Tie off the herl and trim. Grab the pheasant tail fibers you folded back in step 6, and pull them over the thorax to form a wing case. Tie the fibers off behind the hook eye, but don t trim. Split the pheasant tail fibers into two bunches, tying each bunch back along the sides of the hook to form two clumps of legs, one on each side of the hook. Trim each leg clump at approximately the back of the thorax.
Whip finish the fly and cement the head.
You can modify each of these flies by adding a bead head or changing some of the materials or colors. By now, you ve learned some tying skills, so it s time to get a little creative. It s one thing to tie a fly, but entirely another to design a fly. In the first case, you are merely tying someone else s creation. In the second case, you are creating a fly that is similar to something else, but designed to meet your needs.