Bodkin / Patterns

Marsters

Wet Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook Wet fly hook (a streamer hook works if you want to fish it as a baitfish), #8
  • Thread White (head colored black, or finished with black head cement) Uni-Thread 8/0

Materials

  • Flat gold tinsel (tag) Gold oval tinsel (A few turns)
  • Mallard flank (tail and wing) Gray mallard flank (One slip for the tail, one for the wing)
  • Wool yarn (body) White poly yarn (One strand)
  • Saddle hackle (throat) Red saddle hackle fibers (A small bunch of barbs)

How to tie it

  1. Mount a size 8 wet fly hook, start white thread behind the eye and run a base back to the start of the bend.
  2. Tie in flat gold tinsel and wrap a short tag at the rear of the shank, then tie it off.
  3. Tie in a slip of gray mallard flank as the tail, about a hook-gap and a half long, directly over the tag.
  4. Tie in the white wool at the bend and wrap it forward in three passes: first pass forward as a filler, back over the tie-in bump, then stack the wraps to fill the space and taper the body down toward the eye. Tie off a short distance behind the eye.
  5. Tie in a small bunch of red saddle hackle barbs underneath as a throat, reaching back to about the hook point.
  6. Even the tips of a gray mallard slip, measure it about half the length of the tail past the bend, and tie it in flat on top as the wing; pull any short fibers out.
  7. Trim the butts, build a neat tapered head, whip finish, and finish with black head cement (or color the white thread with a black marker and use clear cement).

Tying videos

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