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Burk’s Damsel
Burk's Damsel Olive
1. Attach the hook to the vise and attach your thread just behind the eye. Wrap to the 1/2 position on the shank and, then, back to the 1/3 position. This is where you will attach the wing.
2. Choose two hen hackle tips which are about the twice the hook gap in width. Try to select hackles that have a squared tip rather than a narrow taper. The length of the wings should be from the eye to the bend of the hook.
3. Sweep the barbs back from the hackle to the desired length. Place the two hackles back to back with the curve of the hackles opposing each other. Keep the wing tips even. Place the two hackles on top of the shank with the clean quill, exposed from the swept barbs, directly over the tie down position. Apply two pinch wraps to secure the hackle to the tie down position.
4. Add a couple of tight wraps and trim off the butt ends.
5. Wrap the thread forward and hold the hackle tips back while building thread wraps in front of the hackle. This will allow the hackle to stand upright.
6. Utilize some "x" wraps to divide the hackle tips.
7. Wrap the thread back to the tail tie-in position.
8. Select some tailing fibers from a spade hackle keeping the tips even. Measure the tailing fibers so that they are equal to the hook shank.
9. Place the tailing bundle against the hook shank and let the thread tension bring the bundle to the top of the shank. Secure with two to three additional wraps.
10. Wrap the thread forward securing the tail bundle to the top of the hook shank. Near the base of the wing, lift the tag end of the tail fibers and trim off. Wrap the thread covering all of the tail fibers.
11. Bring the thread back towards the tail tie in position and apply a small amount of dubbing to the thread. Wrap back to the tail tie in position so that the dubbing will just start at that position.
12. Wrap the dubbing forward for a tapered body stopping just behind the wings.
13. Bring the thread in front of the wind. Attach a sized hackle with the butt end in front of the wing. The quill of the hackle should face you. Secure the butts with thread wraps in front of the wings.
14. Bring the hackle back to crease the quill in front of the wing. Then wrap the hackle in front of the wing and behind it. Wrap the hackle back forwards with wraps behind and in front of the wing. Lift the hackle to secure with a couple of thread wraps.
15. Clip off the hackle tag end and cover with thread wraps. Create a small head and whip finish.
Olive Damsel
Tying Instructions
1. Attach a section of Damsel Body at the rear half of the hook shank. The length of the body section should be about 2x’s the shank length.
2. Select two dun hackles that have a width of about 1/2 the hook gap and a length of the extended body. Place the hackles back to back above the body tie-in position and secure.
3. Clip a small clump of deer hair, clean the fuzz , and trim to a 1/2″ section. Place the section in front of the body tie-in position and spin it.
4. Trim the deer hair to about 1/8 to 1/4″ in length and pack it against the body tail-in section.
5. Attach a couple of deer hair tips on either side in front of the thorax for legs.
6. Attach a small mono eye in front of the thorax with some figure eight wraps. For mono eyes, I’ve used round vinyl body material and burned the ends. Tie off and whip finish.
| Materials
to Order Material, click the link |
|
|---|---|
| Hook | TMC 100 #10-12 |
| Thread | Danville Lt Olive 6/0 |
| Extended Body | Olive Damsel Body |
| Thorax | Olive Dyed Deer Hair |
| Eyes | Monofilament Eyes |
| Wings | Dun Hackle Tips |
| Legs | Olive Dyed Deer Hair |
Andy Burk
Burk’s Damsel
Designed by Andy Burk. Damselflies feed on other insects; primarily midges, mayflies and mosquitos. They appear when the sun is out along the edges of ponds and lakes. Under windy conditions, the damselflies will rest within the reeds where they tend to get knocked into the water. Using the damselfly pattern during breezy conditions near the edges of reeds and other vegetation is the best time to use this pattern. Try damsels in blue, olive and red colors.
Damsels vs Dragons
You can differentiate damselflies from dragonflies by certain characteristics. Adult damselflies are smaller, and slimmer than adult dragonflies. Adult dragonflies will hold their wings flat, apart from one another, and away from the body. Damselflies hold their wings together either parallel with the abdomen, or slightly up tilted above the abdomen. For this reason, adult damselfly patterns are usually less difficult to cast than dragons since the extended wings do not cause as much twisting problems when casting.
Variations
Blue Damsel
| Hook | TMC 100 #10-12 |
| Thread | Danville Blue 6/0 |
| Extended Body | Blue Damsel Body |
| Thorax | Blue Dyed Deer Hair |
| Eyes | Monofilament Eyes |
| Wings | Dun Hackle Tips |
| Legs | Blue Dyed Deer Hair |
Red Damsel
| Hook | TMC 100 #10-12 |
| Thread | Danville Red 6/0 |
| Extended Body | Red Damsel Body |
| Thorax | Red Dyed Deer Hair |
| Eyes | Monofilament Eyes |
| Wings | Dun Hackle Tips |
| Legs | Red Dyed Deer Hair |
