FLYS- New Ways with Synthetic Materials
Lefty’s Deceiver (white and green)
Thread: - clear-mono sewing thread
Hook:- Mustad #3407 size 1 to 3/0
Tail: - 2 pairs of white Chinese neck hackles
Body: - silver, pearl or holographic tinsel wrapped and covered with 5 minute epoxy or 2
coats of Hard as Nails nail polish.
Throat: - white buck tail or synthetic hair
Gills: - red Crystal Flash or red Flashabou
Lateral line: - 3 or 4 strands of pearl Flashabou on each side
Wing: - white buck tail or synthetic hair
Over wing: - green buck tail or synthetic hair over the white with several strands of Peacock herl on top of the green
Eyes: - small peel and stick eye each side with a coating of 5-minute epoxy covering both eyes and head.
Tying instructions
Tie in the tail with the concave sides of each pair of hackle together. The tail should be about one and a half hook shank lengths long.
Cover the body part with wraps of mylar tinsel, what ever you have silver works well with the white and green pattern or gold with yellow and green. Coat the body with 5-minute epoxy for maximum durability and let dry. Sally Hansen’s Hard as Nails works as a quicker substitute but is not as long lasting.
Tie in the throat hair keeping the tips just past the hook bend. Keep this bunch of hair and all subsequent bunches sparse, it is easy when stacking 3 or 4 bunches of buck tail or synthetic hair to end up with much on the hook spoiling the whole look and action of the fly. It’s better to have too little hair than too much.
Tie in a bunch of red Crystal Flash or Flashabou to represent the gills. Trim it short at this point while you still have it in your hand.
The lateral line should extend to the tips of the tail and some tiers, Lefty included, tie some of their Deceivers with the Flashabou past the tail for extra attraction.
The wing consists of white buck tail or synthetic hair with green over top with the peacock hurl last and on the very top. The overall wing should be a little shorter than the tail.
Form a neat but broad head of thread for the eyes to seat on. Stick on your eyes, carefully coat with epoxy and your fly is finished.
Colours can vary from all black (good for night fishing) to white and blue which is a favorite on Cape Cod for dusk and dawn fishing to yellow and green; a good perch pattern for bass, pike and musky. If you use the synthetic hair, it can be coloured with permanent markers and green stripes can be added to the yellow and green version for further realism. Small Deceivers can be tied as bait fish patterns for trout and the colours are only limited by your imagination. Tie these on freshwater streamer hooks in appropriate sizes.
Black Yak Gurgler
Thread: - black 6/0
Hook: - Mustad #3407 size 2 – 2/0 and Mustad bass stinger hooks sizes 4 to 8
Tail: - bunch of black ostrich hurl with a few strands of pearl Crystal Flash, topped with
a sparse bunch of black synthetic hair or black yak hair.
Body and shell back:- black closed cell foam and long black saddle hackle
Tying instructions
Tie in the ostrich hurl first keeping it as long as you can. Tie in by the doubling method several strands of Crystal Flash and top it off with the synthetic hair or yak hair tied in the same way. The tail length can be tied to represent whatever species you are imitating; shorter for baitfish longer for eels. As an aside, this pattern could be tied with a stinger hook. Basically two flies tied end on end to achieve a really long fly to imitate larger eels or snakes.
With the thread behind the head tie in a strip of black closed cell foam. This is the sheet foam available at craft stores and the width should be proportionate with the hook size. A coating of instant glue on the shank before tying in the foam will keep it in place and stop it from rolling around the hook. Bind the foam to the shank in open turns to the hook bend. Just above the hook Bend, tie in a long black saddle hackle by its tip. Palmer the hackle up the shank in even open turns and finish off behind the hook eye with several close turns of the long webby fibres at the base of the feather. Trim off the hackle butt, stroke all the fibres down with a moistened finger and thumb and pull the foam over the back. Bind down the foam just behind the hook eye with gentle wraps of thread at first. It is easy to cut through the foam at this point if too much pressure is put on the foam at the beginning of the tie down process. Finish the fly off with several thread wraps under the foam and whip finish. Trim the foam lip to about ¼ inch, apply head cement to the wraps and you are finished.
The Black Yak Gurgler can also be tied small on a bass stinger hook and is a dynamite pattern for fishing small mouth bass at dusk.
Materials
Thread: - mono or white 6/0
Hook:- Mustad #3407 size 2 – 1/0
Tail: - white craft fur
Throat: - white craft fur
Wing: - white craft fur with a darker colour over top and this is topped with several
Strands of peacock hurl.
Eyes: - stick on coated with 5 minute epoxy or Dave’s Flexament
Tying instructions
This pattern is tied similar to the Deceiver only using bunches of craft fur instead
of the buck tail or synthetic hair.
A small wire dog brush is very handy when tying with craft fur as it is used to fluff up the hair before cutting it off the backing and is also used to brush out all of the under fluff or fur before tying it on the hook. Craft fur is very similar to real fur on the hide as it contains longer “guard” type hair and shorter under fur. Using only the longer fibres in the fly keeps the pattern sparse and more natural looking. Less hair on the hook is a lot better than too much.
The head is formed as before with stick on eyes and 5-minute epoxy.
Like the Deceiver, the Craft Fur Minnow can be tied in sizes and colours to match whatever species you are fishing for.
Last Updated: