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| The Royal Wulff is tied on a standard length, and sometimes a 1X long, dry fly hook. Most often it is tied quite fully, as opposed to sparsely, which provides the high visibility and high flotation for which the Royal Wulff is noted. |
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| Step 1 |
| Beginning just behind the eye of the hook wrap a base of black thread to provide a foundation at the wing position. Move the tying thread to the center of this base. |
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| Step 2 |
| Select a white calf tail with relatively straight hairs. |
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| Step 3 |
| Isolate a bunch of calf tail hair and cut it away from the tail. |
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| Step 4 |
| Insert the tip ends of the calf tail into a hair stacker and tap the stacker to align the calf tail tips. |
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| Step 5 |
| The tips of the calf tail hair should now be aligned like shown. They may now be removed from the stacker taking care to keep the hair aligned. |
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| Step 6 |
| Holding the bunch of calf tail hair above the hook, measure a length that is equal to the length of the hook shank. |
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| Step 7 |
| Move the calf tail clump forward and secure it on top of the hook shank, at the center of the thread base. Hold the hair firmly in place with your left hand while you make 6 to 8 tight thread wraps to hold the hair in place. |
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| Step 8 |
| Using scissors cut away the excess butt ends of the hair, cutting at an angle which will help you create a smooth body. |
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| Step 9 |
| With the tying thread firmly wrap down the remaining butt portion of the calf tail hair, and continue wrapping to the back of the hook shank. |
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| Step 10 |
| The hair needed for the tail of the Royal Wulff is taken from the brown hair on the back side of a natural white bucktail. |
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| Step 11 |
| Cut a bunch of the brown bucktail hair and align the tips either by hand or using a hair stacker. |
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| Step 12 |
| Secure the bucktail on top of the hook at the tail position using 5 or 6 turns of thread, the first thread turn at the rear and working forward with successive wraps. |
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| Step 13 |
| Continue wrapping the tying thread forward a few turns, then with scissors cut away the excess butt ends of bucktail at an angle. You want the tapered bucktail ends to dovetail with the previously tapered calf tail, so that you end up with a smooth foundation for the body. |
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| Step 14 |
| Make additional thread wraps until all the butt ends of hair are covered and you have a smooth body. |
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| Step 15 |
| With your left hand firmly grasp the calf tail wing and pull it upright and backward, You may even want to crimp the base of the wing by pushing on it with your right thumb and forcing it backward. |
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| Step 16 |
| Force the wing into an upright position by making numerous thread turns immediately in front of the wing, working the thread so as to produce a smooth tapered base. This procedure may take anywhere from 20 to 60 thread wraps, depending on the size of your fly and the size of the thread being used. |
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| Step 17 |
| Using the point of your scissors, evenly divide the wing in half, and adjust each clump into position using your fingers. |
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| Step 18 |
| Holding the nearest wing in your left hand, make 3 diagonal wraps of thread to begin to separate the 2 bunches. |
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| Step 19 |
| To continue the separation of the 2 wings, grasp the far wing with your left hand while you make 3 more diagonal wraps in the opposite direction. |
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| Step 20 |
| Carefully take 3 or 4 turns of thread around the base of each wing to give them added definition. When finished add a drop of cement to the base of the wings. |
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| Step 21 |
| Return the tying thread to the tail position. |
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| Step 22 |
| Select a single peacock herl from a peacock tail feather. |
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| Step 23 |
| Attach the butt end of the peacock herl at the tail position. The peacock herl has 2 distinct sides. The quill, like a stem, actually protrudes a bit on one side. You want to position the peacock herl so that this side is facing toward the head of the fly. |
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| Step 24 |
| Advance your thread to a position covering abour 1/4 of the distance between the base of the tail and the wing. Wrap the peacock herl forward to this same spot and bind it down with thread. Do not cut away the remaining peacock herl. |
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| Step 25 |
| Select a 3 inch length of red floss and tie it in directly in front of the winds of peacock. |
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| Step 26 |
| Again, advance the tying thread, binding the remaining peacock herl as you go, to the 1/2 way point between the tail and wing. Wrap the red floss forward so the width of the band of floss is the same as the section of peacock herl at the rear of the body, and cut away any excess floss. |
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| Step 27 |
| To complete the body first move the thread forward to a point 3/4 of the distance from the tail to the wing. Continue wrapping the peacock herl forward and tie down at the thread position. Cut away any remaining peacock herl. |
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| Step 28 |
| From a rooster neck select 2 coachman brown hackles. |
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| Step 29 |
| Strip away some of the barbs near the base of both hackles, leaving a bare stem. |
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| Step 30 |
| Holding both hackles together, with the shiny sides facing up and forward, concave sides to the back, tie them into place directly in front of the body and behind the wing. |
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| Step 31 |
| Continue binding down the hackle stems bringing the tying thread in front of the wings. |
| Cut away the excess hackle stems. |
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| Step 32 |
| Grasp the tip of the front most hackle with hackle pliers and make 3 wraps of hackle behind the wing, then continue winding forward and make about 3 or 4 turns in front of the wing. Bind down the hackle tip with thread. |
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| Step 33 |
| Repeat the above windings using the second hackle. In order to make hackle winds over a hackle wrapped earlier you should lightly wiggle the hackle from side to side as you wind. This reduces the number of barbs that might get trapped under the second hackle. Trim away the remaining hackle tips. |
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| Step 34 |
| Make a few wraps of tying thread to cover any protruding ends of hackle, whip finish and apply a drop of head cement. This is the completed Royal Wulff. |
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