Tying a few of these for a friend and as much as I read the recipe he provided for me I just can’t figure out how the underwing and the underwing go together. Here is the recipe:
Hook: Mustad 36890 Thread: Gray Tail: 6 to 8 pheasant tail fibers, short Rib: Oval gold tinsel Body: Eggshell-white yarn Underwing: 2 dark-olive hen feathers, tied flat Wing: 2 tips of bronze-dun marabou feathers, tied on edge so the quilss extend halfway down the shank,lashed to the body by the ribbing, Matuka style Collar: Red-dyed deer hair Head: Bronze dun-dyed natural grey deer body hair
I’m confused by the Matuka style with both a wing and an underwing, isn’t this going to become a mess? Also, for the head, I have all kinds of deer body hair, dyed and natural, but that color, I have no clue what LaFontaine meant.
Does anyone have a picture of this fly thay I could use as a sample. Or has anybody tied this fly and can shed some light on the wing?
I Googled the pattern name and it looks like Al & Gretchen Beatty have collaborated with the Stimpsons on a DVD project of Gary’s flies (7 volumes), including the Hair Sucker. Here is the description of Volume IV contents.
LaFontaine Originals – Volume IV
by Paul & Char Stimpson and Al & Gretchen Beatty
with Heather LaFontaine-Ellison
? Antron Serendipity ? EZ2C Mayfly ? Dancing Caddis
? Drunken Sailor ? Enchanted Royal Double Wing ? Flame Thrower
? Fluttering Stone ? Hair Sucker ? Missouri River Sow Bug
? Rollover Scud ? Variegated Midge Larva
93 minutes (#V150) Video (#D3150) DVD
Price – $19.95 each
I was not able to find any online images for this fly, but someone here may have it in one of Gary’s books. It’s not on the FAOL search engine, so I would say your best bet is to contact Al at http://www.btsflyfishing.com/
Here’s the recipe from Gary’s book “Trout Flys… Proven Patterns”. It’s a bit different than yours, which may be causing the confusion.
Hook: 8-2/0 (up-eyed Atlantic salmonhook, TMC7999)
Weight: lead wire
Tail: six to eight fibers of a pheasant tail feather
Rib: oval gold tinsil
Body: eggshell-white yarn
Underwing: Two dark olive hen feathers ( tied flat on top of the shank, tips to the bend of the hook, eventually lashed Matuka-fashtion to the hook).
Overwing: a whole gray marabou fesather (tied flat on top of the shank, tips only halfway down the hook)
Head: two bands of deer hair- red and dark gray ( the deer hair tips overlap in a prismatic collar)
The colors of the marabou fibers are changed to match the species.
Big difference.
In the tying steps, illustrations and photo, there is no mention of lashing down any part of the wing matuka style, although I’m sure it could be done with the ribbing
I’ve tied this fly before and it’s pretty straight foward, unlike some of Gary’s other flies.
Tail, (fat)body, two layer wing, spun head.
Sounds like the recipe I have was causing the issue.
Reading your recipe and description, it sounds like only the underwing (which is tied flat) is tied-in Matuka style while the overwing just rests on top of it and is much shorter. Am I right?
That’s what it says in the recipe.
In the written tying steps there is no mention of the underwing being tyed down matuka style at all.
The same for the tying illustrations.
In the color photo, it looks like only the last one or two wraps of the rib may go over the underwing, it’s not clear.
Also in the photo the under wing goes to the rear of the body, while the overwing goes to the tip of the tail
Clear as mud
I tied mine with the wing free, short over wing
Quote from [i]Challenge of the Trout /i, “Underwing: 2 dark olive hen feathers; tied flat on top of the shank to extend beyond the bend of hook. Topwing: tip-feather of bronxze dun marabou; tied on the edge – a short quill extending half-way down the shank – (The quills of both these wings are lashed to the shank with the gold tinsel --spiked Matuka fashion)”
When we scripted the videos with Gary there were several flies he wanted us to be certain to correct mistakes in their respective books. Two that I remember off the top of my head were the Hair Sucker and the Gray Coughlin. The Hair Sucker did not have Matuka style wings as indicated in the book and the Gary Coughlin had divided up wings rather than the divided Trude wings described in the book. The two underwings on the Hair Sucker are tied flat and slightly tilted up. The marabou overwing is on top and slightly shorter. Take care & …
But, if I had to choose, I’d go with the “Hair Sucker” pictured above!! La Fontaine’s can give you a headache trying to get it to look right. There you go then — better buy the video. Told you there were lots of “experts” on this board.
From all the info I collected on this board there are three ways to tie this two part wing:
From Challenge of the Trout: both the wing AND the underwing are tied down Matuka-style
From Trout Flies: only the underwing is tied Matuka style.
From the Lafontaine Originals video: neither the wing nor the underwing is tied down Matuka style.
I want to thank BadBug, dudley, and Al Beatty for all the info they gave me. And one reminder, the underwing is two dark-olive hen feathers, tied flat. The wing is a dun marabou feather, tied short.
Being that the pattern on Challenge of the Trout is the oldest of the three, I went ahead and tied that one. Here it is:
Here is a top view:
After tying this fly, I would say that tying down the wing Matuka style is probably not necessary and really just added an extra step (and complications) to an otherwise beautiful pattern.
