Matuka for Summertime Bug Swap III

Hi folks. It's 113 degrees outside my house. I'm working on a batch of flies for Deserttrout's Cross Forum Swap. It's the "Summertime Bug Swap III." 36 people are tying. Here's the fly:

Materials:
Hook: Mustad R74-9672 2XH/4XL size 8
Body: Olive medium chenille.
Throat: Red medium chenille
Thread: Flat red waxed, or black or olive. I'm using Danville 210 denier.
Rib: SM Gold wire.
Wing: 4 Olive dyed barred neck hackle, 2 red dyed barred neck hackle.
Collar: Olive dyed neck hackle.

Start the thread about a 1/4" from eye. Spin it to the bend and ty in the ribbing. I bend about 1/8" of the wire and wrap the thread back over it to secure it from pulling out.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...0090711_03.jpg
Tie in olive chenille and move thread back to starting point. Take about 8 wraps with the chenille and secure it, snip it off and tie in the red chenille.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...0090711_04.jpg

Make 2 or 3 wraps with the red and tie it off. Leave about 1/8 to 3/16 inch behind the eye to tie in the collar.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...0090711_05.jpg
Match 2 red feathers, trim the bottoms with sissors leaving about 1/2" to 1 " full on the end. Tie in at the head.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...0090718_06.jpg
Match 2 pairs of olive feathers and trim them like the red. Tie them on the back side and then the front side.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...0090718_07.jpg
Use hackle pliers on end of wire. Seperate the back of the wing and pull rib around opposite of the direction of the chenille. Pull tight with each wrap and seperate back each time. Tie off wire at head.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...0090718_08.jpg
Tie in collar feather and make about 4 wraps. Tie off, whip finish and head cement.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...0612_01_01.jpg
These flies take a little time to make. I tied up all the bodies first and am now adding the wings and collars. At 2 or 3 a day, I should have them ready by the middle of August.
I like to fish these in the Sierra lakes from my pontoon. I use a sinking tip line and strip at about a foot at a time let it drop and strip another foot. Pretty productive fly in the summer. Jim

Jim
That is a super Step by step and a beautiful fly. Message to all participants out soon.
Jim the deserttrout

Hi,

Nice post. I tie a lot of patterns with this basic construction, just substituting differnet colours and feathers. I tend to tie them smaller (size 10 2x long hooks) and they have been deadly for some good sized trout in New Zealand. This is a good general streamer pattern construction to have in your bag of tricks. I like the colours you've used in this one. Nice fly.

- Jeff

Hi Jeff, Thanks for the comments. I do ty this pattern on a smaller hook and use different colors. For mid to late summer I like the larger pattern to imitate fingerlings in our mountain lakes. I generally use a 12 or 10 2X hook and lighter colors in the spring. Jim, Thanks for the comment. I am going on a 5 day trip to the Sierra's starting this weekend. I will finish these up and get them in the mail probably the 2nd week of August if not a little sooner. Jim

Hi Jim,

The NZ patterns tend to include a small tail of hackle fibers as well (sits under the wing feathers), which is almost universally a red tail. Anyway, some of the more popular NZ patterns would be:
1) Parson's glory; red tail, yellow body, silver rib, wing and hackle, honey grizzle
2) Jack's Sprat: red tail, silver body, silver rib, wing and hackle, badger
3) grey ghost: red tail, silver body, silver rib, wing and hackle, light grey dun
4) xxx Dorathy's: red tail, silver/yellow/red body, silver or gold rib, wing and hackle grizzle (substitute xxx for the colour of the body you use, i.e. yellow dorathy, silver dorathy, etc; my favorite is a copper Dorathy with a light blue tail)

Parson's Glory is often tied quite large, and can be a popular harling or trolling fly as well.

Anyway, just in case you were looking for some more patterns to try out!

- Jeff

Not trying to be rude but try that button on the camera that says "Macro".