
Take hold of the hackle stalk with your hackle pliers and make between 1
and 1.5 turns around the hook-shank. Use your own judgement as to how much
hackle is needed; however, make 2 turns the absolute maximum - spider patterns
are supposed to be sparse.
Make a couple of turns of thread over the unused hackle and then trim the
remainding hackle as closely as possible.
Step 7
Whip-finish
the fly neatly, add a drop of varnish to the head, and you should have something
similar to the fly shown opposite.