Deer Hair Diver

Great pattern for bass or even some saltwater fish. Anything that will hit something on the surface will love this pattern. The deer hair floats high, and can be trimmed into a lot of shapes. This is a basic shape.

Hook: 1/0 Saltwater hook
Thread: Bass bug thread
Materials: Deer hair, Grizzly saddle hackle, crystal flash, synthetic ep fiber.
Tools: single razor blade, scissors, bobbin, vise, whip finish tool, hair stacker, pen tube.

Step 1: start a thread base

Step 2: tie in a pinch of crystal flash and a small amount of EP fiber.

Step 3: on either side of the crystal flash tie in two saddle hackles.

Step 4: On either side of the saddle hackles tie in 2 grizzly saddle hackles 

Step 5: on both sides of the fly tie in a wider hackle feather so that the natural bend of it goes outward away from the fly

Step 6: Begin to stack the deer hair. (For this fly I stack 4 pinches on top of each other). After the top is done turn the vise over and stack deer hair on the bottom/underside of the fly.

Step 7: Using a pen tube, pack the stack deer hair by sliding the eye of the hook and the shank of the hook through the center of the pen and the push. Put a half hitch in after each position or section that you stacked.

Step 8: Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you reach the eye of the hook, whip finish and clip the thread.

Step 9: Using a razor cut the underside of the fly flat and really short to give the fly the maximum amount of hook gap. Use scissors to cut the top of the fly all at an even length, then determine where you want the collar to be. Then use scissors to cut the shape of the top of the fly and use a razor to make it cleaner.