You can view Eunan Hendron’s terrific tying at his blog Addicted to Vise. I recommend you follow him on Instagram too. He ties a lot of nice looking flies and several have been featured at Streamers 365. This won’t be the last time you see him here on FrankenFly. Below, Eunan gives step-by-step instructions on how to tie a Royal Coachman Hairwing.
Materials as follows
Hook: Allen SS001 size 2 (or your hook of choice)
Thread: Red Danville Flymaster 6/0
Tail: GP tippets
Body: In thirds; Peacock Ice Dub, Red Ultra Wire (Lg), Peacock Ice Dub
Wing: White Arctic Fox guard hairs
Hackle: Red GP body feather dyed claret (This came from a custom dyed skin, you can use a natural red feather or even a large brown hen hackle)
Head: Red
1. Start your thread behind the eye; wind to the back of the hook, just past the point and tie in your GP tippets. The middle bar should extend at least to the bend of the hook, but not past it.
2. Move the thread to about 1/3 the way up the shank, make a dubbing noodle and dub the peacock ice dub back to the tail and then forward to the start of the dubbing. This creates a nice thickish body.
3. Take a piece of Ultra wire, about 6″, and tie it in so the end stops at the return of the hook eye. This creates a nice even under body and helps to bulk it out.
4. Wind the wire forward. If it goes to the return of the hook eye, stop there and you can put the ice dub back over it. if it doesnt reach the eye return, make sure it is at least as 1/3 the body length. If its too short, unwrap and rewind with a new piece of wire.
5. Dub a second noodle of ice dub and form the body as before, starting at the front, wind back to the wire (or over it) and forward again to the eye.
6. Take a nice thick clump of arctic fox guard hairs. The tips (in my fingers) will be much thinner than the base which includes the under fur (pictured)
7. Holding the guard hair tips firmly, with your other hand stroke the base of the arctic fox to remove the soft underfur. You can keep the underfur for dubbing other flies if you desire. You should end up with something like this at the butts of the arctic fox fur.
8. Tie in the butt ends, and allow the main wing to extend to about the middle bar of the tail. If some hairs are long that’s fine.
9. Snip the butts close after tie in, making sure to leave enough space so the eye isn’t crowded.
10. Tie in your hackle by the tips with 7 or 8 tight wraps.
11. Wind the hackle. If you use GP you should only get about 3 or 4 wraps max. When finished, form a neat head and whip finish. Coat 3 or 4 times with cement or Sally’s and your fly is done.
