HBFFA Fly Tying Archives
Comparadun Mayfly
Hook: 900BL, sizes 12-16
Thread:Brown
Tail: Blue dun hackle fibers, split
Wing: Mottled gray deer hair tied upright and flared
Body: Tan Superfine
Uses: Comparaduns are useful, durable patterns that imitate the dun stage of mayflies. Use them during a hatch when duns are on the water and are being taken by trout.
Variations: Other mayflies can be imitated by using hook sizes and body colors that match the natural insect.
How to Fish: Dress the fly with floatant and use standard dry fly presentations.
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Hook: 3761, sizes 12-18
Thread:To match pheasant tail
Tail: Pheasant tail fibers to match abdomen
Rib: Copper wire
Abdomen: Pheasant tail fibers, olive or brown. Wrap forward. For a Flashback Pheasant Tail (shown here), run a strip of Flashabou down the back and over the thorax.
Wingcase: Pheasant tail to match abdomen
Thorax: Peacock herl
Head: Copper wire
Uses: Over 600 species of mayflies dwell in North America, and most of them are small and brown when they are nymphs. Thus the small, brown Pheasant Tail Nymph suggests a wide range of living creatures that trout are fond of munching. In rivers, it resembles pale morning duns, blue-winged olives, March browns, and a host of others. In lakes, it’s a darn good representation of a Callibaetis nymph.
Originally tied by Frank Sawyer, the Pheasant Tail Nymph is one of the oldest of modern nymphs. A few good wrinkles have been added over the years, such as the peacock thorax, optional beadhead, etc., but when you peel them away, it’s still Sawyer’s elegantly simple, generically suggestive, devastatingly effective nymph.
Variations: The Flashback Pheasant Tail shown here has Flashabou down the back of the abdomen and thorax. This imitates the shiny back that develops on many nymphs as they are about to hatch. On lakes, a Flashback Pheasant Tail often outfishes it’s non-Flashabou-ed antecedent by three-to-one during a Callibaetis hatch. Weighting or a bead head are optional.
How to Fish: In rivers, the fly can be presented near the surface, but it is usually most productive when fished near the bottom on a dead drift with the indicator or tight line presentations. To achieve the right depth, you may need to put weight on the leader or use the Pheasant Tail on a dropper with a heavy fly such as a Kaufmanns Stone on the point. While the fly works well as a searching nymph, it can also be productive during a hatch (more trout than you might suspect are taking nymphs off the bottom rather than duns off the top).
On lakes, this is a very effective fly in the middle of the day during Callibaetis season. Use an intermeditate line and retrieve the fly very slowly near the surface. Pay particular attention to shallow areas near weed beds. The Flashback Pheasant Tail is especially useful before, during, and immediately after a Callibaetis hatch.
GDF Wooly Bugger
Hook: 3X long size 6 – 10
Thread: 6/0 or 8/0, Olive green or black
Tail: Insect green or light olive marabou with 2 to 4 strands of Krystal flash or flashabou color to suit
Body: Insect green olive green – Super Brite dubbing or similar. Can mix a little gold in and also some sparkle dubbing additive. Can use similar color of chenille.
Rib: Fine gold wire
Hackle: Brown saddle
Head: Metal (brass) bead 1/8 chartreuse
Crazy Charlie
Hook: Saltwater, 1-8
Thread: 6/0, to match wing color
Tail: OPTIONAL-Crystal Flash or Flash A Bou
Underbody: Mylar Tinsel
Body: Mono or v-rib
Wing: Calf tail, marabou or hackle tips
Eyes: Bead chain or bar bell
This fly can be tied in numerous colors and variations. The basic colors are white wing with a silver underbody, brown wing with a gold under body, pink wing with a pearl under body, tan wing with a pearl under body. A variation of these is to wrap the hook shank with thread prior to wrapping the pearl tinsel for the under body. Another variation is to add a tail of crystal flash. Generally the color of the flash matches either the under body or wing color. Hackle tips, marabou, or synthetic hair may be used for the wing as well.
Intruder
Hook: Mustad 79580, 36890 #2 or #4 (Used as a foundation only as the bend and point are cut off)
Trailing Hook: #1 Up Eye Octopus Hook
Thread: Gudebrod 8/0 or 6/0 Black
Loop: Fireline (60lb, 50lb or 30lb)
Tail: Chartreuse Polar Bear Hair
Rear Hackle:Â Chartreuse Polar Bear Under Fur Followed By a Large Webby Pheasant Rump Feather Dyed Black
Body: Peacock Green Mylar
Body Hackle: Black Neck Hackle
Rib: Fine Gold Wire
Front Hackle: Chartreuse Polar Bear Under Fur Followed By a Large Webby Pheasant Rump Feather Dyed Black
Wing: Black Ostrich
Collar: Chartreuse Guinea Fowl
Eyes: Dumbbell Eyes
Purple General Practitioner
Hook: Up eye salmon hook (I like the TMC 7999 and Alec Jackson Heavy Spey) Size 2 or a larger.
Thread: purple 6/0 or 8/0
Tail: purple polar bear or bucktail with a few strands of purple krystal flash mixed in
Rib: silver french oval tinsel medium
Body: purple dubbing – rabbit, seal, slf, or wool
Hackle: purple saddle or schlappen
Wings: Golden Pheasant body feathers dyed purple (or hen hackle feathers)
Collar (optional): purple dyed Guinea Fowl.
Bionic Leech
Thread: Black 6/0
Hook: Partridge Salar Size 9 Gold. (This hook is very hard to find and has a cost of about $1.10 each. The Tiemco 200 R in size 6 is the same type of hook but is not gold. Tiemco hooks size 6 to 10 are what I use.
Tail: Red Krystal Flash.
Underbody: Red Holographic Tinsel. Can also use Red Holographic Flashabou.
Body: Black V (vinyl) rib or stretch tubing.
Wing: Black Rabbit Zonker strip.
Collar: Black Rabbit fur. (Dubbing loop).
Head: 1/8″ chartreuse hot bead.
Pheasant Tail Leech
Hook: Mustad R 74 Size 8. – (3XL Hook Mustad 9672 or Tiemco 5263. Size 8.)
Thread: 6/0 black
Tail: Black Pheasant Tail
Body: Gudebrod Round Metallic Braid – Peacock or just plain peacock herl.
Topping: Black Pheasant tail with black pearl Krystal Flash.
Dave’s White Eye
Hook: TMC 9394 – Size 6 or 8
Thread: Black Monocord
Rib: None
Body: None
Wing: Peacock Sword over white polar bear hair
Eye: Holographic – epoxy in place.