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Fly of the Month
Step by Step Previous Flies of the month

Scary Spider
Sulphur Emerger
Floor foam bass flies
Easy hares ear nymphs
Copper John
Wiggle Hackle bass-tird
Realistic choroterpes mayfly

Scary Spider
Faced with the prospect of fishing high up the Elandspad after the holidays, a fresh approach was required. Because by now every fish has seen a hundred flies, they would be wary. The initial solution was to tie up some size #28 and #32 flies, as usually as the season goes on, smaller flies and thinner tippets are required. These flies were then pre-tied to 8X tippet.
Then I had another though, GO LARGE. Hell, these fish would either be sacred out of their scales by what I was going to offer, or fight for it. Thus the scary spider was created. Testing it, I found two reactions, one of panic and the other of greed. Either the fish would be spooked and take off at high speed, or they would go for it at high speed and attack it until hooked. A winner!


Above left is a life size pic of the spider, a foam body and rubber legs. Earlier versions with more realistic peacock herl legs were rejected as the legs would get wet and fold back. On the right is one of teh suckers that fell for my trick on the Elandspad.

Dubbing brushes make life very easy for the fly tier.



Using the Hends Dubbing brushes, I was able to do the flies below in about two hours.  Because the brushes have twisted copper wire in them, it's not necessary to use thread, so you slip on a bead, wind the dubbing brush like thread and trim. That simple. Below is a more complicated version than the ones above. For for step by step instructions go here

Sulphur Emerger
Inspired by the Body Quills and by a picture of a lovely sulphur coloured mayfly someone posted online,
I tied up this generic emerger with a CdC wing.


Using a grub Hook ( I used a grip 14723BL #16) tie a white thread base as shown,
building it up to create the body shape. 
While doing this, tie in your Body Quill rib, and tie off and trim the white thread.
Using the Body Quill in a bobbin, catch it on as you would thread, and cover the body with it.

If you want the body to be darker or less translucent, use more layers of Body Quill.
Wind the Body Quill back up to the head and secure with a half hitch.

Wind the Body Quill rib on the opposite direction to the body ones, and secure with the yellow.

On top of the body, tie in two yellow CdC feathers, secure them and follow with a brown cock hackle.
Your sulphur emerger is 'dun'.


Some fun Bass flies
Bass flies while fooling around with some popper bodies I made.



Damsel nymphs with many eyes, from some jewel type things from the craft shop.







Hares ear Nymphs the easy way.
Dubbing brushes make life very easy for the fly tier.
Using the Hends Dubbing brushes, I was able to do the flies below in about two hours.

 
Because the brushes have twisted copper wire in them, it's not necessary to use thread, so you slip on a bead, wind the dubbing brush like thread and trim. That simple.


Start with a scud or nymph hook and a bead


Tie the dubbing brush at the head and tie it on as you would start a thread,
using a small tag end which you trap as you wind backwards


Wind all the way back


Trim off the end and its done
A more complex version


Start with bead and thread as before, but tie in some hare guard hairs as a tail.
Follow that by tying in some copper wire starting at th ehead and keeping to the top or side of the hook to avoid chocking the gape of the hook.


Tie in you dubbing brush at the back and wind your thread forward


Keeping the thread and bobbin over you finger and out of the way as shown,
hold the dubbing brush between two fingers and use the other hand to turn the vice
so you can wind the dubbing brush forward


Once the dubbing brush reaches the head, tie off your thread with a whip knot and trim it off.
Wind the copper wire towards the head in even turns,
in the opposite direction to which you wound the brush on.

 
Trim off the copper wire after making two turns behind the bead.
Make a half hitch with the dubbing brush behind the head to hide the wire.
Trim and you are done.



Copper John
If you had to guess which was the best selling fly in the USA, I am sure you wouldn't guess Copper John, but yes, it is. Locally, it's certainly a popular 'go-to' nymph, for trout in still and flowing water, and of course for yellowfish

 
Using a long shank streamer hook, place the bead and add a few wraps of lead. Make a taper using the thread.

 

Wind on the copper in touching turns, tie off and trim.

 
Tie on at the edge of the copper, in order, on the top. Body stretch (scud back/nymph skin), wide flashabou and peacock herl. Advance the thread.

 

Wrap the herl forward, tie down and trim
.
Onto each side, tie in some grouse, pheasant or cock hackle as shown. I like to use pheasant rump feathers as they have the green irridescent bits.

 
Bring forward, tie down and trim the flashabou then the body stretch.

 
Finish with a blob of liquid fusion or epoxy over the Body stretch.
Available to purchase

 Wiggle hackle Bass-tird
Here is a fly that can be likened to one of those gifts that keep on giving. This one keeps on moving.
Fish as per any other bass fly but give good pauses, so the fly can wiggle of its own accord.
The wiggle hackle is a 'dubbing brush' made of fine rubber legs, so it is easy to tie on and has a LOT of movement.

 
Using a bass hook, I have used a #8 here (you can also tie these smaller for trout), slip on a 4mm brass bead, lay on some thread, and tie in a marabou tail.

 
Add some green flashabou to the tail, then another clump pf marabou in a different shade. Tie in the wiggle hackle and advance you thread to the front.

\
Palmer your wiggle hackle forward, keeping the 'legs' back so you dont trap them. Tie off with two whip knots, trim the wiggle hackle, and glue if you like.
Available to purchase


Realistic Holsloot chorotepes mayfly using extended body tool.
Coroterpes mayflies (big black ones) are quite common on Cape streams where they emerge and lay eggs regularly at all times of the day and season. They don't come off in big hatches, but are quite regular and their presence is usually indicated by fish leaping far out the water. The mayflies fly slowly above the water, dipping down occasionaly to deposit eggs. As they say locally, the fish go 'mal'.

This choroterpes imitation was made using the J:Son extended body tool (the small one in the set), a Sprite Perfect hook, and J:Son realistic wing material and burner. For an emerger version, clip the hackles short underneath and leave the tail flat, and not curved up. For the spinner, use longer hackle with minimal trimming, the version below is meant to cover both. It probably needs a name, so I will go with 'Holco spinner', unless you have something better for me.


You are gong to be pointed to pdf doc on the J:Son website which will show you how to tie this. It is available in a medium or high resolution file.

It is also be worthwhile looking at the videos on their websiteOne more thing, I tied this using a single piece of foam to keep the abdomen slim, instead of the double one you will see in the instructions. It works fine.

Copyright StreamX 2011


Previous Flies of the month are here