Bodkin / Patterns

Alaskabou Unweighted

Streamer · Salmon/Steelhead · Steelhead · Salmon · Advanced · 2 versions

As tied by Martyn White

  • Hook Bartleet salmon iron (SL4), 6
  • Thread black 10/0

Materials

  • Body Flat tinsel, gold holographic (rear body)
  • Prop Sybai SLF dubbing in a dubbing loop
  • Hackle Marabou, black, orange and yellow
  • Flash Sybai Sparkle Hair, about 10 strands

How to tie it

  1. Start the thread and let it hang just in front of the barb.
  2. Tie in gold holographic flat tinsel and wind it forward with tight, slightly overlapping turns for the back end of the body, leaving about a third of the shank free at the front for the marabou section.
  3. Make a long dubbing loop (a couple of inches), fill it with a fairly heavy load of Sybai SLF, spin it tight and brush out any loose fibres with an old toothbrush.
  4. Wind the loop on in one spot to build a rough ball (two or three turns), fold it back and tie over it; this is a prop to stop the marabou collapsing. Brush it out.
  5. Prepare each marabou plume by cutting the stem just beyond where it gets too thick to wind, and strip a small section off the end as a handle.
  6. Expose the tip, tie the marabou in by the tip and fold it back, then double and wind it forward, stroking the fibres back as you go and keeping the marabou back against the dubbing ball; fine-fibred feathers need several turns.
  7. Strip the fibres from the stem where it ties in, tie off with about three wraps, trim, and brush out to free any trapped fibres.
  8. Repeat with the orange marabou feather, winding it one turn in front of the other, and tie off under the hook shank to save space near the eye.
  9. Tie in about 10 strands of Sybai Sparkle Hair at the midpoint, before the front hackle.
  10. Tie in the black marabou front hackle in the same way (removing the tip) and wind it forward.
  11. Sweep everything back, fold the flash back over the top and tie off; taper the flash so the ends are different lengths.
  12. Build a neat head, finish, and apply head cement without getting any into the marabou.

Other versions

1 more in the app: As tied by Piscator Flies (flesh colourway).

Tying videos

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