Bodkin / Patterns

Kamikaze Hopper

Terrestrial · Trout · Advanced · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook Long-shank streamer/hopper hook (tyer used a 4XL '280' style); tied in one size only, #6
  • Thread Hot red for the butt, then tan or brown for the rest of the fly 6/0 (Uni)

Materials

  • Butt thread Hot red butt thread (Uni 6/0, built up over many wraps)
  • Tying thread Tan or brown tying thread (Uni 6/0)
  • Oval tinsel rib Gold oval tinsel (One strand, fine oval (French tinsel))
  • Superfine dry-fly dubbing Olive (brown, yellow or tyer's choice also work) (Enough for a full tapered body, applied in 2-3 loads)
  • CDC feather Natural dun cdc feather (One feather, underwing only)
  • Mottled turkey quill section Natural mottled (Ozark turkey) (One slip about 1/4 inch wide, treated with lacquer thinner to hold together)
  • Badger hackle Badger hackle (One broad size 4 feather)
  • Head cement Clear head cement (One drop)

How to tie it

  1. Start the hot red thread at the hook point and wrap back to the barb, layering back and forth several times to build a stubby, clearly visible red butt with some girth; whip finish and cut the red thread off.
  2. Attach the tan or brown thread just behind the eye and lay a tight thread base all the way back to the front edge of the red butt.
  3. Tie in the oval gold tinsel just ahead of the red butt and bind the tag forward under the thread base.
  4. Dub a tightly wrapped, tapered olive body: start the dubbing about 20% back from the eye, wrap to the rear of the shank against the red butt, then build forward, adding dubbing as needed and smoothing with your fingers. Stop about 3/16 inch (roughly the front fifth of the shank) short of the eye so there is room for wing, hackle and head.
  5. Palmer the oval tinsel forward over the body in evenly spaced open turns, tie it off at the front of the body and clip the excess.
  6. Stroke one CDC feather so the fibers align and tie it in flat on top as a sparse underwing, tips reaching back no further than the red butt.
  7. Lay the lacquer-stiffened turkey slip on top as a down-wing, crease it so it tents over the body, and bind it down hard at the front. Lift the wing and trim the rear end square, even with the bend of the hook.
  8. Prepare the broad badger hackle: strip the base, fold the fibers back and crease the feather in half. Tie it in wet-fly style, shiny side forward, and bind the stem all the way to just behind the eye without crowding it. Add a smidge of dubbing behind the tie-in point to hide the thread.
  9. Wrap five or six tight turns of the badger hackle, angling and stroking the fibers back on each turn; tie off and clip the excess.
  10. Sweep all the hackle back and take several thread wraps ahead of it so the collar lies back over the body, trim any stray fibers, cover the thread with a last smidge of dubbing, whip finish leaving the eye clear, and add one drop of head cement.

Tying videos

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