Tail and body Nature's Spirit Fish Hunter marabou, black (2-3 clumps from one feather)
Flash Krystal Flash, silver (1 strand cut in half)
Rib Holographic tinsel, silver and gold (1 strand)
Hackle Whiting Farms Bugger Pack, grizzly dyed brown (1 feather)
Counter-rib 6X tippet (6 in)
Head Solarez Bone Dry UV resin (1 coat)
How to tie it
Mount a Stealth N series size 6. Check the point is properly in the jaws, these are sharp. Palmer.025 lead over most of the shank straight off the spool held in your hand. No bead on this one; the lead lets you fish it on a floating line down in the three to six foot range or drop it deep on a sinking line.
Break the lead ends off cleanly so nothing sticks out, and press any stub down with a fingernail.
Start black 12/0 Nano Silk and wrap over the lead at 45 degrees. Straight up-and-down wraps drop between the lead turns; angled wraps sit across them. Cross it a few times, then finish perpendicular to lock it.
Take the thread a little past the bend. Rather than using the straight tips of a marabou feather, grip a clump and rip it off so the butts come away roughly aligned. Tie it in as a tail slightly longer than the shank.
Do not trim the butts. Wrap them forward at 45 degrees over the lead almost to its front edge, then trim. That is the marabou body starting.
Cut one strand of Krystal Flash in half. Tie one length in on the near side, fold the other back down the far side so two strands lie each side, and trim just longer than the longest marabou fibre without stretching them.
The first clump was sparse, so strip a second from the same feather, match the tips to the first, and lay it on top, pinching so it wraps right round the shank. Bind the butts slightly further forward than before and trim on an angle for a taper at the head.
Tie in about six inches of 6X tippet for the counter-rib (do not skimp on length, short tags are a fight) and the holographic tinsel, gold side up ready to palmer.
Tie in the brown grizzly bugger hackle by the tip, leaving a small gap behind it so the first couple of wraps come out secure.
Brush Zap-a-Gap over the whole body so it soaks down to the lead and holds everything, particularly the butts.
Pull three or four more marabou fibres off the same feather, lay them on the thread and twist. Marabou dubs onto Nano Silk. Do it as a long thin noodle rather than one clump so you can control the body proportions, and use less again on the final section behind the eye.
Wrap the tinsel forward in even, uniform ribs, seven or eight up the body, and tie off. These grooves are the track for the hackle.
Palmer the hackle forward, hugging the back edge of each tinsel rib so it sits in the groove. It is easier and it comes out the same every time. Preen the fibres back as you go.
At the head take two to four extra turns to build a fuller collar that pushes water, tie off, then counter-rib the 6X tippet forward through the hackle. Whip finish and finish the head with Solarez Bone Dry.