Bodkin / Patterns

Pike Diver

Nymph · Pike · Musky · Largemouth Bass · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Wide-gap streamer/pike hook, 2/0-3/0
  • Thread White or to match 3/0 or GSP

Materials

  • Tail To taste (chartreuse/white/red) (bucktail or rabbit strip + flash)
  • Splayed collar Matching leather strip (2-4 saddle hackles)
  • Diver head/collar Matching deer hair (spun and packed)
  • Legs Barred rubber legs (2-4 rubber legs (optional))
  • Weed guard Hard mono (optional loop)

How to tie it

  1. Lay a thread base at the bend. Tie in a bucktail or rabbit-strip tail about two shank lengths long and add several strands of flash.
  2. Frame the tail with 2-4 splayed saddle hackles, curves out, for a broad kicking profile.
  3. Optionally figure-8 in a pair of rubber legs at the front of the tail base.
  4. Spin a clump of deer hair immediately in front of the tail, then pack it back tightly against the tie-in point.
  5. Spin and pack successive clumps of deer hair forward to the eye, compressing hard so the head is dense.
  6. Whip finish at the eye and trim the deer hair to a diver shape, flat, wide collar left standing at the throat to catch water, tapering to a bullet nose up front so the fly dives and pops on a strip.

Tying videos

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