Playing with Boa Yarn Leech colors

After fishing last night, I got home and decided to tie up some more different colors. Plus some old standby’s. Rather than reorganize my fly boxes, I think I will take the lazy route and just start a new one. :smiley:

Clearly I still need better lighting at my tying desk. The colors of these flies seems a bit washed-out…

I’ll describe the colors, since they are hard to differentiate here. Starting from the 6 o’clock position and proceeding clockwise…
-Black head with “sour apple” tail. Sour Apple is sort of like a slightly faded lime/chartreuse
-Yellow. King of the boa yarn leech colors, especially for night fishing.
-I combined Yellow and Sour Apple, to see what that would look like. Its also extra-full, so this should be great at night.
-Solid Sour Apple with some pearl mylar tail. Just got this Sour Apple color recently, so haven’t fished it yet. Looking forward to it. Its close to chartreuse.
-I tipped the tail with Sour Apple, and then wound the rest with the green from the Mallard boa yarn color that Bernat manufactured.
-Sage. Another new-to-me color.
-Brown. This particular brand/skein is longer than most boa yarn. Should flow nicely. Looking forward to trying this too.
-Two-tone Orange. The orange has worked well for me in certain waters for bluegills. This is from the Bernat “Tweety Bird” boa yarn.
-In the center…White tail, pink head. Hey, pink& white twister-tail jigs or tube jigs were great crappie lures for me with spinning gear, so this should work too. The pink also came from the Tweety Bird boa yarn.

Dave: Here is a pattern that has worked for me.

Tim

Is that a blue marabou tail? What size hook and what have you been catching with it? Black/Blue color combo seems to be very popular with bass anglers especially.

Your black boa yarn looks like it has longer strands than mine. (uh-oh…boa envy??) LOL

Marabou tail. Hook is an Eagle Claw 214-2, size 2.

Tim

Nice! I guess I should point out all mine are tied on a #8 3xl streamer hook, with the exception of the top center one, which was tied on a #6 (its for those big ol’ grass carp).

I made a couple of those boa leech flies. My yarn was not nearly as full as your’s looks. Your flies look much better than my attempt at them. I will try them again in the future.

Dave: Here is some I tied, again on the size 2 Eagle Claw hook. They have a chenille body covered with loose wrapped boa. I have not tried them yet but they look fishy.

Tim

Yeah, those do look good!

Hi Dave,

Those look good. By the way, where did you find the “Sour Apple?” I have looked for chartreuse without success. Is the brand name of “Sour Apple,” is it “Yarn Bee”, or “Bernant?”

Thanks and regards,

Gandolf

You have enteredthe dark side,Grasshoppper.
Great fun to play wit the colors isn’t it?

Rick

Good lookin leach flies… Arta git ya some catches…

I hooked 5, landed one yesterday with #6 (i think) white boa yarn with purple feather tail and orange bead that Panman gave me last fall. Thanks Tim.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

M. Moose - Your welcome. I am a firm believer that the Czech glass bead is real plus when fishing boa yarn streamers. Also we all owe Rick Z a thanks for getting use started with boa - Thanks Rick.

Panman

I like the bead too and when you asked me to do a test drive on the boas, i had no idea what would follow. So far to date i’ve hooked what must have been a coho (never saw it), small steelhead, smb, lmb, cuttbow and cutts. Mostly on white bodied boas with or without a tail and i can say that once i tye some on some heavier hooks, i’ll be able to stay hooked to the larger stuff, namely the coho and bigger steel when that happens, plus the 5-6 lb lmb and the largest smallies i can find. Yes, thank you Rick Z, the boa yarn leeches are quite the ticket for everything i fish for around the Umpquas and the lake. I think the boa will travel well also.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

Found the Sour Apple on e-bay. It is Mei Mei brand boa yarn. Not sure how anybody knows the color name, cuz it really doesn’t say on the label, as far as I can see. I also ordered some “Key Lime” color…but it might turn out to be the same as the sour apple. I won’t know for sure until it arrives.

I tried a brown boa yarn leech last night after dark. Landed 16 NICE bluegills up to 9"!

Hi Dave,

When the “Key Lime” comes in, please let us know if it is the same as the “sour apple”, and whether it is a true chartreuse or not.

Thanks and regards,

Gandolf

“Key Lime” has arrived. It is THE SAME as the “Sour Apple”. It isn’t a true chartreuse.
On the wrapper, Mei Mei doesn’t give a color name for their boa yarns (although they do on their website), so I guess some people just take a guess at the color name.

Since my last post above (where I caught bluegills on brown boa yarn), I’ve also caught fish on black and on purple boa yarn leeches. I’ve tied a “sage” color, but haven’t put it in front of any fish yet.