Emerald Evil Twin – Michael Decoteau

 

You will see a lot of classic flavor in Michael Decoteau’s flies. He grew up on the coast of Maine and studied classic featherwing streamers early on in his fly tying experience. Michael is now a guide for Greg Senyo’s Steelhead Alley Outfitters and spends the rest of his time with his own fly tying business, RedSpotFly, where he ties custom flies and creates art. He was gracious enough to send me this fresh step-by-step of his Evil Twin Brother fly. Below is Michael’s step-by-step. He says:

“I am often asked to share material lists and step by steps for certain color combinations of flies that I offer through RedSpotFly.  Here is the detailed step by step for the most highly requested color combo of the Evil Twin…emerald.  I have also included a few little helpful hints that were not shown on the original step by step for the purple Evil Twin that can be seen on the Steelhead Alley Tying Blog.”

Materials

Shank: 25mm Senyo Shank from Flymen Fishing Co.
Thread: 6/0 White Uni-Thread, then 8/0 Pink Uni-Thread at the head
Wire: Senyo’s standard Intruder Wire from Hareline
Hook: Your favorite size 4 stinger
Tag: UV Hot Pink Ice Dub
Body: Flat Pearl Diamond Braid
Rib: Chartreuse Ultra Wire size BR
Body Hackle: Guinea Hen dyed Kingfisher Blue
Wing: White Arctic Fox, then Olive Icelandic Sheep, then Kingfisher Blue Cashmere Goat
Flash: Green Pearl Polar Flash
Topping: Kingfisher Blue Lady Amherst Center Tail fibers, then Natural Lady Amherst Center Tail fibers
Collar: Blue Eared Pheasant
Cheeks: Jungle Cock

Step 1: Insert the shank into the jaws of your vise, and lash down the rear loop of the shank with the 6/0 white Uni-Thread.

Step 2: Cut a piece of Intruder wire 2 ½” long, and fasten on both sides of the shank creating a loop in the rear that is just long enough to fit your stinger hook through. The tag ends should extend almost to the end of the return eye wire as seen above.

Step 3: Double the tag ends of the Intruder wire backwards toward the rear of the shank and bind down securely. I add a drop of Zap-A-Gap over this connection point.

Step 4: Dub a ball of UV Hot Pink Ice Dub over the connection point.

Step 5: Tie in the flat Pearl Diamond Braid and the chartreuse Ultra Wire and advance the thread to the halfway point between the dubbing ball and the return eye wire of the shank.

Step 6: Make two wraps of Diamond Braid, then secure with your thread, leaving the tag end long (you will make two more wraps of Diamond Braid in the next step). Tie in the kingfisher blue Guinea Hen feather at this time by the tip, convex (or outside) side of the feather facing up. Trim the tip of the feather off after tying it in.

Step 7: Make two wraps of the Diamond Braid. At this point, you should be wrapping on the return eye wire by just a few thread wraps (we need to allow room for the front collar).  Palmer the Guinea forward and tie off. Reverse wrap the Ultra Wire forward to secure the body hackle and tie off.

Step 8: Cut a small bunch of white Arctic Fox tail hairs and tie in as shown above. The tail rounds offered by Hareline Dubbin have hairs long enough for this fly.

Step 9: Cut and hand stack a small bunch of olive Icelandic Sheep hair and tie in as shown above. Be sure to leave some of the bare shank exposed ahead of this tie in point. Switch to the 8/0 pink Uni-Thread at this time.

Step 10:  Cut a small bunch of the Cashmere Goat hair and hand stack. Keep the underfur as well as the long silky strands. Tie these in on top of the Icelandic Sheep. Next, take 3-4 strands of Polar flash and tie them in at the 10:00 position so that half of the material extends toward the rear of the fly, and the other half extends beyond the eye. Fold the Polar flash that is extending beyond the eye backwards on the other side of the fly at the 2:00 position.

Step 11:  Select 6 kingfisher blue Lady Amherst tail fibers, and separate them into a pair of 3 fibers a piece. Tie these in at the 10:00 and 2:00 positions on the shank. Next, select 4 natural (white) Lady Amherst tail fibers and separate them into a pair of 2 fibers a piece. Tie these in side by side on top of the shank.

Step 12:  Tie in one or two Blue-Eared Pheasant feathers by the tips for the front collar. Wrap these forward while stroking the fibers backward to create a nice sweep to the collar. Tie off and clip the butt end of the quill.

Step 13: Tie in Jungle Cock cheeks on both sides of the fly. Leave the butt ends long on these feathers and fold back and tie over them (as we did with the connecting wire at the beginning of the fly). Clip the butt ends and whip finish. For connecting the stinger, pinch the Intruder wire, and force the doubled up wire through the eye of the stinger. Slide the hook down to the shank, and push the shank of the hook through the Intruder wire loop. Slide the hook back and you are ready to fish.