Elk hair caddis

Materials needed:
Hook:  Standard dry fly hook sizes #12-#20 (I'm using a size #16)
Thread:  Tan Uni thread 8/0
Legs:  Brown dry fly hackle palmered over the body.
Body:  Green caddis dry fly dubbing.
Wing:  Elk hair.

Place your hook in your vise.

Start your thread.

Select a brown hackle feather and trim the barbs off where it will be tied in.

Tie it in with the dull side of the feather facing you.

Wrap it back to the end of the hook shank.

Dub some green dubbing onto your thread and build up a tapered body.

It's easiest to dub a small amount of dubbing onto your thread at a time.  When you run out of dubbed thread, just add more.

Palmer your brown hackle over the body, and tie it off a bit behind the hook eye.

Cut, clean, and stack a clump of elk hair.

Measure your elk hair so the tips extend just beyond the end of the hook shank....

...and trim the butts at the hook eye.

Tie the clump in.  Leave enough room to whip finish around just the hook shank just behind the eye.

Trim the head of the fly if you need to.

Tie the clump of elk hair down securely so it doesn't rotate around the hook shank.  The best way to do this is to wrap around the clump of hair and the hook shank, and then to finalize your work you wrap your thread around just the hook shank in front of the clump.

 Whip finish in front of the clump of hair around the hook shank only, just behind the eye.