FLY OF THE MONTH CONTEST
APRIL 2011
MOLE CRAB-SAND FLEA-SAND CRAB
What ever name you call it. This pattern was one of my first flies I tied back in the late 70’s and it still works great so I thought I would pass it on to you to tie up before our surf fish class in May. Make sure you put some weight on it to get down to the ocean floor right next to all them elusive corbina. You can tie it with Estaz, regular chenille or pearl chenille, also with or without the egg sack.
Pattern
Hook – Mustad #34007 #6-#8 or smaller, has a longer shank Gamakatsu #SC15 #6-#8 or smaller, has a shorter shank
Thread – Tan or grey 3/0 or size A (thick thread)
Weight– Lead wire, the thickness of the hook shank
Shell- Natural deer hair (long)
Egg Sack – Orange Estaz, regular chenille, or pearl chenille
Body- Grey regular chenille or root beer Estaz
Legs- Grey or tan saddle hackle feather
Shell Coating- Softex or other flexible coating
HOW TO TIE
- Put hook in vice- put about 9 or 10 turns of lead wire in about the middle of the hook shank. Start your thread in front of the lead and then work thread toward the rear of the lead wire to the rear of the hook shank.
- Tie in your deer hair (about the thickness of a pencil or less depending on the hook size) on the back of the hook shank and this will be the shell. Make sure to remove the fuzz and no need to stack, just tie in the butt ends and keep it on top, don’t spin it.
- Tie in your egg sack and wrap forward 2-3 turns.
- Tie in your hackle feather (the gap width or a longer one and you can clip it to size. I know it’s hard to find a saddle hackle because the ladies are using them in their hair and depleted the rooster feather stock)
- Tie in your body chenille then wrap your thread forward to about one eyelet from the eye. Then wrap your body forward and tie off but be careful not to crowd the head because you still have to tie the shell.
- Palmer the hackle forward and tie off.
- Bring the deer hair forward on top with a little bit down the sides of the fly. Build a small tapered head to cover deer hair ends. Whip finish- clip thread.
- Coat the deer hair shell with softex to give it a soft shell feel to it (they love the soft shell crabs) If you used longer than hook gap saddle for the legs you will need to clip it.
Now go tie up a few dozen in different sizes and colors with and without the egg sack and don’t forget to sign up for the surf fishing class in May.
If you tie this fly then fish it, please give me some feedback on how well it worked for you. Or for any other questions, please contact me.
CARL WUEBBEN >)))))))(‘>
FLY OF THE MONTH CONTEST
MARCH 2011
BEAD HEAD MARABOU WORM
MARTY BARTHOLOMEW
The marabou worm is a simple concept. This fly represents a technique that creates a certain action that trout recognize as a live, edible food source. There are two types of worms that trout feed on. One is the aquatic worm called an annelid; the other would be of the terrestrial type, basically an earth worm that gets washed into the stream. One can be a constant food source while the other is a sporadic food source. The trigger of these worms is the way they tumble in the water to make this happen the fly has to be weighted in a certain way. The head of the fly has to sink and the tail needs to float. The head sinks to the bottom where the current is very slow, while the tail rises up into the faster currents. This causes the fly to summersault as it drifts. It is very important to maintain a very good dead drift to produce this action.
Hook – Nymph 2x long, size #12-#16
Mustad #r72 or TMC # 5262
Thread – 8/0 or 6/0, color to match marabou.
BEAD– Metal bead, gold or black.
TAIL – marabou, orange, tan, gray, brown.red, brown, black.
TAIL FLOAT – 1/8 inch. Diameter foam disc.
Wapsi #pfp1001 white foam cylinders 1/8” and you can use a permanent marker to change the color.
BODY- Marabou, same as tail.
Use a better quality works best. Try plume marabou but good blood marabou will work also.
HOW TO TIE
- Debarb the hook. Put bead head on – Start thread behind bead head then take any dubbing material and put just a wrap or two on the shank behind the bead, Now push the dubbing into the gap you have between the bead and the hook shank or instead build a small dam of thread in front of the hook behind the hook eye- Whip-finish and clip thread. Then put some zap-a-gap on the thread dam and slip the bead foreword onto the dam and glue. Then retie thread behind the bead.
- Lay a thread base on the shank of the hook to just before the hooks bend.
- Now you need to make up the tail. Its best to make up a dozen or so ahead of time in order to make things go faster. Cut a piece of 1/8 inch foam about 1/8 inch wide then use your larger diameter shaft bodkin and poke a hole all the way thru the center then select a marabou feather and strip off the cruddy stuff and leave about ¼ inch of bare shaft to put your float on. Now take your float disc off your bodkin and slip the marabou feather shaft into the disc’s hole and pull it thru about a hooks shank length. Now do 11 more tails before you go further.
- Put some zap-a-gap on the thread base then tie in your marabou tail – The float disc should be just a little bit behind the hook bend.
- Take another marabou feather and strip it like the other and tie in at the back of the body (Just in front of the hooks bend). Wrap marabou and the thread together to make a rope and wrap foreword to the bead
- Tie off – whip finish – put a little head cement on the thread behind the bead.
- Behind the float disc (about one hook shank length) put a drop of zap-a-gap on the marabou and then slip the float disc over it and you’re done.
Simple right?
If you tie this fly then fish it, please give me some feedback on how well it worked for you. Or for any other questions, please contact me.
Now tie up a couple dozen and go fishin!
But save your best one for the March meeting.
CARL WUEBBEN >)))))))(‘>
FLY OF THE MONTH CONTEST
FEBRUARY 2011
KLINKHAMER SPECIAL
HANS VAN KLINKEN
Hans Van Klinken created the klinkhamer and considers it an imitation for both mayflies and caddis flies when tied in various sizes and colors. It’s an imitative fly with no tail like the real thing but the trout don’t seam to care its more of a searching pattern suggesting more than one insect. A proper drift is more important than a tail (which is often no movement at all); the right size and shape play a part also. The klinkhameris designed to rest on its hackle, with its abdomen submerged – the suggestion of an insect in an early stage of emergence wings up and legs free of the split top of a shuck that still contains most of its body. Try a dead-drift presentation with an occasional light twitch. Try tying in sizes 18 to 14.
From skip morris book fly tying made clear and simple #2 advanced techniques.
Hook – Light wire, Humped shank sizes 18 to 8. I used partridge hook size #14 klinkhamer # 15bn.
Thread – Gray or tan 8/0 or 6/0
Wing – White poly yarn (Or use whatever color you see most easily – red, yellow, orange.)
Hackle – Hans prefers light to dark blue dun and chestnut hackles but any color is ok. Try a grizzly.
Abdomen – Tan (Or any imitative color) synthetic dubbing.
Thorax – Peacock herl.
HOW TO TIE
- Debarb the hook. Start thread about one eyelet from the eye of the hook and go back to about halfway down the hooks shank then wind halfway back up the first layer of thread.
- Take a two inch piece of poly yarn and divide it into three (can make three fly’s now) tie in on the top of the hook shank.
- Hold the poly yarn straight up with your right hand and with your left hand put two firm counterclockwise turns of thread around the base of the wing. Now it should remain upright and you should not have to hold the wing again controlling thread – tension makes this possible
- Wind the tread in close light-tension turns up the base of the yarn just far enough to accept five to eight turns of hackle ( still counterclockwise) with your bobbin pointing straight down and then just circle the tip of the bobbins tube around the wing.
- Now wind the thread down the base in moderately tight turns to the shank
- Strip out the fuzz on your hackle but don’t clip the stem. Tie it in with the tip going upward along side of the wing and with your thread going counterclockwise again bind the stem of the hackle against the wing base with firm thread tension then angle the hackle shaft to the rear of the hook and tie in on the shank of the hook – This reinforces the wing post.
- Wrap the thread to the rear of the shank and start dubbing your abdomen starting just a little bit into the bend of the hook. Dub forward till you get about two to three eyelets from wing post.
- Tie in four to six peacock herls for the thorax. Make a rope with the peacock and thread and wrap forward making sure you get around the wing post bottom and end it about one eyelet from the eye of the hook and tie off the herl.
- Clamp the tip of your hackle with your hackle pliers and couunterwrap it five turns but no more than ten. Bring the tip forward and tie off behind the eyelet.
- Build a small tapered thread-head. Whip-finish –clip thread - add a little head cement.
- After head cement is dry you can reset the wing and hackles back in place. Pull the wing upward and clip the yarn the distance equal to the distance from the tip of the hooks eye to the center of its bend. (Don’t need to be perfect). (I found if you measure – eyelet to just a little bit past the wing post worked for me).
If you tie this fly then fish it, please give me some feedback on how well it worked for you. Or for any other questions, please contact me.
CARL WUEBBEN >)))))))(‘>
- You are here:
-
Home
- FOTM