Hook: Atlantic Salmon Fly, TMC 1598, Dai Riki 899, Size #4
Thread: Black, 3/0
Head Weight: Cone Head, black or Bar Bell eyes or Real Eyes
Body: Metallic silver Braid on hook shank (optional), small white sparkle chenille
Tail: White marabou plumes, full, one on each side of hook. Tie in approx. 1/2 inch behind bar-bell eye, secure, apply head cement. Add two strands of pink or pearl crystal Flash on each side of tail. See photo for length.
Head: Tie in strand of small white sparkle chenille, wrap forward and figure 8 through bar-bell eyes. Whip finish, Apply head cement.
This fly is locally tied in many ways and in it's most simplistic form is a fly with white marabou tied to the shank of a hook and weight added to the leader as needed for water depth and flow. I have seen dead shad patterns tied with just white wool on a hook!
I fished with Clint and Danielle Wilkinson last year during the Shad Kill below the Bull shoals dam and saw Clint in action with a version of this fly. I used a fly that Danielle gave me which had bar-bell eyes and it was very effective. We were fishing with 5 generators on. The bar-bell eyes get the fly down very fast and when retrieved in jerky movements it acts like a jig fly.
Kevin Brandtonies, local guide, showed me his version of this fly with a cone head. He fished his clients with this fly at Rim Shoals during the shad kill and high water and they caught and released some very large browns and rainbows while dead drifting this pattern from a boat under a strike indicator (u'm bobber). Who would have thought that the fish feed on shad patterns that far down stream?
I would recommend no less than a 3X tippet and a six weight fly rod. Don't miss this opportunity when the shad kill occurs. Get ready for some vicious takes.
Tight lines, Jim Mengle
