Tying the Yellow Dancer (Variant)
Related Flies
This version of the Yellow Dancer is tied un-weighted. If you want a weighted version just add a gold head bead or chainbead eyes to the hook before tying.
STEP 1 : Start the tying thread on the hook.
STEP 2 : Take a bunch of white marabou and pinch away any excess fluff using your thumb nail and fourth finger from the end that will be attached to the hookshank. Now tie in the marabou with the thread. Try and keep the body as uniform and thin as possible.
STEP 3 : There's a slight twist to the tail for this pattern. The tail is made up of three sections of marabou. The lower section that has just been attached (above), the middle section which contains a fluorescent bead and an upper section. To create the middle marabou section, take a small bunch of marabou and strip away any excess fluff again. Now wet the ends that will be secured to the hookshank. Place a fluorescent bead onto a bobbin threader and then place the wet ends of the marabou through the bobbin threader. Now push the bead forward onto the marabou so that you have something similar to that in the picture above. Take a wooden cocktail stick or something similar and apply a little superglue gel to the end of the cocktail stick and then apply superglue (Sparingly) to each side of the bead on the marabou tail. (The bead will eventually wear off but I find the added attraction on this pattern is well worth the effort fitting the bead).
STEP 4 : Secure the marabou with thread as pictured above.
STEP 5 : Take a third bunch of marabou and again strip away the fluff and secure to the hookshank. Try and keep the body as uniform as possible for the next stage of the fly.
STEP 6 : Take a length of Peacock/Orange tinsel (This tinsel is orange one side and peacock the other, we are going to use the peacock side) and catch in along with the wire, making sure that the peacock colour is facing outward.
STEP 7 : Wind the peacock tinsel along the body in tight turns and secure at the eye. Trim any waste.
STEP 8 : Catch in a yellow cock hackle at the eye.
STEP 9: Wind the hackle down in open turns (palmered). Now for the tricky bit. Once at the end of the hookshank, hold the hackle end with your left hand using finger and thumb or hackle pliers and start winding the wire back up the hookshank to secure the hackle. Make sure that you rock the wire back and forth as you wind, this will hopefully prevent too many hackle fibres from being trapped. Once at the eye, secure the wire with thread. Don't cut the waste wire, bend it back and forth until it breaks, this will save the edges of your scissors.
STEP 10 : Now catch in another yellow cock hackle, this time with slightly longer hackle fibres to that used for the palmered body.
STEP 11 : Wind the yellow cock hackle 4 or 5 times to create a neat head hackle, secure with thread and trim any waste.
Final: For the head I like to use Scarlet Glo-Brite floss, I believe it gives the fly even more added attraction.
The above photo is that of a Goldhead Yellow Dancer.