At the request of Steve Knapp and Thomas Williams here is a swinging steelhead fly developed by Ken Morrish of Ashland, OR. Recipe: Hooks: Daiichi 2441 #4 and Daiichi 2557 #2 Thread: Black 6/0 Tail: Royal Blue Krystal Flash and Black Rabbit Strip Body: Blue Marabou, Black Ostrich Herl, Grizzly Hackle, Hen Feather Head: Black Rabbit Strip Eyes: White Dumbell Start off by tying a thread base and then topping the shank with the Fireline stinger. Tie to about a hook eye distance from the end of the hook. Thread the Fireline thru the hook eye and pull back down the side of the hook and tie off. Add some superglue to the thread wraps to secure the stinger. Tie in your Krystal Flash just past halfway on the hook. Trim the length to about the bend of the stinger hook. Add a piece of rabbit strip that extends just past the stinger hook. Palmer in 3 or 4 wraps of marabou. Add 3 or 4 black ostrich herls to each side. Add grizzly hackle to each side. Be sure it is size proportionately to the fly and wider than normal. Tie in a hen feather to each side. Tie in some dumbell eyes. I usually tie 8 wraps left to right, 8 wraps right to left, and 8 helicopter wraps. Repeat this sequence twice and then superglue the top and bottom of the dumbell. Make a dubbing loop and add a piece of rabbit strip to it. Pull tightly on the loop and cut off the hide. Try to even out the butts and evenly space the hair. Start spinning the hair. Once you get it start spinning, lightly pick out the hair. As you make the loop tighter, continue to pick out hair being progressively more aggressive. Wrap the completed dubbing loop 3 or 4 times behind the head, criss-cross over the eyes, and a couple wraps in front of the eyes. Clean up the head and whip finish. Clip off the front hook. Job Done. Enjoy!
Wow!!! You never cease to amaze me. I am going to tie about 10 of those bad boys in various colors! Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2
nice tie, I think the ones I've seen before have the cheek feather facing the other way (inside out not backwards), I wonder if it helps it swim better or look fuller in the water
It is a bit finiky especially when you don't have sharp scissors. Couple things that can remedy this are to either spin the hair in a dubbing block or use the Marc Petitjean tools. If you spin it in the dubbing loop you may find that a bit of wax helps hold it in place.
Having never seen one in hand, it is possible that it is tied flared outwards. Definately something one could experiment with to see how it effects the movement. Thanks for the comment.
Ive got a pink one and its flipped out. However the other side is all chewed up and the thing is magical in the water. It serves very little purpose IMO.
