Streamer · Stillwater · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version
Fischer's Flies
Hook Ahrex FW555 Czech jig hook, 12
Thread Olive 140 denier
Materials
Bead Black/tungsten bead (4.6mm tungsten bead)
Balance pin Steel balance pin (#18 x 3/4 inch wire nail, or Hareline balanced leech pin)
Glue Clear head cement (Zap-a-Gap medium)
Dubbing Bronze peacock dubbing (John Rohmer's Arizona Simi Seal)
Resin Clear uv resin (Solarez Bone Dry)
How to tie it
Start the olive 140 denier on the Czech jig hook and lay a solid thread base from behind the eye back to the bend. The pin has to be lashed to something with grip. Bare hook shank lets it rotate on the first fish.
Lay the wire nail (or purpose-made leech pin) along the top of the shank with the point sticking out past the hook eye, and lock it down with tight thread wraps over roughly the front half of the shank. Before you finish, wick a drop of Zap-a-Gap into the wraps: the pin carries the whole weight of the fly and a loose pin means the fly hangs crooked forever.
Slide the 4.6mm tungsten bead onto the protruding pin and push it back snug against the hook eye, then secure it with another drop of Zap-a-Gap. Test the balance by resting the assembly across your fingernail at about the hook point. It should sit level, and this is the moment to slide the bead in or out, not after the fly is dressed.
Wax the thread and either touch-dub or spin the bronze peacock Simi Seal into a loose dubbing loop, starting at the bend. Simi Seal is long-fibred and wants to be applied sparse and shaggy. Packing it on tight kills the breathing action that makes the fly work.
Wind the dubbing forward to just behind the bead in open, brushed-back turns, stroking the fibres rearward with each wrap so nothing gets trapped under the next turn. Build the profile slightly fatter at the front to suggest a leech's head end.
Whip finish behind the bead, then brush the body out with velcro or a dubbing brush to free the trapped guard fibres. A scruffy Simi Seal leech pulses in still water, a neat one just hangs there.
Put a small drop of Solarez Bone Dry on the thread wraps behind the bead and cure it, leaving the dubbing itself untouched.