The Bling is the thing
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:02 pm
Ok, so here it is February. In between this year’s taping sessions. Time to do some lure crafting in preparation of this spring’s fishing season. Over the past couple of season’s I’ve been experimenting with beaded tandem bucktails. With some fine tuning, several patterns have proven themselves as fish catchers. This whole thing got started by a brainstorming session with Pat (aka 4CS) where he suggested that I try to develop a tandem streamer version of one of his favorite Atomik flies. The result became the “Green Bling”. It turns out that not only women and rappers like bling, but salmon do too!
At past taping sessions I’ve been asked for the recipes and I’ve finally gotten around to writing them down. In general, I like a trolling fly to have some flash, color contrast, and a little fluorescent material somewhere. The beauty of this type of fly is that you can get creative and add or change a few things here and there. Feel free to improvise should you try to tie one and be sure to post pic’s of any fish you catch. Enjoy...
Some basics:
Hooks – Mustad 3906, size 4 in front, size 6 in the rear
Wire –Berkley Steelon nylon coated wire, 20lb test
Thread – Black Danville 210 denier to attach the hooks to the wire, 140 denier for the head; 210 in fluorescent colors for the rear head on some patterns
Bodies – either flat or braided tinsel
Beads – 6mm or 8mm craft beads, transparent but as dark as possible. This is critical, pale colors do not work as well.
Eyes - 1/32 fluorescent chartreuse WTP tape eyes
Bling Patterns:
Green:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, gold crystal flash, green crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – silver or gold tinsel
Tag – fluorescent chartreuse floss
Purple:
Overwing – tan portion of natural bucktail, copper crystal flash, fluorescent purple crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – copper tinsel
Tag – fluorescent purple floss
Pink:
Overwing – tan portion of natural bucktail, copper crystal flash, fluorescent pink crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – copper tinsel
Beads - unlike the other patterns these are glow pink rather than transparent
Blue:
Overwing – white bucktail, light blue crystal flash, fluorescent yellow crystal flash, dark blue bucktail
Body – silver or gold tinsel
Blue (CI variant):
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – pearl flashabou, wine crystal flash, blue flashabou
Body – silver tinsel
Thread - white
Orange:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – orange bucktail, gold crystal flash, orange bucktail
Body –gold tinsel
Thread – fluorescent orange on rear
Yellow:
Throat – red calf tail
Overwing – fluorescent yellow crystal flash, tan portion from a yellow bucktail
Body –gold tinsel
Thread- red thread on rear hook
Red:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, red flashabou, black crystal flash
Body – silver tinsel
Pearl (Grey smelt variant):
Underwing – white hackle
Overwing – white bucktail, fluorescent blue herring crystal flash, grey bucktail
Body – silver tinsel
Thread – red thread on rear hook
Tag – fluorescent red floss
Pearl (Rainbow Trout variant):
Overwing – white bucktail, pink fluorescent crystal flash, green crystal flash
Body – silver tinsel
Thread – Flourescent pink on rear hook
Tag – fluorescent pink thread
Teal:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, fluorescent yellow crystal flash, flourescent teal bucktail, black bucktail
Body – silver tinsel
Tag – fluorescent yellow floss
At past taping sessions I’ve been asked for the recipes and I’ve finally gotten around to writing them down. In general, I like a trolling fly to have some flash, color contrast, and a little fluorescent material somewhere. The beauty of this type of fly is that you can get creative and add or change a few things here and there. Feel free to improvise should you try to tie one and be sure to post pic’s of any fish you catch. Enjoy...
Some basics:
Hooks – Mustad 3906, size 4 in front, size 6 in the rear
Wire –Berkley Steelon nylon coated wire, 20lb test
Thread – Black Danville 210 denier to attach the hooks to the wire, 140 denier for the head; 210 in fluorescent colors for the rear head on some patterns
Bodies – either flat or braided tinsel
Beads – 6mm or 8mm craft beads, transparent but as dark as possible. This is critical, pale colors do not work as well.
Eyes - 1/32 fluorescent chartreuse WTP tape eyes
Bling Patterns:
Green:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, gold crystal flash, green crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – silver or gold tinsel
Tag – fluorescent chartreuse floss
Purple:
Overwing – tan portion of natural bucktail, copper crystal flash, fluorescent purple crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – copper tinsel
Tag – fluorescent purple floss
Pink:
Overwing – tan portion of natural bucktail, copper crystal flash, fluorescent pink crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – copper tinsel
Beads - unlike the other patterns these are glow pink rather than transparent
Blue:
Overwing – white bucktail, light blue crystal flash, fluorescent yellow crystal flash, dark blue bucktail
Body – silver or gold tinsel
Blue (CI variant):
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – pearl flashabou, wine crystal flash, blue flashabou
Body – silver tinsel
Thread - white
Orange:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – orange bucktail, gold crystal flash, orange bucktail
Body –gold tinsel
Thread – fluorescent orange on rear
Yellow:
Throat – red calf tail
Overwing – fluorescent yellow crystal flash, tan portion from a yellow bucktail
Body –gold tinsel
Thread- red thread on rear hook
Red:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, red flashabou, black crystal flash
Body – silver tinsel
Pearl (Grey smelt variant):
Underwing – white hackle
Overwing – white bucktail, fluorescent blue herring crystal flash, grey bucktail
Body – silver tinsel
Thread – red thread on rear hook
Tag – fluorescent red floss
Pearl (Rainbow Trout variant):
Overwing – white bucktail, pink fluorescent crystal flash, green crystal flash
Body – silver tinsel
Thread – Flourescent pink on rear hook
Tag – fluorescent pink thread
Teal:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, fluorescent yellow crystal flash, flourescent teal bucktail, black bucktail
Body – silver tinsel
Tag – fluorescent yellow floss
