Charlie Craven is one of the best fly tiers in the world. He also owns the fly shop called Charlie's Fly Box in Arvada, Colorado.A few weeks I asked Charlie to order a large piece of cow elk hair from Nature's Spirit. Cow elk has a finer structure (less coarse) than bull elk and it also has nice even tips which is needed for wings on a Humpy or elk hair caddis. Its structure is tougher than deer hair so it doesn't break as easily under tight thread wraps as deer hair. Yearling elk is also a good choice as it has short even tips and also less delicate than deer hair.
I have seen many humpies in my life. Charlie is in my opinion one of the very few tiers that ties a good looking Humpy. When he messaged me that the hair was in I quickly asked him to look for a Humpy in his fly box and toss one in with the hair before shipping. Here's the Humpy (with the straight eyed hook) I shipped to Charlie (of course I used Cow elk hair here).This is the best video of tying a Humpy by Charlie. The way Charlie ties here, wings first, was done by the late André Puyans. In this video he ties the wings first and uses the butt section of the hair for the hump. This is an easier way to tie a more consistent wing length than the traditional way. I'm so used to the traditional way I'll keep on tying that way. Especially pay attention on the proportions, which makes or breaks this fly.
Update May 28, 2020:
Charlie's Humpy (2) arrived today, together with the Cow elk hair and some nice stickers. Thanks Charlie!
