I am from New Jersey right on the boarder with Pennsylvania and that is where I currently reside. I fish New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York waters. With most of my time spent on Pennsylvania streams. I love to wet fly fish, but I do nymph and dry fly a lot as well. Basically I go with what the stream is dictating for that day.
I am a self taught fly fisherman and fly tier. As you may guess I own a lot books and quite a few dvds. I used to commercial tie but it became a real bear and so I have since slowed down a lot, but I still tie everyday. I tie 365 and I think that is the true secret to become good at fly tying. Tie a lot! People can contact me about my flies or dubbing blends at jeufliesandtyingsupplies.ecrater.com and you can also visit my blog Utah’s Fly Corner.
Utah’s Marauder
Materials
Hook: Daiichi 1560 #12
Thread: Brown pearsall or uni 8/0 camel
Tag: Mirage tinsel
Tail: Silver badger hackle fibers
Rib: Silver oval tinsel fine, Lagartun is the best.
Rear Body: Natural dun colored marabou from the bottom of hackle
Body hackle- Badger cock hackle
Front body: Peacock hurl
Collar hackle: Dark speckled hen
Wing: sharp tail secondary wing fibers. (optional)
Eyes: Jungle Cock (optional)
Start the thread, and run it back to the barb.
Tie in the mirage tinsel and go around the bend, and bring the thread back to the barb.
Wind the tinsel up touching turns, and catch with the thread, trim the excess.
Take 8-12 hackle fibers and tie them in on top with one turn.
Tie in the oval tinsel with one turn in front of the last.
Here is the body material. Pinch the butt end like shown, and pinch off short pieces of the bou.
It should look like this. You dont want the fiber that holds these fibers to the stem.
Dub the body up 2/3s
Tie in the silver badger hackle.
Wind it back with two complete touching turns at the start then palmer it back to the rear. Once at the rear, catch the hackle with the oval tinsel and rib the fly.
Tie in 2-3 peacock herls.
Wind the herl forward, leave a hook eye distant for hackle and J.C.
Tie in the dark speckled hen by the tip. You want the hackle fibers to extend back to the hook bend.
Wind the hackle. Dont go crazy, saddle hackle is heavy. 1-2 turns is plenty.
Tie in the jungle cock on each side. Dont worry if your nails are broken, the fish will break them sooner rather than later.
Tidy up and form a head. Whip finish. When i use silk thread like i did here, I wax it through out the the tying process and especially for the whip finish. I do not like to varnish silk. The wax does a good job of protecting the thread and making a really tight whip.
