Jitterbee – Randy Leonpacher

I’ve been fly fishing for bluegills lately so I’ve been looking around to see what other flies people are using. Actually, I’ve had good luck with nymphs. I caught a bucket load on an Adams Nymph a couple weeks ago.

I noticed this nice looking little pattern while searching the net today. It’s called the Jitterbee and it’s a simple tie, which is nice. This particular Jitterbee was tied by Larry Offner, but the fly is originated by Randy Leonpacher.

Materials:

Hook: Eagle Claw Baitholder #080 in size 8 or 10. The Eagle Claw 181 baitholder hook found at K-Mart can be used as a substitute. Both are 2X heavy and have large eyes suitable for the large metal bead.
Head: 4mm 10K gold plated metal bead (I prefer the Halcraft brand found at hobby stores).
Body: Medium chenille or fine chenille (vernille) in black, red, burnt orange, or chartreuse. The medium is right for the size 8 hook, the fine is perfect for the size 10 hook.
Tail: Black silicon rubber skirt material (used for spinner baits).

Note:

The materials above are what Randy uses. You could easily use a nymph style hook instead of the baitholder hook. If you have fly tying materials, normal rubber legs would work for the tail. It would be the same as skirt material. I just wanted to make a note of this, especially for beginners. Great little pattern!