Alway equate this fly to big ol' brown trout, although I've never caught one on this fly (a function of my incompetence); in yellow, this has been a killer crappie fly. A few mods here due to lack of materials (2800 miles from home and not a decent shop within 100 miles so I had to make due); had to sub dark pink ostrich for the red marabou tail and twisted KF for mylar braid body. Change colors to suit your needs. hook - Mustad 79580 #6 thread - UTC 140 tan tail - ostrich dark pink body - Krystal Flash rope silver wing - deer hair tips topping - peacock herl head - deer hair clipped cone - black nickel Mash barb and slide cone on hook add a few wraps of lead-free wire and slide into cone, jamming it against hook eye; start thread at 60% mark tie in tailing fibers tie in body material twist KF strands together to create rope wrap forward to 60% mark and tie off tie in 2 marabou feathers, let tips extend to tail trim butts and tie in some peacock herl; trim butts clean, stack and measure (to hook bend) a clump of deer hair, hold clump on top, 2 soft loops and pull tight; don't let it spin, the hair should just flair repeat procedure on underside wrap tips with some non-tox wire pack the butt ends, clean another clump of deer hair and trim off tips spin hair,tie off, SHHAN start initial trim with razor blade shape head unwind lead free and complete shaping trim out bottom hair fibers and you're done Regards, Scott
Alternate body - Ultra Wire wrapped front to back and ribbed with return wraps; provides a little more weight Regards, Scott
Hi Scott, I really like your technique for tying down the tips that will form the collar. That would make the trimming easier. Steve
