Instructions: Mercers Missing Link

Tying Instructions: Mercer's Missing Link, Little Yellow May




	1. Pinch the barb of the hook with the tips of your vise.
	2. Attach the thread just beyond the 1/3 position of the hook shank.
	3. Attach a strand of Pearl Krystalflash to the top of the hook shank with some thread wraps.
	4. Wrap the Krystalflash down to the hook bend with touching wraps. We want to the the abdomen show a natural curve. A position just before reaching the midpoint of the bend works well. Flattening the thread will also help.
	5. Wrap the thread back up to the 1/3 position on the hook shank and build a light taper of thread from the bend of the hook to the 1/3 position.
	6. Spirol wrap the ribbing forward to the 1/3 position. Note that the spirols get wider as you approach the thorax region.
	7. Coat the ribbed thread abdomen with some fly finish. I am using Loons Clear Fly Finish Flow, a UV activated coating.
	8. Use a UV lamp to harden the coating. This will protect both the ribbing and the thread abdomen from getting nicked and unraveling.
	9. Apply some ice dubbing to the thread at the 1/3 position of the hook shank.
	10. Create a small ball of dubbing at the 1/3 position. This represents the thorax and also helps separate the spent wings of the pattern.
	11. Separate about 10-12 strands of Z-lon from the yarn. You don't need much to represent the spent wings.
	12. Secure the middle of the Z-lon strands to the top of the hook shank just in front of the ice dubbing ball. Direct the strands downward with your fingers and secure the strands with thread wraps to maintain the downward projectory of the strands.
	13. Clip a section of Coastal Deer Hair from the hide and clean off the underfur. Place the hair into a stacker. Note all of the unequal lengths of the hair.
	14. Even the tips and have the tips facing the rear of the hook.
	15. Measure the tips so that they are about the same length as the hook shank.
	16. Attach the deer hair with two tight wraps at the 1/3 position, lifting upwards with the thread to keep the hair on the top of the shank. Then wrap a small band of thread forward toward the eye of the hook.
	17. Lift up on the tag ends of the hair and trim just above the eye of the hook.
	18. Attach a sized saddle hackle to the side of the thread band at the base of the hackle.
	19. Wrap the saddle hackle around the base of the wing and the trimmed hairs representing the head, twice. Secure the hackle against the bottom of the hook shank just behind the eye with three tight thread wraps.
	20. Secure the thread with a few half hitches.
	21. Trim the Z-lon spent wings at the end of the hook bend. Also trim off any errant hackle fibers around the head.
	22. The finished Missing Link, Little Yellow May.