Featured Fly

Featured Fly “The Fish Slayer” by Lee Troyer

Apr 19th

Many fly fishers got their start fly fishing for bluegill. They are plentiful, cooperative, and a lot of fun. It has been said that ounce for ounce, a bluegill on a fly rod out-fights most other fish. That may or may not be true, but I tend to believe it. It is also a great way to introduce young people to fly fishing because you can usually get them into fish, thus making it a positive experience for them.

I have decided to do a bluegill fly for this month. The weather is getting warmer and the bluegill action will pick up as the water warms. I admit that I prefer to catch bluegills on top with poppers and spiders, but there are some days where they are not inclined to hit a surface fly.

An excellent fly on those occasions is the Fish Slayer. This fly was developed by Dick Koch who works part time at Lunkers and also belongs to SJRVFF. The name of the fly comes as compliments of Billy Vale, also a member of SJRVFF. Dick had given Billy some of these flies and apparently Billy had success with them, thus the name.

This is a very easy fly to tie and you can easily tie a dozen in less than one hour.

Recipe:

Hook: TMC 2488 size 12

Thread: Uni-Thread 8/0 (Gray or Olive)

Eyes: Spirit River Dazl-Eyes 1/8” Black

Wing: Blood Quill Marabou (Gray or Olive)

Dubbing: Antron Blend (Gray or Olive)

Colors: The fly is tied in either gray or olive (Select materials to match) The fly in the pictures is gray.

Tying Instructions:

Start the thread onto the hook at the eye, wrap to hook bend and then bring thread to just in front of the hook point.
	Tie in the Dazl-Eyes on top of shank at this point. This will leave enough room so you don’t crowd the hook eye later on. You can apply some Zap-A-Gap at this point to keep the eyes in place.
Prepare a marabou feather by stripping away some of the feather fibers from the stem. You want to have a wing that is on the sparse side.
	Tie in the marabou as the wing behind the Dazl-Eyes, then bring the marabou over the top of the Dazl-Eyes and tie it down in front of the Dazy-Eyes.
Trim the excess marabou and bring the thread behind the Dazl-Eyes. Make a dubbing rope on the thread.
	Wrap a dubbing collar behind the eyes, criss-cross over the top of the eyes and finish with a small amount of dubbing for the nose of the fly. Whip finish and you are done.

Feature Fly “Super Scud” by Mike Beachy

Jan 8th

Posted by admin in Featured Fly

Feature Fly “Super Scud” by Mike Beachy

This August, while working on the river during one of our clean up work sessions, I discovered some rather large scuds. The scuds were light gray to transparent in color and were abundant in number. I made the comment to the other workers that after seeing the size and color of these scuds I was going to try using a scud fly imitation that same afternoon. I had never used a scud in the Little Elkhart before and to my surprise did very well on them.

The only scuds I had were from a Colorado trip I had taken last summer. They were tied with a bead head to give them sinking ability however I did not like the bead since a real scud had no “head” and the bead looked unnatural. In this version of a scud I eliminated the bead head and replaced it with a strap of lead across the top of the hook for sinking ability. The lead also gives the fly bulk from the belly to the back without making the fly wider side to side just like a real scud profile. This fly has been a super performer in the late summer fishing season. I have used it as a dropper off of a floating grasshopper or in a standard nymph rig and have taken both rainbow and brown trout with regularity.

The scud back material can be substituted with clear plastic like a sandwich baggie cut into a thin strip. Scud back material is made of latex and stretches over the back in a form-fitting manner and is slightly easier to work with. Any dubbing will work but I prefer Sow Scud Dubbing due to the length of the fibers. It picks out well to form the legs in the last step of fabrication. This is an easy quick fly to tie once you get on to it and the best part is it works!

Beachy’s Super Scud

Hook: Scud hook #14 Lead: .030 dia. Thread: 6/0 tan or gray Fibers: Grizzle Hackle Back: Scud back 1/8″ Rib: Small gold wire Body: Light gray scud dub
	Attach the thread to a size 14 scud hook. Lay a single piece of .030 lead wire over the back and tie down. Coat with “fishin’ glue” to fuse.
Adjust hook in vise for access. Wrap on grizzle hackle fibers for tail. Attach small gold wire for ribbing and overlay 1/8 inch wide clear scud back
	Readjust hook in vise. Wrap head fibers of grizzle hackle under hook eye. Using waxed thread/rolled dubbing technique dub the body with light gray sow bug/scud dubbing.
Do not over dub the head or it will cover hook eye when you tie off. Use a half hitch tool to tie knot between eye and head fibers
	Pull scud back stretching it across the middle of the back and tie it with half hitch tool and trim excess
Wrap ribbing wire in even spaced wraps pulling downward to make divisions in scud back Tie off wire and trim excess. Glue knots and trim thread. Pick out dubbing to form the legs on the finished fly.