Bodkin / Patterns

Irresistible

Dry Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Classic Recipe

• Hook Standard dry fly, 10-16
• Thread Gray 6/0

Materials

• Tail Brown hackle fibers (forked)
• Body Spun deer hair (clipped round)
• Wing White calf tail (upright)
• Hackle Brown and grizzly hackle (mixed)

How to tie it

1. Mount hook, tie in a forked brown tail at the bend.
2. Spin and pack deer hair over the rear two-thirds of the shank, tight clumps, packed hard after each spin.
3. Trim the spun hair to a neat cigar-shaped body, flat enough underneath to clear the hook gap.
4. Stack and tie in white calf tail wings, upright and divided.
5. Wrap mixed brown and grizzly hackle densely. Whip finish.

Substitutions

• Body instead of Spun deer hair: Spun caribou — Finer hair, same technique; Spun elk — More buoyant, coarser texture
• Wing instead of White calf tail: White poly yarn — More visible, lighter; White calf body hair — Finer fibers

Tying videos

• Irresistible — Barry Ord Clarke (YouTube)
• Irresistible — Joe Messinger (YouTube)
• Irresistible — Hackles & Wings Fly Tying (YouTube)

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