Swivel Snake-Fly (Part II) by Steffan Jones

Firstly, measure and cut a sufficient amount of mylar tubing for the body. Cut slightly more than necessary, as it does tend to fray

Upon passing it over the mount, secure it near the hook. This stage can be done in the vice, if necessary. Tie off the thread and varnish. Always varnish before doing the next step! If not, you will end up with the materials getting in the way, and getting stuck to the varnish. Quite often I would do up to this point in batches, ready for tying on the final ingredients

With the hook end sorted, we can now progress to the swivel. Clamp the swivel in one hand and tie with the other. Two critical tying techniques will help you with this fly; pinch-and-loop, and the half-hitch. The second stage is to secure the mylar tubing at the swivel end. Before securing the mylar, pull it taught. This will give you a nice, slim body – just the way I like ‘em! After securing and trimming the excess put a couple of half hitches onto the head – this will stop the thread bouncing off the swivel, and will enable you to put the fly down whilst you sort out the next material

Measure the wing to the appropriate length – just past the hook-bend. Then pinch and loop before tightening the thread onto the swivel and putting a few tight turns to secure the wing. Repeat this for the red mirage tinsel, leaving the fibres longer than necessary and trimming after completing the entire fly. Put on another couple of half-hitches to secure

Turn the fly over, and repeat the above procedure with the red rabbit as a false hackle. I tend to tie this to half the length of the body, or shorter.

After that, get the jungle cock eyes which are ready prepared. Position them with a couple of loose turns of thread before tying them in firmly.

Take the thread over the head, tidying up any gaps or colours showing through – or you can cheat by using coloured varnish at a later date. Then whip-finish, and varnish. Job done!