Another New Fly

All about flies Fly Tying
1

I was knitting me an Orange and Green Watch Cap for deer hunting, and I had some leftover blaze orange yarn. I wanted to tie a fly with some of it, so I looked up various orange-colored insectavora online and found just what I wanted. The bug is called the Oleander Caterpillar (Syntomeida epilais). Here is what they look like:

Here is what I came up with for a pattern:

Oleander Caterpillar

Hook: Cabelas Model 40 sz. 6
Thread: Black 6/0 Unithread
Body: Orange (Pumpkin) Sport Weight Acrylic Yarn
Hackle: Black Renegade Craft Fur in a dubbing loop
Head finished with Black Sally Hansens Hard-As-Nails.

I just got back from trying it out (even though it is ice-box cold here right now) on the Ocoee River. It caught 2 SM Bass in less than 30 minutes (the fishing is off a bit due to the weather). Both fish were near 2 pounds each. I think it will work.

If anyone’s interested, here is the cap I knitted. In TN, during Deer Season, you have to have Orange on to be out in the woods, hunting or not. So I knitted a camo-orange cap with my green Knifty Knitter loom.

2

Nice immitation. In Nova Scotia you have to wear blaze orange when out hunting. It’s recommended to wear it if you’re out in the woods during hunting season and not hunting, but not manditory. Well, I should say, it wasn’t when I lived here up to twelve years ago now.

  • Jeff
3

Well done! Pretty sweet hat, too. It’s always a good idea to make yourself visible in the woods when it’s hunting season. There’s too many idiots that blaze away at everything that moves to NOT wear some orange!

4

The hat…I can see the bass in a frenzy:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: