Bodkin / Patterns

Deer Hair Diver

Streamer · Largemouth Bass · Smallmouth Bass · Pike · Intermediate · 1 version

Classic Recipe

  • Hook wide-gape stinger (e.g. TMC 8089), 2-6
  • Thread white or to match 200-denier GSP

Materials

  • Tail Marabou plume plus 2-4 grizzly saddle hackles (1 set)
  • Flash Pearl/silver flashabou (6-10 strands)
  • Collar & head Spun deer belly hair (4-6 clumps)
  • Weed guard (optional) 16-20 lb mono loop (1)

How to tie it

  1. Tie in a marabou tail one and a half shank lengths long at the bend, flank it with grizzly saddles splayed outward, and add flash strands over the top.
  2. Wrap one marabou feather 3-4 turns as a soft collar in front of the tail.
  3. Cut a pencil-thick clump of deer belly hair, tips rearward reaching half the tail length, and tie it with 2-3 loose wraps then 4-5 tight ones so it spins and flares 360 degrees. Leave the tips as the rear collar.
  4. Spin further clumps of deer hair forward, packing each one back hard, until the front two-thirds of the shank is a dense brush of flared hair.
  5. Whip finish, then trim: leave a raised collar behind, and carve the head into a bullet/cone that slopes up to that collar. The collar is the diving lip that drives the fly under on the strip.
  6. Shave the bottom flat with a razor for hook clearance and straight tracking; add a mono weed guard if fishing cover, and cement the thread wraps.

Tying videos

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