Jan's Flies

Jan Spencer
Nearly every fly fisher has to, at some time, use a heavy line and large sinking flies. Nobody more than I likes to fish dry fly or semi dry, but this does not always catch fish and when it's all said and done that's what we fish for-to catch fish.

Those days that some call "dog days'-when nothing seems to happen is the time to get the heavy gear out and work hard.
Trout will feed deep on smaller fish if the water they are in sustains a food population of small fish. These may be native fish or often their own young.
As the seasonal insects are only there for short periods and are usually not abundant enough to totally meet their feeding demands, trout have to find other food sources to meet their feeding habits. So certainly small fish fill an empty stomach.
To represent a small fish there are numerous flies. These include original Matukas, marabou streamers, bullhead matukas and many others. But the fly everybody seems to be using at the moment is a weighted marabou streamer.
These can be tied in dozens of different styles and most flyfishers have their own little secrets in doing this. One of my favourites is a fairly basic fly but really has done well on the "dog days" of the past season.
It's important to have the right amount of marabou on the described fly as it is a must to get the wriggle right, not enough or too much and the fly will not swim right. For the tyer to get this exactly right will take some experimenting as it's difficult to specify on paper the exact amount of marabou required.
When fishing this fly I use it the point with a dropper 4ft up the leader. The dropper will normally be a nymph of one sort of another depending what time of the trout season it is.
An intermediate fly line is my choice to get down in the fish zone fairly quickly. I usually add some lead to the body to get it sinking quickly.

Marabou Streamer
Hook:    Long shanked heavy gauge size 6 or 8
Lead wire:    015 diameter
Thread:    Black
Tail:        Black marabou feather
Rib:        Flat silver tinsel
Body:    Cream coloured wool or chenille
Throat:    Red marabou
Wing:    Black marabou
Method

  1. Wrap the full length of the shank with leadwire.
  2. Make a few turns of thread toward the hook bend. Take one small complete black marabou feather, place on top of hook shank with feather tips making a nice long tail. This should be about the same length as the hook shank. With the thread, continue on with nice close turns, ending at the hook bend. Cut away excess feather stalk.
  3. Tie rib in firmly, cut away excess, tie in body material and bring thread forward-keeping back from the eye a little. Now wind body material forward to the eye, tie in firmly, cut away excess body material. Bring the rib forward, make sure you space the ribs evenly, tie in firmly with thread and cut away excess rib.
  4. Tie in a small bunch of red marabou tips under the hook shank for the throat. Cut away excess marabou ends.
  5. For the marabou wing, when tied in the tips should reach mid-way along the tail, this will form a nice shaped body. Again not too much marabou as bulk will only stiffen the body movement. Cut away excess marabou.
  6. Form a nice head, whip finish and cut thread away.
  7. Varnish head with black varnish.

Tip: Try changing the body colour, for example, it could be red, yellow or olive green. I particularly like the olive green.

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