Light Cahill

Material's needed:
Hook:  Standard dry fly hook size #12-18.
Thread:  White or cream 8/0 UNI-thread.
Tail:  White or cream hackle fibers.
Body:  White or cream superfine dry fly dubbing.
Wings:  Wood duck flank feather.
Hackle:  White or cream dry fly hackle.

Secure your hook in your vise.

Start your thread just behind the eye.

Measure your wings.  They should equal the length of the hook shank.

Tie the wood duck feather securely to the top of the hook shank.

Trim the butt ends of the feather.

Cover any remaining butt ends with tight thread wraps.

Lift the feather straight up, and wrap a few tight wraps of thread in front to hold the feather in place.

Separate the feather into 2 equal wings. Tie them in place with a few figure eight wraps.

Wrap two wraps of thread around the base of each individual wing.

Wrap your thread to the back of the hook shank.

Measure your tail to the length of the hook shank, and tie it in with 2 wraps of thread.

Trim the butt ends of the tail just behind the wings.

Apply a small amount of dubbing to your thread.












Wrap your dubbed thread forward building a tapered body.

Select a cream hackle feather, trim the fibers off the base of the feather.  If you strip the fibers off, the feather will rotate when you tie it in.

Strip a few fibers off the bottom side (shiney/convex side facing you) of the feather as shown.

Tie in your hackle with the shiny/convex side facing you.

Wrap your thread to just behind the eye of the hook.

Wrap 3 wraps of hackle behind the wing, and 3 wraps of hackle in front of the wing.

Tie off the hackle with your thread, and trim off the hackle tip.

Whip finish, trim your thread, and apply head cement.