Fly of the Month - August 2010

HPU Willow Worm

Hook:            #4-#1 Gamakatsu G-Lock Offset Worm Hook
Eye:              5/32", 3/16", or 1/4" I-Balz by Spirit River
Thread:         6/0 Uni-Thread
Tail & Body:   Pine Squirrel or Mink Strips by Wapsi
Wing:             Fluoro Fibre by Spirit River

Tie in the order of the recipe. Notice; tail first, then the body.

Notes:
The term "G-Lock" is a description of how this hook sets.  The eye of the hook is "locked" against the flesh of the fish's mouth.  Even when fished barbless this hook is hard to remove from the fish.  Be sure to have a pair of forceps with you.

G-lock  Offset Worm Hooks from size #2 and larger ride Hook-Point-Up (HPU) extremely well.  The #4 wobbles in fast current.  The eyes of this pattern and the other style HPU Willow Worms and the HPU Willow Dad are nearly decorations, however, the eye size will determine how fast the pattern falls through the water column. My preference is the 5/32" I-Balz or the 5/32"Real-Eye with rhinestone inserts, because... they are the easiest to cast and can be fished very slow or debris bottoms.  I consider slow presentations the deadliest method of catching bass.  I believe this so emphatically that I mainly dead-drift my patterns during a day's fishing. Casting upstream and monitoring the slack as it comes downstream.

 When tying larger sizes (#1/0 and up), Rabbit hair strips can be substituted for the tail and body.

The Wing of the pattern can also be tied using several other products like fish-hair, DNA, Krystal Flash, Midge Flash, Deer Hair, and several others.  This depends on the visual effect the tier wants to produce.

An update from Dr. Collin J. Kageyama , author of "What Fish See" states that the greatest visuals responses of fish are created when using vertical color bars the length of a pattern.  This can be created by tying with the lighter colors of your choice then coloring in the darker color bars using permanent marker pens on the sides and back.  Vertical color barring can also be created by simply using beads.

It's All Flyfishing - Fox Statler.

Click for Printable Recipe