The newest installment of Adventures in Fly Tying is up. The video is of the Frank Sawyer Killer Bug and the Pheasant Tail, both tied in the traditional manner using copper wire instead of thread. Take a look at http://www.flyfishohio.com
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Joe C.
nice flies corn, but frank sawyers killer bug doesn’t have a tail, just the yarn over the wire as a body
Yes, you’re right. I say that in the video and note in the written directions, too. The little stub of a tail is my own twist. I’ve found it keeps the yarn from slipping out from under the wire wraps 
Good eye!
Joe C.
pheasant tail nymph as tied by Frank Sawyer
Normand;
Thank you for a great link. What a wonderful resource. I’ll add that link to the article. Thanks again.
Joe C.
Just a question, doesn’t the original Sawyer ptn have some exposed copper in the thorax? In the slides of Sawyer, that is clearly visible till about slide 12, then it looks like it disappears but nothing has been done to the fly to make it disappear in that step. I always thought that was an important property of that fly.
Cornmuse, do you have much luck fishing the killer bug in the Midwest? I believe Sawyer intended it as a fly for European Grayling. Will the fish really eat one that is not tied with Chadwicks 444? 
Well we don’t have a lot of grayling in Ohio… I can tell you that the brownies seem fond of it. I fish this the same way you’d fish a scud pattern and under the same circumstances - the difference is I’m imitating a sowbug so I’m fishing it on the edges of slow pool collections of rotting vegetation instead of the edges of weed beds.
FWIW, its a remarkably good bluegill and longear sunfish fly (they eat a lot of sowbugs on flowing water here) and has hooked more than a couple big carp for me.
I think the fish would rather have the Chadwick’s. In an informal poll I found that I was only tempting fish that had a gross income under $100K per year which, as you know, is 92% of the population but only 3% of the fat population… :roll:
Joe C.
I think you could target the the higher income trout if you tied the killer bug using platinum wire and yarn spun from polar bear underfur. We wouldn’t want to get too carried away with our tying hobby though. 