Side-mounted Legs - The Fly Tier's Benchside Reference - page 410
Affixing materials to the sides of the hook shank or fly body is one of the most common techniques for forming legs and is used on a variety of patterns. Legs can be mounted in this fashion so that they sit flush against the side of the fly body, as on the grasshopper pattern shown in the main sequence. Or they can be made to flare outward, as shown in the alternate sequence. In both cases, the key to accurate leg placement lies in preparing the fly body itself.
Step 1. Here weʼve dressed a simple grasshopper body of poly yarn. Notice that the body tie-off is finished with a smoothly tapering thread foundation, with no abrupt changes in diameter; creating a smooth foundation like this simplifies adding materials at the head of the fly that will cover the leg-mounting wraps.
After the body material is tied off, the thread is wrapped back over the front edge of the body to create a smooth thread foundation that is equal in diameter to the body itself. This thread foundation should be made with tight wraps to compress the body material—a particular consideration with foam bodies. If the legs are mounted over a soft or spongy foundation, thread pressure will cause them to flare outward rather than lie flush against the fly body.
Position the tying thread at the rear-most wrap of the foundation laid on the front edge of the body.
The legs pictured here have been made from knotted pheasant tail barbs as explained in Method #11: Knotted-barb Grasshopper Legs, p. 420.
Step 2. Use the right fingers to position the leg against the near side of the shank, so that it rests at the desired angle and extends the proper length.
Step 3. While holding the leg with the right fingers, use the left fingers to pinch the leg against the side of the body without disturbing its orientation. The left thumb should pinch the leg directly behind the mounting point.
Take one wrap of thread over the leg, and pull the bobbin toward you tightly. Use the left thumb to prevent the thread pressure from pulling the leg around the shank.
Step 4. Release the leg and check its position. Small adjustments can be made by slackening thread tension, altering the position of the leg, and retightening the thread.
Notice here that the leg has been affixed to the shank so that the barbs in the thick upper leg lie flat against the body rather than being consolidated into a bundle. Mounting these barbs as a flat panel gives a broader, more lifelike silhouette to the legs.
Step 5. When the leg position is satisfactory, pinch the leg again with the left fingers, and bind down the butt of the leg toward the hook eye with tight thread wraps. Do not yet clip the butt ends of the material.
Return the tying thread to the leg-mounting point.
Step 6. Repeat Steps 2-4 with the far leg, positioning it so that the length and angle match those of the near leg.
Pinch the leg against the far side of the shank, and mount it with one tight wrap of thread.
Step 7. Adjust the leg position if necessary, then bind the leg toward the hook eye.
Once both legs are secure, turn your attention again to the thread foundation ahead of the body. Angle-cut or stagger the leg butts, cutting one shorter than the other, to keep this foundation as smooth and even as possible.
Step 1a. Legs that flare away from the fly body, such as the biot legs on this back-swimmer pattern, are typically mounted after the abdomen of the fly is dressed. The degree of flare is governed by the shape of the abdomen.
The fly shown here has a dubbed abdomen that tapers at the rear and has a rather thick, abrupt “ledge” at the front. Legs mounted with this type of body will flare almost directly outward from the shank, as shown in the following steps. If the fly has a more football-shaped abdomen that tapers at both ends, the finished legs will slant more toward the hook bend.
After the body has been prepared, advance the tying thread 4 or 5 wraps toward the hook eye, laying a thread foundation as you go. The legs are actually mounted at this position, ahead of the body, where there is a bit more working room on the hook shank.
Prepare the legs—weʼre using goose biots here.
Step 2a. As explained in Steps 2-3, use the fingers to position the leg—parallel to the shank in this case—and then use the left fingers to hold it in position.
Take two tight thread wraps toward the front of the body to secure the leg.
Step 3a. Repeat Steps 2-3 to affix the far leg.
Note in this top view that the thread wraps do not yet abut the front of the body material and the legs slant toward the rear of the hook.
Step 4a. Preen the legs back along the sides of the body, and pinch them there with the left fingers, as shown here from the top.
Under moderate tension, wrap the thread toward the front of the body, taking care not to pull the legs around the hook shank.
When the front of the body is reached, take 2 tighter turns of thread, tightly abutting the front of the body.
Step 5a. Forcing the base of the legs into the front of the body causes them to splay outward. Trim the leg butts and bind them down. The remainder of the fly can now be dressed.
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