The Irresistible Dry Fly
The Irresistible is a great fly for fast, bubbly water. Its bulky silhouette will catch a trout's attention in fast water, and the hollow deer hair body means that if the fly is drowned, it will pop back up. This version is the Adams Irresistible — Adams wings and hackle with a hair body and tail. Techniques Learned: Hair tail
Deer hair body Hackle tip wings
Step 1: Attach black, white, or tan 3/0 monocord to a size 10 dry fly hook, just ahead of the bend. Using the pinch method, but with less pressure than usual for the first couple turns, tie in a bunch of brown bucktail, dark elk, or elk hock — any stiff hair that won't flare. The tail should be slightly shorter than normal; about 3/4 shank length. Instead of binding the tails to the hook for half the shank length, cut the butt ends off as short as you can while still holding the hair so it won't pull out. Flaring deer hair, which we'll do in the next couple of steps, is easier to do on a bare hook. Step 2: For the size 10 hook you're using, snip a bunch of deer body hair from the hide, about the diameter of a pencil. Holding the tips of the hairs with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, pull the short hairs and fuzz out of the butt ends of the hair with the thumb and forefinger of the other hand. Snip the fine tips of the hair off, so you're left with a bunch of deer hair with both ends squared off, about 3/4" long, a little less than the diameter of a pencil.
Step 3: Hold the hair at a 45° angle to the shank of the hook as shown. Take a loose loop around the middle of the hair, applying just a tiny amount of pressure. Hold onto the hair. Take a second turn in the same spot, a little tighter, and begin to release the hair. Take a third turn with as much pressure as you can without breaking the thread and let go of the hair. It will flare around the hook. If it doesn't cover the entire 360°, spread it around a little with your fingers.
- Step 2.
Step 4: Come around in front of the hair with the thread, push the hair back toward the bend a little with your fingernails, and wind 6 or 8 tight turns just in front of it. Repeat the hair flaring with a second, slightly larger bunch of hair. The second bunch will flare easier because its over bare hook. You should now have the rear half of the hook covered with deer hair — if not add a small bunch. Push the hair back a little, wind in front of it, whip finish, and remove the hook from the vise.
Step 5: With a pair of sharp scissors (those with serrated blades work far better than normal scissors), trim the deer hair body. Cut from the front of the fly to the back, angling
- Step 4.
the scissors to get a slight taper. Be careful not to cut the tails! The body should be about 1/8-3/16" in diameter for our size lOhook. Deer hair can also be trimmed with a very sharp razor blade, but we've never found it to be as effective as serrated blade scissors. After you're done trimming the body, reattach your thread just in front of the body. Step 6: Select two grizzly hackles about 1/16" to 1/8" wide, with nicely rounded tips. Measure down one shank length, about 1/2", from the tips and trim away the fibers from the stem, leaving a small stubble . .. this will keep the wings from pulling out when you bind them in.
- Step 6.
Step 7: Tie in the hackle tips with the pinch method, halfway between the eye of the hook and the forward end of the body, facing over the eye. Raise them upright and wind 4 or 5 times in front to hold them up — it will take less thread than the wood duck wings on the Light Cahill. Wind a figure-8 between the wings as you did with the Light Cahill — but you don't need to take a turn around the bases. Wind back to the deer hair, binding the stubbly hackle butts under, and trim away any excess hackle butt.
Step 8: Tie in two brown and one grizzly hackle with fibers that are 1lA - 2 hook gapes in length, binding the stems under to just behind the wing. Bring the thread forward to just behind the eye, wind the hackles, whip finish, and apply a drop of head cement to the head. (Note: if you have a long brown hackle or a saddle hackle that is 1V2 - 2 hook gapes in length when wound, use just one brown hackle. With normal neck hackle, though, you really need 3 hackle to tie a nice bushy Irresistible.
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