Wednesday 16 February 2011

Rattle redhead

This was actually an experiment, but it turned out so well, and I really have great faith in it without testing, so I wanted to post it.




I’ve picked up these rattles so many times over the last six months without doing anything with them, but tonight I wanted to give them a try. What concerned me the most, was the balance of the fly, because when you tie in something this big, you’re obligated to tie it on top of the hook shank, which can make your fly spin (I often wanted to tie some big clousers with them, so I could tie in the extra weight on the bottom, but I never did).


Therefore, I’ve used a Gamakatsu (saltwater series) SC15-2H, size 5/0, which will definitely stay straight when retrieving.


 

- So I started with tying in the glass rattle
- then some pearl Spectra Flash Hair
- white bucktail around the hook shank
- white saddle hackles around the top of the hook shank
- and the head is a brass wire dubbing brush of white and red polypropylene fibre, blended with pearl Spectra Flash Hair (cut into shape), and epoxy eyes.

Oh, and it’s about 16 cm long.


I will definitely tie some more of these…

2 comments:

Midge Man said...

This is an absolutely superb tie! I'd be confident in putting this fly in front of any pike we have here in the states, and besides, it's just beautifully done

the lonsome piker said...

Thanks man, coming from you, that’s quite a complement!