Saw this on Hans’ Danica site, tied by Alberto Jimeno; always thought it was a cool looking fly. Haven’t fished one, but it looks like it might work.
hook - Mustad 9671 #8
thread - UTC 140 black
abdomen - Ultra wire medium red
thorax - floss green
wing - mallard dyed wooduck
hackle - grizzly
Part 1
mash barb and start thread at 60% mark
tie in wire on top of hook and wrap back to point right above the barb
wrap wire forward
tie down, helicopter the wire 'till it breaks and wrap smooth
tie in floss
wrap forward, back and forward, trying to keep it smooth; it could definitely be smoother still, but I was tying this one in my basement on top of the washing machine (don’t ask); tie off floss
pull fibers off mallard feather, trying to keep tips even
measure wing for for length (let it extend hook gap distance past the butt)
tie in with dull side facing up (trim the stub out after you’ve hackled)
wet fingers and brush hackle fibers back as you wrap
tie off, finish head wrap, brush with Sally and it’s done
same fly tied with mallard feather wing, like a Stayner Ducktail or Zoo Cougar; also stripped half the fibers off the grizzly hackle for a “lean and hungry look”
I think I will tie that pattern up and take it to the river to see what the fishies think about it…Now I have to move my vise to the washing machine so that I follow the instructions exactly! : )
I tied up 3 and they do not look as good as your tie and I think that was because I used a warm water rinse instead of the cold, but, I took them to one of my 2 rivers here and gave them a try and here is the results:
Found the water temperature at 51 degrees and air temperature around 59 degrees. The water was pretty clear for this time of year.
I had several takes on the fly that turned into LDR, but, did manage to land 5 rainbows. I think the LDR’s were due to the hook size which was a #8. I will tie more up and drop down on the hook size. I feel this is going to be a good pattern and it will catch trout. My pictures are not that good, but, my main goal was to see if the fly would appeal to trout and it does.
As the daylight was getting low, I switched to a black leech and caught another 6 trout. I also caught 5 black perch and one small smallmouth. Overall, it is a great fly pattern and I had a good afternoon on the river
Thanks for the kind words but I can’t take any credit for this fly. This is an old New England pattern I found in Dick Surette’s book “Trout and Salmon Fly Index”. After seeing your results, I’m going to have to bring it out of storage and into the “active rotation”. The red wire helps keep the fly down. I have also seen pattern recipes where the wire is substituted for floss or red yarn.
The book has a little bit of the history of the fly. The pattern was originated in 1971 in the Sebago Lake area. On a trip to Pittsburgh, NH the fly was used on Perry Stream and Indian Stream with great success. One fly took 88 trout in two days of fishing, hence the name.
Thanks for providing the history; that’s pretty cool (if I was going to name any flies that I came up with based on results it would be “Skunk”, but that’s already taken). And thanks for putting the fly out there.
