Too close to the eye of the hook.

[PocketWater]

So I am pretty new to fly tying, and have done pretty well so far. One issue I have, though, is I have gotten too close to the eye of the hook on a lot of flies and end up with thread/dubbing/hair blocking the eye of the hook. The poker thing on my nippers is too large to really clear out the eyes now that the flies are completed and its damn near impossible to get your tippet through the eye. This issue has occurred mostly when I attempted to tie smaller dry flies on around size 16 or 18 hooks.

Does anybody have any good method or pointer on clearing the eyes out? I thought about a sewing needle but just wondered if anyone else had any go to methods for a remedy for this.

I have definitely made a much more conscious effort to stay farther from the eye, but hate having a couple dozen flies in my box I can't use because I can't get the darn tippet through the eye when out on the stream.

Thanks.

 

[pabrookie94]

Take a bodkin and a lighter, get the bodkin very hot(glowing) and then just push it through the eye and it WILL clear the materials in the eye. Just be very careful with this obviously and if you think you will burn the thread(if you have thread over the eyelet) then just put some head cement or superglue over the tie off and it'll still be bullet-proof

 

[PocketWater]

Thanks. I will have to give this a try. I was out yesterday on the stream and it seemed like half a dozen different flies I wanted to try had stuff blocking the eye so there I am standing in the middle of the stream trying to jam tippet through a wad of material.

 

[nfrechet]

use a feather and pull it thru the eye to clear any head cement

just stay away from the eye

use fine tipped scissors to trim any waste from the eye before the finish knot

 

[duckfoot]

Same problem I had for first year tying. I learned that a lot of Navy swear words will eventually make the line go through the plugged eyelet.

 

[PocketWater]

Hahaha Duckfoot. There were definitely some colorful words going on yesterday. Tying over the winter, I knew that I would have some issues on a few but figured the tippet would slide through some of the hair or dubbing....but it just wasn't working out yesterday so figured I'd check in if anyone had a solution for the problem. The flies themselves look pretty solid so if I can fix the issue all will be good.

I definitely will be a lot more aware of the potential issue in the future.

 

[1hook]

Good tip on leaving an eye length of space for finishing your fly. Pretend as if that space is not there to use.

Also the type of thread and thickness your using can make a difference big time. Some threads like utc get flat as your wrap and that sometimes can be unwanted at the tie off area. This can be corrected by spinning the bobbin to tighten things back up.

I found the head area of my flys improved when I started using uni thread 8/0. It is my preferred tying thread for most things

 

[PAgeologist]

I have gotten into the same bad habit. I start my thread back where I want the fly to end to form a nice head. It gives me a mark to end the fly at and crowding the eye has become less of a problem for me.

 

[PocketWater]

Lesson learned, for sure. Thanks for the input all.

 

[RLeep2]

I've been tying for about 50 years and I still have a problem with sloppy fly heads and hence, clogged eyes. Some of it is discipline and some of it is that neatness at the vise simply isn't in my DNA.

So it goes....

Anyway, all the advice you've been given is good. I'll just add a very simple thing that I do when tying.

Make yourself an eye reamer out of a short length of small or medium size ribbing wire or (less preferably..) a piece of 2X or 3X leader material and put a loop (mono) or "clothes hanger" bend (wire) on one end and hang it out of your way on your vise. When you finish a fly, just make a habit of running your reamer through the eye before you take it out of the vise. Either material (mono or wire) will be small enough in diameter to run through just about any hook eye down to and including #18's or maybe #20's. Eventually, you might get to be proficient enough at finishing fly heads that you can throw your reamer away. I know I'll never be able do this, but I've come to accept it....

 

[afishinado]

:lol:

 

[beadhead2]

Get one of these

 

[PocketWater]

I'm going to give a go at heating up a sewing needle over a candle and stick it through the eyes. Hopefully that does the trick. Never heard of that fly tying cauterizer. Is that strictly for cleaning out the eye?

 

[redietz]

Is that strictly for cleaning out the eye?

No. Mostly it's for cleaning up stray hackle barbs, thread ends that didn't get cut flush with the head, etc -- stuff your scissors won't get.

 

[MKern]

I've donee the heated bodkin, but sometimes you will burn an important strand of thread and it will unwind.

One thing that works with many patterns is to tie the head before any thorax materials and create valley for the thread and materials to sink into to. This technique will not work for every pattern, and of course will not for bead heads.

I showed this years ago on the fly tutorial I did for the main page's blog. It was called Bubble Caddis.

 

[tctrout]

I'm with Afishinado on this one. When I was younger, I would fish those patterns, or worse, never fish them because they were patterns I didn't have faith in. I've since changed and always recommend clearing the hook and starting over. It's caused my tying to improve, while also creating more consistency in my patterns.

Good luck, because it's somewhere we've all been!

TC

afishinado wrote:
:lol:

 

[pabrookie94]

MKern wrote:
I've donee the heated bodkin, but sometimes you will burn an important strand of thread and it will unwind.

One thing that works with many patterns is to tie the head before any thorax materials and create valley for the thread and materials to sink into to. This technique will not work for every pattern, and of course will not for bead heads.

I showed this years ago on the fly tutorial I did for the main page's blog. It was called Bubble Caddis.

This is why I said to make sure to head cement the fly first which binds the threads together(making sure THE thread that holds it together doesn't matter anymore)

 

[PocketWater]

The heated needle method did the trick for me. Thanks again for all the input into this, everyone.

 

[Chaz]

nfrechet wrote:
use a feather and pull it thru the eye to clear any head cement

just stay away from the eye

use fine tipped scissors to trim any waste from the eye before the finish knot

+1 I had this issue for a long time. I only get close to the eye when tying off the finished head. And I go light on the head cement.