Step by Step
Mayfly- Tied with an extended body

1. Form a thread base along the hook shank to the half way point.
2. Tie in your tails which should extend off of the hook shank at the mid way point between the eye and the bend. The tail should be twice the length of what your body will be (you have to imagine where your going to bring the length of your body to (the body length will be from the eye of the hook to the back of your extended body). On this fly we used 3 moose mane tails to imitate a Brown Drake.
3. Tie in a group of deer or elk hair at the mid way point down the hook shank. The hair should be stacked prior to tying in and the tips should face the rear of the fly. The length of your fly should be the length of the fly your imitating (judge the length from the eye of the hook to the rear of the hair or extended body). Make sure to keep the hair on top of the hook shank. A pinch wrap will help.
4. Clip the excess hair off of the front of the fly and form a smooth body. This is where you will apply dubbing and wrap hackle in step 9.
5. Carefully gather the hair in your non-tying hand's fingers. The tails should be placed in the middle of the hair. Once the hair has been gathered begin to wrap your thread up the hair evenly spiraling along the way. Be sure to hold the hair with your opposite hand as you wrap.
6. When you are a short distance from the end of the hair make a few turns of thread in the same spot with some light pressure. Be sure to hold the hair with your non tying hand to ensure the thread does not slip off of the end of the hair.
7. Evenly spiral back down the hair to the bottom where the hair (extended body) comes off of the hook. Make sure to spiral evenly with just enough pressure to slightly compress and hold the hair together.
8. This is another view of the extended body and tails.
9. Dub a small amount just in front of the extended body for a short distance (optional).
10. Tie in one-three hackles in front of the dubbing on the front side of the hook shank. Wrap over them until the hackle stems are just behind the eye of the hook.
11. Clip hackle stems close and wrap some dubbing to just behind the eye. Be careful to not crowd the eye of the hook.
12. Begin to wrap the hackle away from your body. Place each wrap close but in front of the previous one. Hackle your fly until you have reached the eye of the hook. Be sure not to crowd the eye.
13. Carefully tie off your hackle.
14. Finished fly. Side view.
15. Finished fly. Top view.
16. This is a Brown Drake which is the fly imitated in this step-by-step. Extended bodied flies can be used for a variety of longer mayflies. The most popular mayflies imitated by extended bodies are Green Drakes, Brown Drakes, Hexagenia, and large Isonycias. They can also be used for imitating damsel flies and other long bodied insects. Some fly tiers even use them for smaller mayflies and insects.
 
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