In this step-by-step tutorial on how to tie the classic salmon fly The Childers I have tried to capture every step of the process that I use, in the hope that the reader will either learn or be inspired. A few things worth mentioning before you continue on to the tying, is that this is not a display fly, but rather a fishing fly meant to be fished and to be able to withstand the abuse of being fished.
My goal for flies like these are to make traditional looking flies with the best possible quality regarding durability, but at the same time not compromising the way it looks nor how it should move in the water compared to the flies tied back in the days.
Step 1: Tie on the thread
Whenever I tie traditional salmon flies I primarily use two bobbins; one loaded with white UNI 6/0 for the rough work, and one loaded with a much thinner thread for details. I always start with the white 6/0 thread and put down a layer of adjacent turns all the way across the hook shank and back to the point of the hook point / where I desire to have the butt joint or the front end of the tag.
Step 2: Tie in the tinsel for the tip
Next I tie in the tinsel for the tip, here I use a fine oval silver tinsel. I start by stripping of the silver coating for about 1/2 inch, leaving only the inner core. The reason for this is to avoid unnecessary bulk. I tie it on to bare hook by the hook point, and then I pull it out just enough to match my desired length of the tip/tag with the core, then I follow down with adjecent turns of thread until I have covered the bare core of the tinsel. Thus makes for a much smoother tip.
Step 3: Taper the tip
Next is to slightly build up some tapering into the "underbody" of the tip. This might require to untwist your tying thread to make it flat. I could use a thinner thread for this part, but that wouldn't be much of a challenge, would it? Also, I enjoy a bit steep tapering in the tag, as I think it ads to the "classic" look of the fly. And a thicker thread will make the tapering work so much easier. The three wide turns are only temporary to keep the thread away when I do the nest step.
Step 4: Make the tip and taper the tag
Now to tie on the tinsel. First turn of the tinsel goes onto the bare hook, then followed by enough adjacent turns to form a nice tip of the tag. As you secure in the tinsel you also taper the tag section with your thread. I usually try to keep the tip within a 1/3 to a 1/5 of the whole tag length.
Step 5: Tie in the tag floss
Now to tie in the tag floss, for The Childers it is called for a light blue silk. The floss is tied in on the point where the butt section should be. Again, I have just moved the thread away from the tie-in point by one long temporary turn to have a better space for working the floss.
Step 6: Make the tag
As with all floss it should be laid front to back and forward again before securing / tying off the floss with tying thread.
Step 7: Taper the underbody
Before we start tying in the tail and the rest of the fly, we must build up the underbody. With 6/0 thread this part can be done rather quick, but it should anyway be done with care, and only with layers of adjacent turns of thread. For now it's enough to just make it with an equal thickness all the way through as we still have a lot of materials to tie in. The thickness should be just less than the thickest part of the tag. Stop just right before reaching the tag leaving a few millimeters of space.
Step 8: Switch to thinner thread
As I've previously mentioned, I usually use two threads while tying classic salmon flies; one for the rough work, and one much thinner thread for the detailed work. In this case I use Gordon Griffith's Sheer 14/0 in black. Use the thinner thread to tie of the white 6/0 thread.
Step 9: The tail
Find a small Golden Pheasant crest feather in the right size; the "right size" being just long enough so that you only have to trim away the grey fluff in the bottom end to make the feather fit. (always trim, NEVER strip)! If this was a display fly one could obviously spend half-an-evening prepping the feather to withhold the right cascade and shape, and to be completely straight. For a fishing fly you could in general use your most crooked feathers because they will straighten up once they get some time in the stream. But, crooked or not, it is of crucial importance that the feather is tied in completely on top of the hook shank, and that the root-end is laying straight.
Step 10: Adjusting the tail
As I was gonna do a step-by-step of this fly I chose a pre-prepped crest feather, just to make the fly more pleasing on your eye. As you can see, this feather did not turn out completely straight, and instead of tying it in at a slight angle to compensate for the crookedness, I tied it in as if it was a straight feather with the lower part of the stem being parallel with the hook. Only trim of the thick lump at the end of the feather, leaving all the trimmed fibers to help securing the crest feather.
Step 11a: The strands for the tail
The tail of Kelson's version of The Childers has a very beautiful and all natural color-play with the powdered blue and scarlet macaw springs with the teal and the Golden Pheasant crest. Originally in the pattern it is listed pintail, but any well marked teal feather will be sufficient.
Step 11b: The strands for the tail
The springs of teal and macaw I prefer a bit chaotic, but rather long and sparse. From each side take two fibers of scarlet macaw and two fibers of the powdered blue macaw, and between 6 to 8 fibers of teal/pintail. You can marry them if you desire, but just bunching them together works just fine and creates a very beautiful result after being fished. Do not trim off the root ends of these springs; they are soft and will compress well; thus only making them a part of the underbody in the next step.
Step 12: The herl butt and more underbody
Once the whole tail is tied in, make the butt joint of a black ostrich herl, then go back to the white thick thread and tie in the tinsels for the ribbing; first a silver lace at the bottom center (6 o' clock) then a oval silver tinsel just behind (on your far side), so that the oval tinsel will be in front as a ribbing. Once the tinsels are tied in, continue building the underbody until you have a thick and even foundation. Note that the underbody is now tapering evenly forward, but for right now only the short section just in front of the butt has to be ready for the body material.
Step 13: Two turns of yellow floss
Now to tie in the first body material which is yellow silk. The pattern lists only two turns of yellow silk, I believe to a certain degree one is free to interpret this freely to a certain point*. I chose a rather long floss section, reaching closer to a tag-length.
* In a whole bunch of traditional salmon fly patterns the body starts with "two turns of..." usually a silk in a specific color, then often followed with dubbing. The Childers is no exception, and it's always fascinating to see what other tyers today consider to be "two turns". I believe that the original idea behind these "two turns" was to avoid tying down the herl butt with the dubbing in the body. Most common dubbings from that era are seals fur or pig's wool; both very coarse dubbings, and particularly on small flies, with just a small herl butt it can be ever so hard to dub sparse enough to not "drown" the butt.
Step 14a: Making the silk section
Pretty basic stuff; Wind the floss evenly from front to back and back forward over the section, then tie off.
Step 14b: Making the silk section
Close-up of the fly so far.
Step 15: The hackle
In the pattern it asks for a white furnace hackle dyed light yellow. To find out where to tie it in: Take the tinsel and rib it over the body as it will be once the body is complete, then mark the spot where the ribbing crosses at the point between the floss and the bare underbody. This point you carefully mark using a permanent marker, make sure to not let the ink bleed into the floss!
Step 16a: Yellow sealsfur dubbing
The main part of the body consists of yellow sealsfur. Make sure to wax the thread and dub evenly.
Step 16b: Yellow sealsfur dubbing
Dub the yellow sealsfur almost all the way up, leaving "three turns" left for red sealsfur in the body.
Step 17: Three turns of red sealsfur
Dub a pinch of red sealsfur evenly onto your waxed thread. Make sure to leave enough space for the double throat hackle, the wing and the head, still there should be left a bit of bare hook shank between the head and the up-eye in order to get a good knot.
Step 18: The oval silver tinsel ribbing
Lay the oval silver tinsel in five equal turns and tie off, but do not trim it yet in case you have to make adjustments.
Step 19: The silver lace ribbing
Follow the oval silver tinsel up with the silver lace.
Step 20: The body hackle
Follow the silver lace up with the hackle.
Step 21: Secure and tie off
Once satisfied with the ribbings and hackle, strip away the silver coating of the ribbings, and then tie everything down, then fold the ends backwards and then tie everything down to secure before trimming off the waste ends. Feel free to add a drop of varnish into this point then switch over to the thinner thread.
Step 22a: The red throat hackle
Prepare a dyed red rooster hackle with fibers slightly longer than the body hackle and tie in.
Step 22b: The red throat hackle
There are no strict rules on how many turns of hackle is necessary, basically this is a matter of taste and proportions, and of course the quality of the feather. Once you have reached your desired amount of hackle, tie off with a few turns, fold the hackle tip backwards and secure with a few more wraps of thread before trimming of the waste end. Force the hackle fibers downward with your left thumb and index finger and tie your thread up against the last turn of hackle.
Step 23a: The widgeon throat hackle
Find a widgeon feathers that suits the fly and tie in on top. It can be worth stripping one side off from the stem, I chose not to do this as I liked the markings on both sides and wanted a fair amount of fibers.
Step 23b: The widgeon throat hackle
Tie in the widgeon hackle using the procedure described for the red hackle.
Step 24: The tippet in strads underwing
There are more than one way to make the wing of this fly, but I choose to tie in the tippet in strands as an underwing to support the rest of the wing materials. Find a large enough Golden Pheasant tippet feather and strip of two equal slips of fibers; one from each side. Put these slips together, then tie them in. It is no problem making these slips nice and not disturb the black bars, but I like to pull on them after I have tied them in to get a better shape, and to also make them break up a bit; this will then help to break up the slips in the main wing.
Step 25: Building the wing
Collect slips from the following materials: Golden pheasant tail, brown mottled turkey, amherst pheasant, bustard, powdered blue and red macaw, green parrot, summer duck, gallina, bronze mallard and pintail. It is tempting to make all slips symmetrical to each other, but do your best to avoid symmetry; notice for example that a few of the slips comes from the same side, like the amherst pheasant tail and the gallina. I also subbed the bustard with speckled grey turkey, as I'm not too much fan of using the real deal in fishing flies, and also I'm pretty short on the stuff. The same goes for green parrot, which is substituted with dyed green turkey wing. One thing I added to each bunch/side was another slip of golden pheasant tail, this being from the opposed side to the first one.
The majority of slips for each side should be with the tip facing downward, but with a few slips going the other way, and no slips should be in equal length, and also stacked side-by-side from each other, but in different angles.
Step 26: Mounting the wing
The wing is tied in much like any other wing made up of feather fibers. With each bunch on each respectable side of the tippet underwing. Now it's easier to see how the different slips fights away from each other.
Step 27: Shaping the wing
Once you have secured the tie-in point of the wing to make sure the slips wont pull out use a toothbrush to slightly mix up the fibers. The more pressure applied the more the fibers will mix. I would strongly suggest starting very light and then gradually increase the pressure until desired result is achieved. This step is optional as the wing will anyway be well blended after being fished for a while. Also stroke with your thumb and index fingers to carefully pull the wing backward in order to collect the slips a little bit.
Step 28: The cheeks
Once the main wing is in place, it's time for the cheeks. Pick a matching pair of Kingfisher feathers. Originally in the Kelson recipe it's called for Chatterer, but as it's only a limited supply of these precious feathers around I will strongly suggest using a substitute, especially on fishing flies. Kingfisher feathers are pretty similar in look and a lot cheaper.
Step 30: The topping
Same as for the Golden Pheasant crest feather used in the tail; find a feather in the right size so that it is only necessary to trim of the tiny bit of fluff all the way at the bottom of the feather, to make it fit the fly. Still no need for extensive prepping on this topping, as this is a fishing fly. Just make sure the step is dead-on by the tie-in point and the feather will straighten up nicely once being fished. NOTE: The topping is most often to be added before the cheeks, however, I've often found it easier to add the topping on after being done with the whole of the wing, but before the horns.
Step 31: The horns
The horns of The Childers are listed as blue macaw in Kelson's pattern.
Step 32:
Once everything in the wing is in place it's time for the final work; trimming down the waste ends and forming the head. The first thing I do before I start cutting is to add a good drop of thin varnish to the tie-in point of the wing. I let the varnish dry for just a bit, before I start trimming of the waste ends in a tapered fashion, and only trimming small sections off at the time. Once done trimming and what is left to tie in is nice and tapered, add another drop of varnish and cover up with tying thread and at the same time forming the head to your desired shape. In the pattern it calls for a herl head, but I chose to skip this detail as it has a tendency of weakness, and instead just went for a solid black head with several coats of varnish.
The Childers
As described in G.M. Kelson's The Salmon Fly from 1895
Tag: Silver twist and yellow floss Tail: A topping, strands of red, and powdered blue macaw, and pintail. Butt: Black herl Body: Two turns of light yellow silk, followed by light yellow seals fur, then three turns of red seals fur at throat Ribbing: Silver lace and silver tinsel (oval) Hackle: A white furnace hackle, dyed light yellow
Throat: A red hackle and widgeon Wing: Strands of tippet, and tail of the golden pheasant; brown mottled turkey, amherst pheasant, pintail, bustard, summer duck, parrot, powdered blue and red macaw, gallina, mallard and a topping Cheeks: Chatterer Horns: Blue Macaw Head: Black herl
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All photos are taken by me and shall not be used without permission.