
To have a nice smooth look to your floss body, it is important to have a smooth base underneath. And, because all flosses become opaque when wet, a base of white thread or silver tinsel is recommended to keep the black or bronze of the hook from showing through. This first picture shows a thread base on the front 1/3 of the hook.

I let the thread unwind to get all of the twist out so it will be flat when I wrap it onto the shank. Each wrap is edge-to-edge with no overlap.
Tie in the tinsel on the bottom of the shank and bind down the tag with 3 or 4 wraps. Body materials on salmon flies are almost always tied on the bottom. The top of the shank is reserved for tails, hackle and wings

Keeping tension on the tinsel, wrap over the top of the shank. Each wrap should over-lap slightly, then you should slide the tinsel off the previous wrap so that the edges meet. Wrap to the end point and return to the tie-in point. Unwrap the thread on the tag and tie down both ends of the tinsel. I do this to minimize the number of thread wraps and have a smoother body.

When working with floss it is very important to have clean hands. Before I start I use a pumice stone to remove any rough spots and burrs on my fingers. Then I wash my hands to remove all dirt and oils. Some tyers will wear silk gloves when putting floss on, but I don’t think it’s necessary if your hands are clean and smooth.
Cut off 6 0r 8 inches of one of the four strands of floss from the spool. Tie it in at the same spot where the tinsel is. Making sure that it is not twisted and is flat, begin wraping the floss edge-to-edge down the shank. Try not to overlap because it will leave a lump that cannot be dealt with later.


Once you have reached the end, return to tie-in point keeping the floss smooth and flat. Unwind the thread as you did wiith the tinsel and tie down.

Taking something smooth and curved (I use the barrel of a bobbin) gently but firmly rub the floss back and forth to smoothout any rough spots.

Now you can tie in the body material and ribbing and finish off the fly.

