Bodkin / Patterns

Santa's Slayer

Streamer · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook 3x-long, 1x-heavy streamer, barbless, #6
  • Thread Black 6/0 or 70 denier

Materials

  • Mylar tinsel Gold/silver, gold side out (Medium, 1 length (body))
  • Dry fly hackle (hen also works) Red grizzly soft hackle (2 feathers (inner wing))
  • Dry fly hackle (hen also works) Grizzly hackle (2 feathers (outer wing))
  • Strung saddle hackle Green saddle hackle (1 feather (throat))
  • Head cement or UV resin (1 drop)

How to tie it

  1. Start black thread just behind the eye of a #6 3x-long streamer hook and take a short base.
  2. Tie in medium mylar tinsel with the gold side toward the hook, then wrap it back to the bend in touching turns kept parallel to the shank; return forward in open wraps to the tie-in point.
  3. Wrap the tinsel forward in touching turns, flipping it so the gold shows on the first wrap; butt each wrap up against the last rather than overlapping (overlaps create a lump that propagates up the body). Tie off at the front.
  4. Prepare the wing beforehand: line up two red feathers flanked by two grizzly feathers, pinch them at the point where the barbs meet the stems, strip the lower barbs away, and set the stack with a drop of super glue or UV resin.
  5. Lay the prepared four-feather wing on top of the shank and take a couple of loose wraps; if the feathers cant off-axis, back the wraps off and reset until they sit in the plane of the hook. Then lock them in with tighter wraps going forward and trim the stems.
  6. Pluck the marabou-like fluff from the base of a green saddle hackle, turn the fly over, and tie the green feather in underneath as a throat, trimming to a length you like.
  7. Snip the front of the throat feather off and build a big fat streamer head with plenty of thread wraps.
  8. Whip finish and finish with a drop of head cement or UV resin.

Tying videos

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