Bodkin / Patterns

Cataloochee Copperhead

Nymph · Trout · Advanced · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook Standard length dry fly hook, #12-16 (tied here on a #12)
  • Thread Black 70 denier or finer

Materials

  • Hackle tips Light ginger dry fly hackle (One matched pair for the wings)
  • Rooster hackle fibers Ginger hackle fibers (About 15 stiff fibers for the tail)
  • Stripped hackle quill Natural hackle (One stem for the body)
  • Dry fly hackle Ginger or light brown hackle (One feather sized to the hook)
  • UV resin Clear uv resin (One drop over the quill body)

How to tie it

  1. Mount a #12 barbless dry fly hook and lay a black thread base over the front third, leaving the thread at the wing position about one-third back from the eye.
  2. Strip the bare stems of a matched pair of light ginger hackle tips, tie them in there with two or three wraps and snip the excess.
  3. Stand the wings up perpendicular, a touch longer than the hackle will be, and separate them with a couple of figure-eight wraps, working carefully so you don't split the tips.
  4. Take the thread back to the bend and tie in a good clump of stiff ginger rooster hackle fibres, about 15, as a tail one body-length long, Catskill style; cut the butts at an angle and bind them down.
  5. Add extra wraps to smooth the underbody. Any lumps will show through the quill body.
  6. Strip the fibres from a hackle stem to make a bare quill, tie it in at the rear and wrap it forward in touching turns to the front of the body where the hackle will start; tie it off with two or three tight wraps and trim.
  7. Put one drop of UV resin on the quill body, spread it up, down and around with a bodkin without touching the wings, and cure it for 10 to 15 seconds for a hard, durable body.
  8. Tie in a ginger or light brown dry fly hackle sized to the hook with two or three wraps behind and a couple in front, snip the butt, then take about three turns behind the wings and three or four in front, using the wraps to realign the wings if they have gone astray.
  9. Catch the hackle off, pull any forward-facing fibres back and take a few wraps over them, then ramp the thread back an eye-width and whip finish with four turns; trim any strays.

Tying videos

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