Saturday Sessions will be fun and informal fly tying “gatherings” held on select Saturday mornings here at MRO this Winter! 9 a.m. – Noon or so and each will be “topic specific” and taught by our staff of fly tyers here at the shop.
You bring your vise and basic tools, we’ll provide the hooks and materials for the class. Oh….and we’ll probably have some coffee and donuts as well.
Guiding requires some specialized flies at times. These flies need to get the job done by utilizing diversity, productivity, simplicity, and multifunctionality. A caddis is a staple in most trout boxes. Dries, nymphs, and puppas are the usual box fillers. I needed something that would cross over blurring all of the life cycles of the Caddis.
On the tail of Sulphur season and tying endless emergers I was standing knee deep in the Mad with clients. We were swinging Soft Hackles and drifting emergers when there were splashed everywhere and fish on a heavy feed. Our waders started to get covered with caddis and soon they were in our eyes. My clients were very new and were having trouble keeping fish buttoned on the swing. They wanted to catch a fish on a dry, but the fish did not want an Elk Hair Caddis. I pulled out all the tricks of trimming down the dries and greasing up the wet flies and we landed a few fish. That night I hit the vise.
With mayfly emergers fresh in my mind along with the days events this fly “emerged.” This fly has everything you need in a Caddis, minus the guide (for free.) Dip the whole thing in some High and Dry liquid for a super high floating dry that take a dropper well. Dust the wing with some High and Dry Power Floatant and add a drop of Henry’s Sink It to the butt for a low floating dry. Grease your tippet with Snake River Mud for those really picky fish. Add some High and Dry Gel to the wing and Powder to the body then swing it with a short sink tip for a very realistic puppa. On and on and on…
Do not just pigeon hole this for Caddis though. Tweak it to look more like a mayfly emerger, cripple, or spinner. Pull out the black materials and tie it as a cricket in the summer. What about in a size 8-10 as a hopper…endless options. Tie a few of these up and then let your imagination flow.
Ryan Ratliff- December 2018 Simple Caddis Recipe: Hook: TMC 2457 #14- Click Here or Daiichi 1167- Click Here Thread: Uni 8/0 or equivalent- Click Here Body: Micro Fine and Dry Dubbing- Click Here Underwing: 2mm Foam- Click Here Overwing: X Caddis Deer- Click Here hair or Elk Hair- Click Here
1. Place hook in vise and wrap thread way back on the bend of the hook.
2. Prep some dubbing and apply to thread creating a slender dubbing rope.
3. Dub the body tapering thicker towards the hook eye. Stop abruptly about 2-3 hook eye lengths back from the eye.
4. Cut a thin strip of sheet foam the length of the entire sheet.
5. Taper one end of the foam to a point and tie it in extending back over your dubbed body.
6. Once secure pull the foam back and trim to the length of the hook.
7. Trim the square edges from the foam where you just cut (optional).
8. Select a piece of hair that meets your color, size, and purpose needed. Elk Hair is great for larger patterns and Short and Fine or XCaddis deer hair is perfect for smaller patterns.
9. Cut hair off from the hide and pull out the underfur. Place in a hair stacker tips first. Tap a few times, separate the pieces of the stacker and grab the perfectly aligned tips.
10. Measure the hair against the foam wing. You will want the tips to just pass the foam.
11. Carefully tie in the hair taking care to keep it all on top of the hook shank.
12. Pull the butts back and place a few wraps under the hair. Be careful not to crowd the eye of the hook.
13. Apply some more dubbing of the same color or color of your choice to the thread. Wrap two or so wraps over the exposed thread over the hair. Then wedge a few wraps under the butts of hair behind the hook eye. Again plan this out as to not crowd the eye.
14. Whip finish right behind the hook eye. Glue, varnish, or UV resin if desired.
15. Trim the butts of the hair. If you want a fly that skates well trim slightly longer and apply some SolarEz Flex fanning out the trimmed hair. If you are targeting Panfish trim long and resin straight up so it will pop. If you want a swinging fly trim short. Typically, I keep it long and fine tune on the water.
16. The finished fly here trimmed slightly long with the hair fanned out wide.
The original version of this fly was shown to us many, many years ago by our good friend and sales rep Jerry Darkes. It was designed by a guy named George McCabe from up in the Cleveland area and he originally designed it as a carp fly.
We started tying them and using them around here on both carp and smallmouth and sure enough, it was every bit as productive as Jerry told us. I do believe that we used them on our Lake Erie smallmouth trips as well back in the nineties. We started selling so many of them that we had to farm them out to a production house for custom tying!!! Unfortunately, we aren’t currently having them done as the supplier flaked out on us but we’re hoping to get them back in the shop eventually.
This is a “version” of that original fly that I tweaked a few years back and have been fishing locally with great success. We’ll call it the McCabe’s “Plus” Crayfish as it is certainly based on, and inspired by the original. When Flymen Fishing Company came out with their shrimp and cray tails, I just had to put them to use somewhere and this was a perfect match. I have said often that I don’t normally come up with patterns of my own, I just steal patterns and tweak them a bit!
Thought I’d share this one here as we sit inside thinking of warmer weather. Hope that you give this a try! It’s really a great pattern and when you do, let me know how it goes.
Brian Flechsig- December 2018
McCabes Plus Crayfish Recipe:
Hook: Umpqua U-Series U301 (or any equivalent 3X Nymph)- Click Here
Thread: Doesn’t matter- use whatever you are comfortable with- Click Here
Tail: Fish Skull Shrimp and Cray Tails- Large- Gold- Click Here
Eyes: Enrico Crab/Shrimp/Crayfish Eyes- Click Here
Hackle: Grizzly Saddle Feather- Click Here or Click Here (of course tons of options here as well)
This fly can of course be tied in just about any color combination that you want!!
1. Insert the hook in the vise. I then “score” the hook just a bit behind the eye. This is of course optional but it does seem to help hold the Flymen “Tail” in place alot better and prevent it from spinning. You may have seen me do this on the Plantation Crab as well and it really makes a difference.
2. Tie in the Fish Skull Shrimp and Cray tail just behind the eye of the hook using plenty of wraps of thread. Make sure the “fan” of the tail is pointing upwards (you’ll flip the hook in a bit). Glue it with your favorite super glue, then continue more thread wraps over top.
3. Add 5 or 6 turns of lead wire behind the Cray Tail and wrap your thread back to the bend.
4. Tie in your “bunch” of Moose Mane fibers at the bend of the hook. I suppose the length of these is somewhere around 1 1/2 to 2X the length of the shank in total. Then repeat the process with 3 strands of the Sexi-Floss. I usually make these just a bit shorter than the Moose Mane….for no scientific reason at all.
5. Cut off a small “tuft” of Rabbit from a Zonker Strip and tie it in right there at the bend of the hook as well. It should be very short, maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 inch or so. This is what I called the “Carapice” in the video which I’m not even sure is a word. I might have made it up? It’s basically the nose of the crayfish but sound more scientific if you call it something more sophisticated. Here we will go with “Carapice”.
6. Now tie in the chenille, also at the bend of the hook. The lash down should run you right up to the base of the lead wraps and you can leave your thread there.
7. You will now wrap the “head” of the crayfish with the chenille. I usually get about 3-4 wraps here with one in the middle, creating a bit of bulk. You want this to be somewhat of a ball shape so that the claws and eyes flare out over it a bit. Tie off the chenille but don’t trim it. You will use the remainder to wrap the rest of the body.
8. Now flip the hook upside down in your vise. (I suppose if you have a rotary vise you can just rotate away). Take a bunch of Fox Squirrel and tie in your 1st claw on the side closest to you and wrap over the butts.
9. Tie in your 2nd claw with another bunch of Fox Squirrel on the opposite side. Using a “horizontal pinch” will help keep this in place. You will see that the ball of chenille that you built up there will help flare these claws out just perfectly.
10. Basically the same step, you will now add the eyes. One at a time, near side then far side. They should ride just above the claws and extend back to just about even with the bend of the hook.
11. Wrap your thread over the butts of the squirrel and the mono stems of the eyes real well and then glue it up. I always glue here as otherwise, the claws and eyes may pull out. This fly is going to catch you a mess of fish and we want it to hold up. Your chenille is still hanging right in front of the original “ball”.
12. Tie in your grizzly saddle hackle feather by the stem. You tie it in by the stem to give a semblance of taper so that the adbomen tapers as you get to the tail. You may have to play with at what point on the feather that you tie it in to give the desired bugginess and taper.
13. Wrap the remainder of the chenille up the hook shank to just behind the eye and tie it off and trim. This forms the abdomen of the crayfish.
14. Palmer the saddle feather up the hook shank….Wooly Bugger style! Tie it off and trim just behind the eye of the hook.
15. Whip finish a few times using your fingers or whip finish tool. Throw a little cement on there if you like and you are all set!
Give it a whirl and let me know how it works for you!
This pattern came about as the need for a quick ‘Bugger pattern that was durable and utilized different color spectrums than an old school Wooly Bugger. Originally designed as a low water swinging or stripping Steehead fly, the Polar Bugger is very versatile. Smallmouth Bass, Crappies, Rock Bass, and Largemouth have all been caught on this fly. Adding this pattern to an Indicator/Float rig can also be very effective once the water temps drop in late fall and winter. White is my usual color of choice but swapping out the white for the same materials in olive, black, or purple have all put fish into the net. Also, you can swap out the cone for a nickel, gold, or chartreuse. Give this fly a shot when you are looking for something different than the typical boring ‘Bugger. Ryan Ratliff- November 2018 Polar Bugger Recipe: Hook: Gamakatzu SL11-3H #6- Click Here Cone: Hot Cone ¼” Orange- Click Here Thread: UTC 140 White- Click Here Tail: White Strung Marabou- Click Here Flash: Opal Mirage Lateral Scale- Click Here Body: Speckled Crystal Chenille White- Click Here “Hackle”: UV Polar Chenille Gold- Click Here Collar: Laser Dub White- Click Here
1. Force the cone over the hook barb. Sometimes they just slide right on, but if you are having issues you can pinch the barb or force it over.
2. Start your thread and wrap back to the tie in point. Notice the tie-in-point on this hook is between the barb and point.
3. Select a dense wispy marabou plum and tie it in at this point.
4. Wrap over the stem with your thread towards the cone and back. This will lock your tail in and build up the under body.
5. Select a couple pieces of Lateral Scale. Center tie in two strands on once side. Next fold the other half over to the other side and back. Give a couple wraps to lock it in.
6. Trim the Lateral Scale flash about half an inch beyond the marabou tail.
7. Tie in your Crystal Chenille and Polar Chenille both my the tip making sure they will not pull out.
8. Wrap you Crystal Chenille forward with tight side-by-side wraps.
9. Tie off at the cone making sure the cut off end is tucked into the “opening” of the cone.
10. Palmer your Polar Chenille forward with spacing or candy cane stripes. Make sure you are not trapping any fibers under as you wrap forward. Give a couple wraps tight together at the cone before you tie off.
11. Prep a clump of Lasor Dub and wrap the center of the clump slightly around the hook right at the cone. Give a couple loose wraps to start then tighten down tucking the clump into the slot in the cone.
12. Fold the front half of the Laser Dub back over the body.
13. If your cone is a little loose simply dub a little of the same Laser Dub into the opening of the cone to lock it tight.
14.Whip finish your thread and you are finished. You can comb back all the fibers to blend them if needed. Thanks as always for watching/following. Stay tuned as we have alot of fly tying in store for you for the Winter 2018/2019 season! Ryan Ratliff Watch the Video:
Swinging Mouse or Alaskan Mouse or Kat. N. Mouse (Katmai National)
Mouse patterns have been a part of Alaska for many years for good reason. What is better than watching a fish eat a fly on the surface…watching a fish chase down and eat a Mouse pattern on the surface. With my love for bass fishing and poppers I have been drawn to mouse patterns for as long as I can remember. Mercer’s Lemming was the first of these flies I can remember seeing as a child. I remember seeing them in a catalog first then on some TV show on fishing Alaska. To this day I can picture watching Rainbows smashing the fly as it swung across a riffle. Mercer’s Lemming made a decent popper in the Largemouth Bass world, but it wasn’t until I came across Whitlock’s Mouserat did my love for mouse patterns truly happen. These flies had the same platform as a wide gap hook. For bass this was the preferred technique for tying. Many bass have been caught on these mouse patterns, but the design was not perfect for all fish. Once I started using these flies for my local trout the need for a hook further back was obvious. Not all situations provided aggressive strikes to the whole fly. Other patterns started to become popular in the industry with stinger loops placing the hook further back towards the tail. I combined this design with my love for tubes to provide the greatest versatility. On a tube I could utilize the appropriate hook and rigging for the target species. Most of the time just having the hook eye directly in the junction tubing toward the back was enough though. On a tube if you need a hook far back on a stinger loop simply thread your tippet through the tube and tie a Perfection Loop or Duncan Loop and seat the knot into your junction tubing. Girth Hitch the eye of your hook to the loop and you are ready to fish. This way I did not need to tie 5 different patterns with various hook sizes or with or without stinger loops. This versatility was very helpful in Alaska. Sometimes the Rainbows took the entire fly as they jumped out of the water. Other times they or the Char would chase the fly down striking at the tail as it crossed the riffle. With a single short shank wide gap hook the fly can be adjusted to provide better hook up rates for any of these situations. Give this pattern a try the next time you find yourself in need of a swung mouse pattern that pushes plenty of water getting the attention of opportunistic fish anywhere. Swinging Mouse Recipe: Thread- UTC 140 Black- Click Here Tube- Pro Tube Nano Tube: Black Float- Click Here Tail- Kiley’s Spiked Rolla Tail- medium- Click Here Back- Rainy’s 2mm Black Closed Cell Foam- Click Here Under Body- Crosscut Rabbit Strips in Chinchilla- Click Here Head- Senyo’s Laser Dub- Sculpin Olive- Click Here Junction Tubing- Pro Tube Hook Guide (sized for the hook of your choice)- Click Here
1.Place the tube of your choice in your vise using an appropriate adapter or vise option. Start thread covering the tube back to the junction tube area. Tie in tail material. This case we are using Kiley’s Spiked Rolla Tail in purple, but any dark color will work.
2.Trim two long strips of 2mm sheet foam in the color of your choice. Typically, black, brown, Olive are good choices. Cut up the ends of the foam strips about ¾ of the desired fly length.
3.Tie down the first piece of foam strip where the cut stops. Make sure the starting thread wraps are right on top of each other. The cuts should split on each side of the tube.
4.Repeat this process with the other foam strip.
5.Lash down all the tag ends to the tube using open “candy-striped” wraps. Make sure that the foam tags are even around the tube. By not compressing the foam with thread it will aid in floatation. Stripe the thread forward then back to the tie in point.
6.Select a strip of Crosscut Rabbit. Here I use the Charcoal or Chinchilla Color.
7.Place a thin bead of Zap a Gap over the tread wraps forward.
8.Now wrap the strip up the tube over the foam. Make sure that you are slightly overlapping the hide of the rabbit strip and careful not to trap any fur under the hide.
9.Tie off the hide and trim the excess.
10.Looking at the top of the fly part the fur to either side evenly.
11.Next pull one of the foam strips forward firmly and lash down to the tube with a few wraps.
12.Pull forward the other foam strip and tie down keeping the thread wraps on top of the previous.
13.Double back the top foam strip and tie off again right at the same point. This forms “ears” and extra floatation in the head.
14.Keeping thread tension fold back both foam strips and place locking wraps tight under the foam. If done correctly everything should be firmly lashed to the tube.
15. Select some brown dubbing and place on your thread. Wrap the dubbing over your thread wraps at the base of the “ears.
16.Fold back the foam strips and wrap a few turns of dubbing tight against the underside of the foam. This should prop up the foam and provide durability to the thread wraps and some color for the head of the mouse.
17.Trim off the ends of the foam strips slightly shorter than the “ears.”
20.Whip finish tight to the dubbing ball prop.Trim the excess tube and touch up the cut end with a lighter if needed. Watch the Video:
As stated in the Carpin’ DVD that we did many years ago, the Clouser’s Swimming nymph was always at the top of any list as far as “go-to” carp flies. Still is, and we have folks calling and stopping in all the time looking for them. They have become hard to find, especially with a bead, which we all know is very important to a carp angler as it causes a hook to ride up. A few years back I started playing around with the way I tied these and came up with this “Carp Version”. I certainly hesitate to call this my own, as it is the exact recipe of the original, but I just tweaked a few things on the way that it is tied and am convinced that it is an improvement over the original, as a carp pattern.
The cool thing here is that you can play around with the bead and the colors on the flash, body and hackle to create a multitude of different variations….using the same template.
So here you have it…The Clouser’s Swimming Nymph- Carp Version.
1. Install the bead onto the hook and insert the hook into the vise. You can go ahead and start your thread as well as I like to have a thread base under the lead wraps so it’s not as likely to spin on the hook.
2. Make 7 or 8 turns of lead wraps behind the bead and then wrap your thread through and build up “thread ramps” on either side of the lead.
3. Cut off a hunk of rabbit fur off of the Zonker strip and tie in the tail. I usually like the tail to be about the same length as the hook shank, as always. Wrap over the butts right up to where the lead starts so you now have a uniform underbody. Make sure to wrap back onto the bend of the hook so that the tail stands good and upright when this fly is at rest of the bottom of the stream.
4. Add in a few strands of Krystal Flash on each side of the tail as well as a few of Flashabou. You can add more or less if you like but I usually don’t go much more than two strands each here. Carp typically don’t like too much flash.
5. Tie in the Medium Gold Oval Tinsel at the “bend”.
6. Dub a nice tapered abdomen with the Craw Dub and then spiral the Oval Tinsel through for the rib.
7. Now you will tie in a bunch of Peacock Herl to be used for the wing case. Lash it down all the way to the bead which helps create a larger underbody for the thorax. At this point, you can measure the length of the abdomen versus the thorax and make an adjustment if needed. I usually find myself wrapping back a bit so as to make the thorax a bit longer and thus more prominent.
8. Now you will tie in the Hen Back feather at the same point as the Peacock Herl. I do this by the TIP of the feather. Grab the very tip of the feather and stroke the main fibers back forming a nice little triangle that you can grab with the thread to tie in. Lay this little triangle under the hook shank and tie it in……like butter.
9. Dub your thorax with the Crawdub and wrap the Hen Back Feather forward. I usually get about 3-4 wraps with the feather and get into the fluffy filoplume a bit right behind the bead. Not a bad thing.
10. Fold the Hen Back back and out of the way, and bring the Peacock Herl over the top to form the wing case. Tie it off tight right behind the bead.
11. Make a few security wraps of thread behind the bead so the Hen Feather doesn’t come loose. Then, finish with your favorite method….mine being my fingers.
Voila- you now have a carp version of the famous Clouser’s Swimming Nymph!
This is the only fly I use on our Andros Island trips…..period. Been the case for many years now. We have also been tying and selling this fly for a dozen or more years and have now heard from bonefishers around the world and I’m convinced it’s one of the best there is for large bonefish.
This “variation” was shown to me about 15 years ago or so by friend Cole McVay while on one of our annual trips to the Andros Island Bonefish Club. His dad is actually credited with the original Gotcha fly so Cole was pretty familiar with the fly to say the least. Over the years I have tweaked it a bit by adding the Arctic Fox wing and also adding the UV resin for a bit of weight and a ton of versatility.
It is a BIG fly. Too big according to some guides in the Bahamas, but they are also most likely not putting their clients on double digit fish like we do regularly. Maybe they should try it?
If you are headed to Andros, or anywhere that big fish are found, make sure this fly is in your box!
1. Start your thread just behind the eye and wrap a thread base to about halfway down the bend. Then wrap your thread forward again to 1/4″ or so behind the eye.
2. Take your section of Mylar Cord and double it over and tie it in where your thread is hanging, a bit behind the eye. Closed end behind the eye and the loose ends extending back off the hook shank, making the tail. Wrap back down the bend then back up to the tie in point. Cole taught me to double this up like this to create a bulkier body and also a fuller tail. Wrapping down the bend a bit creates a curved or “shrimpy” profile.
3. Tie in the I-Balz at the tie in point using the “figure 8” method. I also wrap around the base of the eye as well for added security. Then, Zap-a-Gap it and repeat the process. You don’t want these to rotate! Also be sure that you leave plenty of room for the fox wing, krystal flash and a pretty pink head.
4. Tie in a long strand of the Sparkle Braid right behind the eye and then wrap the thread over it, back to the tail. Wrap the thread forward now and take it in front of the eye. I lay a base of the Sparkle Braid along the body to again create a more bulky body. Nobody likes a skinny shrimp. Now you wrap the body all the way up the hook, figure 8 around the eyes and tie off in front of the eyes.
5. I now take my scissor points and fray out the Mylar Cord of the tail. Make sure to get it all “pulled out”.
6. Now you will coat the body with the UV Resin and cure it. This has greatly increased the durability of these flies and also adds a little weight so that they sink a bit faster. Large bonefish are usually found in 3-4′ of water and most “store bought” bonefish flies are not heavy enough.
If I am tying these production and a bunch at a time, I will whip finish here and set aside. If you are tying 1 fly at a time, go ahead and turn it upside down in the jaws now.
7. Tie in a clump of the Arctic Fox for the wing, just in front of the eye and wrap over the butts, creating the head of the fly. You want this to be pretty healthy and also extend back a bit further than the tail.
8. Add some Krystal Flash for the overwing. I usually tie in about 4 strands and then use the “foldover” method which ultimately gives me 8. You will have to trim the 2nd bunch that you fold over to match the 1st bunch. Watch the video on how we do this.
9. Finish the head! I usually just coat the thread with some Zap-A-Gap and make a few turns in front of the wing letting some soak into the wing and eyes. There is no real need for a knot at this point but do whatever you are comfortable with. I then of course coat the entire head with the UV Resin and cure it.
That’s it! Those who have fished Andros with us know this fly. I hope that you get to know it as well.
The Bucktail Deceiver is a fly that myself and other Mad River Outfitters guides use extensively for Pike, Smallmouth and even Musky here in Ohio. It is basically a variation on Lefty’s original deceiver with a bit of Bob Popovics innovation thrown in there. This fly was shown to me of course by the master, Pat Kelly and this color in particular is one of our favorites. Anyone who has been on a boat with myself or Pat has fished this fly! Although it’s pretty easy, we thought we’d share it here on the YouTube Channel for those interested.
I hope you enjoy tying and fishing these as much as I do. Let your imagination run wild with variations and color schemes and be sure to share with us what you come up with.
Josh McQueen- June 2018
Bucktail Deceiver Recipe: Hook: Partridge Universal Predator – 4/0 Click Here Thread: Flat Waxed Nylon 210 – Fl. Yellow Click Here Tail: Big Fly Fiber- Sunrise Click Here Body: Bucktail- Fl. Yellow and Hot Pink Click Here Flash: Flashabou Mirage Blend- Fl. Yellow Click Here Cement: Brushable Zap-A-Gap or Hard as Hull Click Here
Step 1: Secure hook in to vise and lay foundation of thread from hook eye all the back to the bend of the hook, allowing thread to hang between the barb and the point. Laying a thread base will ensure good traction for the materials that we will secure to the hook shank through out the tying process.
Step 2: Secure first bunch of fl. yellow bucktail to the hook, spreading hair evenly 360 degrees around the hook shank. Try to keep this bundle of hair pretty sparse as we will progressively be adding more bucktail to each bundle as we move of the hook shank. After securing bucktail to the hook shank advance thread about one hook eye width in front of the last tie in point and build a small bump of thread. This will serve as the prop for the next bundle of bucktail. (similar to the methodology used in Bob Popovics Bucktail Deceiver)
Step 3: Tie in the next bundle of bucktail directly in front of the thread bump constructed in the previous step and distribute hair evenly 360 degrees around the hook shank. Once hair is evenly distributed around the hook shank make securing wraps over the bucktail back towards the thread bump causing the hair to flair. (this bundle of hair should be slightly more dense that the amount of hair used in step 2)
Step 4: Repeat the previous step one more time. Remembering to increase the amount of hair slightly as compared to the previous bundle as we are trying to build taper in the fly.
Step 5: Secure the Big Fly Fiber on top of the hook shank with three loose wraps. Then use thumb and forefinger to distribute fibers evenly around the hook shank. After securing Big Fly Fiber build another thread bump/dam in front of tying point to use as a prop for the next bundle of bucktail.
Step 6: Repeat step 3 but in this stage of the fly we will switch over to the hot pink color of bucktail. You will also want to make sure you are continuing to use more hair than in previous steps.
After securing and evenly distributing pink bucktail create another thread bump and repeat this step one more time. Giving you a total of two cones of pink bucktail. If for some reason you have more than one hook eye width left on the shank you may add third cone of pink bucktail. Once complete whip finish and cut thread.
Add super glue or UV Resin to the thread head (eyes are optional) If using a UV Resin you will want to finish with a coat of Hard as Hull or Hard as Nails to give you a nice tack free bomb proof coating. Watch the Video:
Steelheading in the Great Lakes, especially “Steelhead Alley” can provide tough conditions at times throughout the season. The past few falls have provided very low and clear water and that seems to be the new “norm”. Trying to swing modern flies in low flows is a challenge as they are too big, too flashy, or too heavy. I could see steelhead chasing shiners, but the flies that were in my box did not fit the bill. Later while on a small trout stream swinging soft hackles in low clear water the building blocks for this fly began. I wanted a fly that had a little weight, a touch of flash, was the right size, and just the right amount of movement. Combining the productivity of a soft hackle and materials from a Scandi birthed a small swinging fly that can be fishing on a floating line as well as with a sinking tip.
Although originally designed for Steelhead Alley the Sunken Fox has produced equally well for trout and warm water species. The color design here is Emerald Shiner, but black and blue, red and black, tan and white, or silver and white all are must haves in your fly boxes. Give this fly a shot when you find those low and clear conditions on any water you fish.
1. Place your Salmon Iron hook of choice (here TMC 7999) into vise.
2. Using GSP 100 lay down a single layer of thread.
3. Pull off a few inches of Ultra Wire in contrasting colors (here green and silver). Tie in both wires on the top of the hook shank.
4. Wrap both colored wires together side by side progressing up the hook shank.
5. Tie off the wires 3/4 up the shank. Make sure to lightly cover your wire ends with thread carefully. These ends are very sharp thus the reason for the GSP.
6. Dub a large ball of Ice Dub (here Olive Brown) at the end of the wire wraps.
7. Tie in a section of EP Foxy Brush 1.5 (here Olive Brown) and carefully wrap under tight pressure.
8. Continue for three wraps making sure not to trap any material.
9. Tie off the brush and cover the wire core ends with thread.
10. Create a Dubbing Loop right off the end of the Foxy Brush. Place a clump of stacked Arctic Fox in the loop and evenly disperse the fibers.
11. Using a dubbing spinner carefully spin the dubbing loop to make a brush with the fox.
12. Wrap the dubbing loop around the hook shank in the same fashion as the Foxy Brush. Three of so wraps will be good. Tie off the dubbing loop and trim the extra.
13. Select the appropriate sized Coq de Leon Hen Saddle (here in Chartreuse). Holding the feather by the tip and with the concave/underside away from you strip off the left dies of the feather.
14. Tie in the feather by the tip and wrap the stripped side around the shank right against the Arctic Fox wing.
15. Tie off the feather and whip finish the head.
16. Coat your thread and the stem of the wrapped feather in Loon UV Thin resin. Hit the resin with your UV torch and you’re finished.
This fly is not something that I originated, but like many other patterns in the tying world something that we have tweaked or customized. The standard Trophy Nymph has been a top producer for many years. It usually finds a consistent place on my nymph rigs for trout and steelhead. Using a stout hook and a tungsten bead has been the mainstay of this pattern, but it has a few downsides. First the pattern is heavy causing it to snag easily. Secondly I tied this fly on a heavy wire nymph hook that did not open up and free itself. Thinking about how to make this fly fish well and limit snags I was reminded of my childhood. When I was much younger drifting a small jig with a long spinning rod produced many fish and seldom hung up on the bottom. From these memories the Jig Head Trophy nymph was born. Now we have high quality jig hooks and slotted beads that provide us with many options. This fly can be tied in many different sizes, body colors, bead colors, and hook designs. Right now this is exactly how I tie and fish this pattern. The combination of the matte colored bead with the small hot spots of fluorescent colored thread is deadly. I do tie these with gold, orange, pink and silver beads also. You can experiment with different colored fluorescent hot spots also, but orange, chartreuse, and pink are the most productive in my opinion. Also do not overlook using a metallic blue, yellow, orange, or silver wire. The size shown is a 14, but I keep these in various sizes from 10 – 16. Fish this fly under a bobber/float/indicator for a great 90 degree rig or use a high stick or Euro style approach. If warm water species are more of your game then give this fly a shot at a feeding carp or under a popper for a killer panfish setup. Ryan Ratliff- March 2018 Tunghead Trophy Nymph Jig Fly Recipe: Hook: Gamakastu J20-B #10-16- Click Here Bead: Hanak Slotted Tungsten Bead Matte Black (or to match your specific needs)- Click Here Thread: UTC 70 in Fluorescent colors- Click Here Tail: Pheasant Tail Natural (or your color choice)- Click HereClick Here Rib: Ultra Wire- Click Here Thorax: Peacock Ice Dub- Click Here Collar: Hungarian Partridge- Click HereClick Here
1. Attach a 2.5mm-3mm Hanak slotted bead onto a Gamakatsu jig hook by sliding the hook point into the small hole. Place hook in vise as shown.
2. Start your fluorescent thread behind the bead and wrap back and onto the bend of the hook. Advance your thread to the proper tie in point where the shank starts to bend into the gap. Coat the thread on the bend of the hook with Loon Thin UV resin(Optional).
3. Select the desired color pheasant tail and cut off 8-12 fibers. Make sure to use the longer fibers from the tail. Tie in the tips allowing 1 hook shank length for the tail. Notice the thread is past the tail tie in point, thus creating the “hotspot” on the backside. Leave the fiber butts facing the hook eye.
4. Fold the pheasant tail fibers back and place two wraps over them (back to tail tie-in point) to hold them back. Select your desired color wire and tie in at the tail, then advancing your thread to the bead.
5. Wrap the butt ends of the pheasant tail forward to the bead. Tie off the fibers and trim the butts.
6. Using spaced wraps bring the wire forward to the bead. Place two wraps of thread over the wire, add tension to your thread, pull wire tight, and wrap one more tight wrap of thread over the wire. Trim or rotate the wire until it breaks off. Carefully wrap over the wire nub till covered.
7. Dub a small ball of Peacock Ice Dub leaving one hook eye length behind the bead.
8. Select a Hungarian Partridge feather and tie in by the tip.
9. Make three turns or so of the feather keeping each wrap tight to the last. Tie off feather and trim the stem. 10.Build up a thread hot spot behind the bead. Whip finish and trip off your thread. Coat the hot spot and onto the bead with Loon UV Thin resin.
11. Fish low and slow either under a float or with a Euro setup and have fun! Watch the Video!
