Nymph · Trout · Grayling · Intermediate · 1 version
Lucian Vasies
Hook Competition jig hook (Hanak Jig), 14
Thread 30 denier
Materials
Tag/tail Green chartreuse material (Troutline Hot Spot thread)
Body Black pepper (Pure squirrel dubbing)
Thorax Colour #8 material (Pure Squirrel Dubbing Plus)
Hackle Natural grey hackle (Partridge in a dubbing loop)
Ribbing (Crystal body thread)
How to tie it
Start the Sumo 30 den behind the bead position and wrap back to the bend of the jig hook, then form a short green chartreuse tag with the Hot Spot thread. A bright tag at the rear is the trigger on dark, fast rivers where the rest of the fly is deliberately drab.
Catch in the Crystal Body Thread as ribbing at the base of the tag. The tyer has switched from flat tinsel to reinforced body threads like this because they don't slip over the body and they last far longer.
Dub the body with black pepper pure squirrel, tight at the rear and looser as you work forward to the 65% mark, so the fly tapers and the guard hairs start to stand out.
Rib with four or five open turns of Crystal Body Thread wound the opposite way to the dubbing, so it bites in and protects the fur rather than sitting on top of it.
Spin grey partridge in a dubbing loop and take two turns as a soft hackle collar, sweeping the fibres back. A looped partridge collar is far more durable than a bare hackle wrap on a fly this bushy.
Dub a short thorax of Squirrel Dubbing Plus #8 in front of the collar, whip finish, then pick the whole body out hard with a brush. Spiky and bushy is the point. On big fast rivers where fish eat substantial food this outfishes slim, tidy nymphs.