Tying Off

This is where we finish off the fly by securing the thread - usually at the eye of the hook, and binding down all the hard work we have so far done. Get this wrong and everything you have tied on will start to fall off again!

The biggest problem that can arise is that there is insufficient room to tie off the thread. See the point in the previous section about crowding at the hook-eye! You need to space out your materials and leave room to do this. If you do not, there will be one of two consequences: one, you simply won't be able to tie off and you will need to start all over again, or two - and potentially more serious this - you will think you just have room, but will in fact block the hook-eye with the thread. This is potentially more serious because there is nothing more infuriating than being at the water, seeing a rising fish, and finding that you cannot tie on your fly of choice because the eye is blocked. Be warned - make sure the hook eye is clear on every fly you tie before it goes anywhere near your fly box!

Right, having said that, back to tying off. There is an easy way to do it, and a harder way to do it. First, the easy way:

The half hitch finish
This is by far the easiest, and made even easier with the aid of a half hitch tool. You can either make your own out of an old biro pen with the refill removed, or better, an old dart with the flight and shank removed, or better still, buy one of the three in one tools featured here.

Then:

1: Finish the body of your fly

2: Wind a small head with a couple of turns of thread, then pull out about five centimetres and keep it taut

3: All the time keeping the thread taut, wrap the thread three times around the barrel of the tool, keeping the end of the tool close to the hook-eye.

4: Place the end of the tool just over the hook eye, slide down the thread and pull it tight.

5: Snip off the thread, and use a pin to put on a drop of varnish to secure the knot.

6: Go tie it on the end of a tippet and catch a trout.
Now the harder way:

The whip finish.
The whip finish is not really all that difficult - it can either be done with a whip finish tool, or just your fingers. It isn't that it is so difficult to do, it is just so darned difficult to describe how to do, so that any rational human being can follow it. It really is the ultimate 'show don't tell'.So, I could either write I great long set of instructions that would quite possibly traumatise you for life, or I could link you to a couple of videos on YouTube you can copy, and have it mastered in about half an hour.

Tell you what, here's a couple of videos on YouTube:

Now try tying a pattern