Whip Finishing?

John M. White · Post by **John M. White** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:01 pm

I used to tie my flies without a whip finnisher, but recently have started using one. In the past I would finnish a fly with 3 or four overhand knots and then use Daves Fleximent to seal the tag. Do you still need to seal the tag after whipfinnishing, or is that just a wasted step. It seems like 7 or 8 turns with the whip finnisher ought to be enough to secure the tag. What do y'all do?

castell · Post by **castell** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:06 pm

With a whip finish I typically use 3 or 4 wraps and then a little bit of head cement.

AlanKulcak · Post by **AlanKulcak** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:08 pm

I cant remember the last time I used head cement on a nymph or dry (but dries I typicaly just throw in a few half hitches). Whip finnish with about 4-8 turns is good enough. When in doubt whip it twice. If the threaded head is larger than the hook eye and you think it might slip off, always use cement, but that is rare. If you want to use head cement on your small flies and scared of having it run into your fly you can rub in a drop on your thread just before you tie off. I do however use either head cement or gloss coat on almost all my saltwater flies. Most of the time I use a couple of coats gloss coat to make the head look nice. If you are tying with mono its always a good idea to tie off twice with a min. of 6 turns and glue it.

WHIP IT!!!!! WHIP IT GOOD!!!!!!!

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:57 pm

matarelli - the whip finisher is your friend...

once you get the hang of it - it becomes second nature.
just geometrically thinking about what you're trying to accomplish here helps the technique.
Keeping the standing thread coming off the bobbin perfectly horizontal and right up against the hook really helps.
and the thread coming from the whip finisher that you're wrapping around the hook should be perfectly vertical

spiny norman · Post by **spiny norman** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:11 am

I never could get the hang of a whip finisher. I think it's because I'm a southpaw and all of the instructions are for righties. (That and I hate have one more tool out cluttering up the bench.) I whip finish by hand everything larger then a size 20 with the exception of some smaller dries.

mickmcco · Post by **mickmcco** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:00 pm

I don't know about you guys, but I often feel whipped by the time I finish some of my flies, especially those with all the steps that take 20 minutes to tie and only a split second wayward false cast to lose.

John M. White · Post by **John M. White** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:56 pm

I hear ya there....

AlanKulcak · Post by **AlanKulcak** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:07 pm

or what really sucks is leaving your fly box on the deck of your boat not fully closed, then getting up on a plane and watching most of the flies you have spent countless hours tying go flying into the air..........

mickmcco · Post by **mickmcco** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:59 am

Or standing on a rock in the middle of the Guad, flowing 400 cfs, and watching a new box of soft hackles you just spent the weekend tying drop out of your vest pocket and float quickly downstream as you bend over to net a trout.

Jimbo Roberts · Post by **Jimbo Roberts** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:25 am

Ok....you caught my attention. I lost a box of drys fishing at Kanz's Lease years back and never found them. They floated away, but I'm sure they sank to the bottom somewhere as it was not a water proof box. Where did you lose your's Mick? Was it a water proof box that you lost? It sounds like a good excuse to go fishing again! Jimbo

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:16 pm

I have jumped in over my waders before to save my fly box.

mickmcco · Post by **mickmcco** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:43 pm

Guadalupe Landing, where the flows were challenging to wade, and I lost the box at that last big rock before the current runs past the trees and down into the deep hole downstream. It was not meant to be a waterproof box, but did stay on top long enough to float 150 yards downstream and hang up in an eddy on the far side of the river. It contained about three dozen soft hackles that I'd painstakingly tied over the weekend and then put in a brand new clear fly box.

This was in 2004, Jimbo, so they are long gone. Bill Higdon headed down there later that day in his canoe and paddled the whole area, but didn't find the box. I've still not fully replenished my soft hackles since then, but I am more careful to have the pockets of my vest zipped or velcroed shut.

Jimbo Roberts · Post by **Jimbo Roberts** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:20 pm

So I took off before reading your post. Obviously I needed a reason to get to the river, so I used this one. I looked up and down at River Bluff and didn't find any soft hackles, I guess I know why now. I did find quite a few Rainbows. Not as good as yesterday, still a lot of fun. The water has come down from yesterday's levels, but still easily above 100cfs. There were at least another half dozen anglers flyfishing there. All must have been local as none had any GRTU buttons. Jimbo

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:51 pm

glad to hear you're getting out these days