Fly of the Month - March 2007

 

Recipe for the “Black Beauty”
Hooks: TMC 2488, 2488H, 2457, 2487 or similar type
Hook sizes: 16-24
Thread: Black UTC 70
Dubbing: Davy Wooton SLF black midge (great dubbing, I love the spectrum of colors in this dubbing)
 
This has been the killer fly for us over the past few months. We have been doing a lot of sight fishing with midges. This is a killer pupa pattern. This fly is very east to tie. It is also very effective. You can also add a glass bead in clear or black for an extra trigger. This fly originated on the technical tailwater fisheries in Colorado. This fly has a special place in boxes. I make them in a large variety of colors and sizes. Try them in brown olive. Get creative, and try all of the different colors, you will see why I have about 10 dozen of them in my fly box.

Step one, wrap the thread on the hook. Do this by starting from the front and going over the thread so that it does not fall off the hook.
 
Step two, tie in the copper wire. The wire gives the fly the segmented look.
 
Strep three, wrap the thread and the wire to the bend of the hook. You want to tie the copper wire in well into the bend of the hook. This is done to create the struggling to swim effect of the pupa.
 
Step four, wrap the thread up to the hook eye and wrap the copper wire over the black thread. Make sure that you space the copper wire evenly from the hook bend to about 1/8 of an inch from the hook eye.
 
Step five, cut the copper wire and dub the thread. You want to dub the thorax very sparse. Don't over dub the head or it will be too large.
 
Step six, dub a ball of dubbing for the thorax of the fly. You want the head to be larger than the rest of the body in the pupal stage. So make sure that the head stands out from the rest of the body as shown in the picture
 
Last picture shows the finished fly.