The flowing hair, the grace, flash…striking. Tied here in tuxedo colors; change to suit your whims. Can be tied with stinger hook point up, buried in the zonker strip, or down (as shown). Not much difference in the tying sequence, but it proved easier to photograph the point down configuration so that’s what’s being presented.
hook - Mustad 34011 #2 (cut shank), octopus #1 (stinger)
connector - braided dacron #30lb
thread - UTC 140 black
tail - rabbit strip black
body - cross-cut rabbit strip black
belly - rabbit strip white
flash - Saltwater Flashabou pearl
head - 1/4" cone silver
Part 1
mash barb on stinger hook, start thread
separate hair on rabbit strip, tie in
loop connector thru the eye, tie down (photos from hook up config used here); brush with Super Glue
remove stinger from the vise; mash barb on main hook, slide on cone
One of my very favorite patterns. I think you’ll like how this one works when you get to AK, Scott, but it has also fooled steelhead for me in local waters, so it is not ‘just’ one of the those AK patterns. I like to use PowerPro/Fireline or the like instead of braid for the line, because it is thin enough that I can run it through the eye and back before cinching it down and then coating with cement. There are plenty of tiers who argue the extra step is unnecessary (although the glue step is a must), but I prefer a fly as tough as possible, considering the size of the fish up there. With Fireline, you can also just wrap the line around the eye of the stinger a few times before you pull the loop tight, and skip the step where you bind down the backing. If you can find any of the rabbit strips in “olive variant” be sure to tie of few with that as the back. Beautiful SBS, as always.
I was tempted to drill out the cone so the braid would fit through, but decided I didn’t really want a drill, or brass shavings, on the tying table so I bought a spool.
Allen,
Most secure way to do it would be to use a second vise to hold the trailer but I’d have to switch both to c-clamp bases and with my dinky photo setup, I wouldn’t have had room to do a proper shoot, so the rubber band had to suffice. I do have an older vise (somewhere in the basement) and that’s what I’ll use in production mode.
