A classic dry, the Red Tag dates from the mid nineteenth century which is still hugely popular and successful fly today in all parts of the trout and grayling world.
(1) Hook in the vice and a length of fine gold wire tied in as rib.
(2) The yarn is tied in most of the length of the shank.
(3) A strand of peacock herl tied in near the tip of the herl. The thread is wound forwards to a point about two thirds along the shank.
(4) A red game (brown) cock hackle. The barbs are about 1 and 1/3rd the length of the hook gape.
(5) Prepare the hackle by striping away the webbier barbs. Position the tip of the hackle sticking out over the eye of the hook. Tie in the hackle and trim off the waste. Check the hackle is well secured!
(6) Take your thread to the eye. I have bent the hackle up so I can wind the body and rib to the eye.
(7) In touching turns wind the peacock herl to your thread, tie it down and cut off the waste. Wind the rib in open turns, in the opposite spiral to the herl, to the thread, tie it down and break off the wire.
(8) Wind the hackle in touching turns to the thread and bind it down. (This is a heavily hackled version of the fly – for a lighter fly wind slightly open turns of hackle.)
(9) Trim off the hackle tip, tidy the head and finish with a whip finish and a drop of cement/varnish to lock the whip finish – make sure no varnish gets onto the barbs of the hackle.
Red Tag dries – said to be the most popular and more used traditional dry in the world.
