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Wulff Flies
Royal Wulff
Tying Instructions
1. Start the thread just behind the eye and lay a thread foundation to the midpoint of the hook shank. Leave the thread at the 3/4 position.
2. Clip a bundle of Calf Tail. The bundle should be about the size of the hook gap. Clean out the underfur with a dubbing comb.
3. Place the hair within a hair stacker and even the tips.
4. The length of the wing should be about the same as the hook shank.
5. Attach the bundle to the top of the shank at the 3/4 position. Secure the bundle to the midpoint of the shank.
6. Clip the butts of the calf tail wing on a taper using a couple of cuts.
7. Wrap the butt ends of the hair firmly to the top of the hook shank. Bring the thread up to the wing and place a number of wraps in front of the wing forcing the hair upright.
8. Divide the wing into two equal amounts by using an x-thread wrap. Apply some wraps at the base of each divided wing and with some additional x-wraps force the wings to stand upright. Finally, apply some wraps in front of the wings to stablize them. Apply a drop of Zap a Gap to set the wings in place.
9. Clip a bundle of Moose Mane or Deer Hair for a tail. The length of the tail should equal the shank length. Clean out any underfur and even the tips in a hair stacker.
10. Attach the tailing fibers just above the bend of the hook and secure with tight thread wraps. Trim the butts of the tail so that they merge flush with the wing post butts.
11. Secure with thread wraps.
12. Attach 3-4 peacock herls to the tie-in position of the tail. Using a thread loop, wrap the herl around the loop and twist into a chenille rope.
13. The chenille rope of herl will help to protect it from unraveling once it is used. Give about three wraps of the herl which will cover about one third of the space between the tail and the wing post.
14. Secure with a couple of thread wraps but do not trim the herl rope. Attach the Floss. Four strands are fine for sizes greater than 14. Use 2 strands for smaller sizes.
15. Bring the herl rope forward under the hook shank to the forward third of space behind the wing. Secure with a couple of thread wraps.
16. Wrap the floss covering the second one third portion and secure with 5-6 thread wraps.
17. Trim off the butt ends of the floss and wrap the herl rope to just behind the wing post base. Secure with 5-6 thread wraps.Trim the herl rope butts and secure with thread wraps leaving some space to attach the hackles behind the wing post.
18. Attach a brown hackle by the butts from behind the wing post and also extending in front of the wing post. The hackle should have the dull side facing you.
19. Take the hackle and wrap three times behind the wing post and 3-4 times in front. Secure with thread wraps behind the eye and trim off the remainder.
20. Finally whip finish and apply a drop of head cement. You may wish to trim the bottom hackles to help position the fly in the water.
21. The Finished Royal Wulff.
| Materials
to Order Material, click the link |
|
|---|---|
| Hook | TMC 100sp-bl, #12-18 or TMC 9300, #12-18 |
| Thread | Uni-thread Black 8/0 |
| Body | Peacock Herl and Red Floss |
| Tail | Black Moose Body Hair |
| Wing | White Calf Tail , split |
| Hackle | Brown Saddle Hackle |
Lee Wulff
Wulff Flies
Lee Wulff was an innovator. He designed the first fishing vest, popularized left-handed reels to keep the rod in the stronger right hand, created the first palming reel, and designed triangle taper lines. He designed the White and Gray Wulff patterns in 1929 which led to a number of other take-offs.
Disgusted with English-derived dry flies that were too fragile for our western waters, Lee bulked the dry fly with the use of hair rather than feathers for the tails and wings. His original Wulffs called for bucktail but were tied later with a calf tail wing and deer hair tail.
Dan Bailey-Marketing
Dan Bailey, a close friend and fishing companion, marketed Lee’s innovations and insisted upon naming them “Wulff” flies. The split wing is actually the preference of Dan Bailey to make the fly more marketable to the public. Lee actually preferred to tie his flies with a single wing.
Royal Wulff
The Royal Wulff was actually designed by Q.L. Quackenbush. It was a Royal Coachman Hair Wing Dry, first called a Quack Coachman. Quackenbush asked Rueben Cross of Neversink, N.Y. to dress the fly with a heavier wing. Rueben used Impala Tails to create a more stiff and kinky wing. Since it looked very similar to the Wulff flies designed by Lee Wulff, it eventually became known as the “Royal Wulff”, a royal addition to his series of Wulff flies. Moose Hair is often substituted with Deer Hair for the tail.
Gray Wulff
The Gray Wulff was the first “Wulff” pattern designed by Lee Wulff. He utilized this fly for large Isonychia hatches in the Catskills. He found that the bulkier fly looked more like the naturals and proceeded to catch over 51 trout on one of his first outings with this fly. This is one of Al Beatty‘s favorite patterns. In different sizes the Gray Wulff can represent many species of mayflies. Al will Deer Hair for the tail and wings. It floats well and is durable.
Grizzly Wulff
The Grizzly Wulff is one of Dan Bailey’s variations to imitate large mayflies in the Yellowstone area. He utilized yellow floss for the body as well as brown bucktail or deer hair for the upright and divided wing.
Were Wulff
Gary LaFontaine created the Were Wulff variation. The Woodchuck tail material are not rigid and straight like deer hair or moose mane. The Woodchuck has lighter colors at the tips of the hairs which gives a action-like appearance on the water. Fran Betters also preferred to use Woodchuck for tailing materials with his Ausable Wulff.
ParaWulff
Another nice variation is the ParaWulff designed by Jack Dennis. With this pattern the wingpost begins as a single post where the parachute hackle is built and the wingpost is divided above the hackle for the hallmark wulff divided wing. The divided wing provides a great sight indicator to the pattern but it also allows the fly to land softly on the water surface since the divided wing provides some additional air resistance. A parachute hackle allows the pattern to lie lower within the water film and provides a better silhouette to the trout from below.
Jack prefers to use Calf Tail that is straight but this is often hard to find and Calf Body Hair is often used. White thread is often preferred since it blends into the white calf tail wingpost but many patterns select the color of the thread to match the thorax dubbing. Jack originally designed this pattern for a number of mayflies, particularly Blue Wing Olives and Pale Morning Duns, but over the past few years a purple colored body has been very popular through the success of the Purple Haze. All of the Wulff patterns, including the ParaWulffs, work well in the Sierra from June through September.
Variations
Gray Wulff
| Hook | TMC 100 #12-18 |
| Thread | Uni-thread Black 8/0 |
| Body | Muskrat Dubbing |
| Tail | Brown Bucktail |
| Wing | Brown Bucktail |
| Hackle | Medium Blue Dun |
Grizzly Wulff
| Hook | TMC 100, #12-18 |
| Thread | Uni-thread Black 8/0 |
| Body | Yellow Floss |
| Tail | Brown Deer Hair |
| Wing | Brown Bucktail |
| Hackle | Brown and Grizzly, mixed |
Were Wulff
| Hook | TMC 100, #12-18 |
| Thread | Uni-thread Black 8/0 |
| Body | Hare's Ear Plus Dubbing |
| Tail | Woodchuck Hair |
| Wing | White Calf Tail, split |
| Hackle | Brown and Grizzly, mixed |
ParaWulff
| Hook | TMC 100sp-bl, #12-18 |
| Thread | Veevus 14/0 White |
| Body | Purple Hareline Dubbing |
| Ribbing | Pearl Krystal Flash |
| Tail | Microfibbets, Tan, split |
| Wing | White Calf Body Hair, split |
| Hackle | Grizzly Purple Saddle Hackle |
Tying Instructions
1. Insert hook in the vise and attach the thread in the middle of the shank. Wrap the thread to the 1/4 position on the hook shank behind the eye.
2. Clip a bunch of Calf Body Hair from the hide. Note the uneveness of the hair.
3. Place the hair in your left hand with the base of the hair exposed. Gently pull out the loose underfur and dispose.
4. Place the bunch of Calf Body Hair into a Hair Stacker and tamp the stacker on a firm object to even the hairs.
5. Pull out the stacker cylinder with you left hand exposing the tips of the Calf Body Hair.
6. Remove the hair from the stacker keeping the tips even. Measure the tips to one hook shank long.
7. Place the end of the measured hair bundle on top of the hook shank at the 1/4 position behind the eye. Holding the hair with your left hand, place a couple of firm thread wraps, pulling upward from the hook shank. Place about 6 more wraps around the base of the hair bundle towards the bend of the hook.
8. Lift up on the tag end of the hairs and clip at an angle to give the hair a tapered end.
9. Lock down the end of the hair bundles with thread wraps. Wrapping back up to the 1/4 position.
10. Pull back the Calf Body Hair away from the eye of the hook and apply a small thread dam at the base of the hair to keep the bundle upright.
11. Apply some thread wraps around the base of the hair bundle going about an eye length from the shank.
12. Next, attach a small number of Microfibetts to the top of the shank behind the hair bundle for a tail. The length of the tail should be equal the hook shank.
13. Splay out the microfibetts by applying a thread wrap under fibetts and a couple of wraps between the fibetts. Wrap the thread back up to the midpoint of the shank.
14. Now, we divide the hair bundle into two sections. Start be placing the thread from behind the bundle and angle wrap to the front creating two sections.
15. Next, place the thread from the front of the bundle and angle wrap to the rear of the bundle crossing the previous wraps. Basically you have a number of X wraps between the two sections.
16. Now, wrap up the post of the nearest section about an eyelength. These some of these wraps may show after the hackle is applied and is the reason we are using a white thread.
17. Then, wrap up the post of the section farthest from you, the same eyelength distance.
18. Attach a piece of krystalflash, for a ribbing, to the top of the abdomen to the tail or bend of the hook.
19. To apply the dubbing, wax the thread.
20. Apply the dubbing to the waxed thread and twist the dubbing tightly to the thread.
21. Build a slightly tapered body to the base of the wing.
22. Apply 5-6 wraps of ribbing and secure behind the wing base.
23. Select a Rooster Hackle, either a Cape or a Saddle. Clean the fibers off the base of the hackle and secure the base to the hook shank just behind the eye. The cup of the hackle should face the wing.
24. Secure the base of the hackle around the base of the wing with thread wraps.
25. Apply some additiional dubbing to the thread and wrap a thorax around the base of the wing.
26. Wrap the hackle about 4 times wround the base of the wing.
27. Secure the hackle wraps with thread wraps that are below the hackle wraps.
28. Trim off the tag end of the hackle and secure with a couple more turns of the thread beneath the hackle. Secure the thread with a couple of half finishes.
29. Finally, Whip Finish.
30. The finished ParaWulff Purple.
