video - Korn's Spent Wing Spruce Moth

[dr korn]

If your going to fish out West - Don't leave home without them!

As always my video's are a little rough around the edges but, I hope you find it "good enough".



Hook: Dai-Riki #305 14
Thread: Serafil 200 tan or Uni 6/0-8/0
Rib: tag end of thread
Abdomen: DK #14 Spruce Moth dubbing or light tan
Palmered hackle: honey or light ginger rooster, palmered front to back, trapped with tag end thread ribbed to eye, clipped short on top and bottom.
Wing: 2 Salmon Favorelle hen chicken feathers (very light ginger), or buff pheasant feathers, tied in flat one on top of the other, 1 gape length longer than hook, tied behind eye then folded over to form head and whip finished. Varnish the head and 1/3 of the wing.

Special Note: My "Korn's Spent Wing Caddis" is tied the same way as the Spruce Moth see it here:
http://55onthefly.blogspot.com/2010/...n-fly-fly.html

[ScottP]

Doug,

Great video; thanks for posting it.

Regards,
Scott

[dr korn]

Thanks Scott - I've also attached a link to the Korn's Spent Wing Caddis at the bottom of the post... It's tied the same way but with caddis tan or olive dubbing and natural colored hen pheasant wings. Cheers...

[ScottP]

Doug,

Best thing, for me, about the video was how you finished the head - I had tied the wing feathers in first, having them point out over the hook eye, then folded them back over the body to finish. It was a bit awkward, to say the least and I couldn't always get the "bump" for the head to turn out right:







now I know how to do it right.

Regards,
Scott

[NJTroutbum]

Doug, great video and a great fly!

[dr korn]

Doug,

Best thing, for me, about the video was how you finished the head - I had tied the wing feathers in first, having them point out over the hook eye, then folded them back over the body to finish. It was a bit awkward, to say the least and I couldn't always get the "bump" for the head to turn out right:

now I know how to do it right.

Regards,
Scott

Yep, when you tie the wings on you want to have just the right amount of wing material forward of the tie in point (like in the video) over the eye, so that when you fold them back they form a nice head.... Have fun.

[Byron haugh]

Thanks Doug. Great video and great fly. If one doesn't have your dubbing in that color, would a pearly white ice dubbing work?
Thanks again,
Byron

Oh, and I want to ask a question I am a little bit embarrassed to ask, but here goes: Is the Spruce Moth the same as the "iris Caddis"? I think there is a difference between moths and caddis. I think, though, that they are related.

Are the two terms used interchangeably - whether correct or not?

[dr korn]

Byron, pearly white with just a touch of ginger or tan would work...

Caddis flies and Spruce Moths are two different critters. Spruce Moths are terrestrials and are not born/hatched in the creek like caddis flies.

Can an Iris Caddis fly tied with a light tan/ginger body be taken by a trout for a Spruce Moth? Sure... but probably not as consistently as the Spruce Moth pattern.

Like I said in the video, when the fish are keyed in on the Spruce Moths they get real fussy and if you don't have a good imitation you could be doing lots of fishing and very little catching.

[ScottP]

Heaviest emergence I ever saw was a few years ago on a small Yellowstone trib. I had fished the same stream the previous year and had a blast catching a bunch of cutt-bows on a peacock foam-back Convertible. This time I barely got a sniff on the Convertible with all the spruce moths on the water (the few fish I caught looked like they had bellied up to the buffet more than once), and switching to a tan EHC didn't do a whole lot better; not sure if they were being picky or just had too much of a good thing, but I definitely want some of these (and Wally's Widow Spruce Moth) in the box next time.

Regards,
Scott

[dr korn]

but I definitely want some of these (and Wally's Widow Spruce Moth) in the box next time.

Regards,
Scott

Right on brother... even if nothing is going on on top but you have spruce trees lining the creek bank, I drag a spruce moth as a dropper. Once the fish see these bugs they start looking for them and when one falls in they go for it.... if that happens to be your fly... Bingo! I fish them when ever the wind is blowing (almost every afternoon in Yellowstone Country) and I'm near some spruce trees.