Tying Tuesday - Purple Haze

It’s getting to be the time of year when we sit around and reflect on the previous season and prepare for the next. I’m sure for many of you, like myself, that includes tying tying tying!

One of the tying questions that inevitably comes up this time of year is, “How do you tie a Purple Haze?” or more specifically “What is the body material?” Most people assume it’s Uni-Floss or some similar floss. Well you can tie them with floss, but they get saturated really fast and sink. The actual material called of in the recipe is…Super-Floss, or Sexi-Floss it has many names depending on the vendor, which is the same rubbery material used for legs on the Pat’s Rubberleg (not the Girdle Bug). The key to tying crisp Haze’s is to really haul on the Super-Floss as you tie, as it is very stretchy and loosely tied Haze’s have a tendency to fall apart. It also helps to add a few extra turns of hackle to compensate for the not so buoyant floss.

Full Recipe
Hook: Your favorite standard dry fly hook
Thread: 8/0 Uni-Thread
Tail: 8-10 Deer or Elk hair strands
Body: Super-Floss
Parachute: Calf Tail or synthetic substitute
Hackle: Brown and Grizzly mix

Just because it’s called a “Purple” Haze don’t limit your self to just purple; yellow, black, olive also work well.