The Slinky Damsel: a step by step
I started tying this pattern about 10 years ago. The idea was to have a smooth body, and at one stage the thorax was smooth too, to represent the exoskeletal properties of the naturals. In other words I wanted to steer away from a “fuzzy” fly, and stick with a sleek profile, with well defined eyes and legs. This sleek profile helps the fly to sink with minimal additional weight: a worthwhile property, in that it allows for delicate presentations in the shallows.
I started off with a single plastic bead at the front, and then moved to a set of bead eyes. These tended to fall apart, but with the advent of UV glue, I think we have solved that problem.
I still tie the pattern in a number of different ways. Here is one of them:
