Fly of the Month - January 2012
Dally's Hippy Chick Shad (Heavy)
THE WHITE RIVER Shad Kill is our equivalent of Joe Heywood’s mystical Snowfly, a magical mystical hatch that inspires every big fish in the river to feed with reckless abandon.
The Snow fly hatch, in Heywood’s book of the same name, comes along every 7 to 10 years and never on the same river twice. There is a certain elusiveness to the Shad kill (will it or won’t it ?) that adds mystique. Answers may lie in the confluence of temperature, both water and air, shad populations and location, and generation patterns.
The trick is to be a good little scout and be prepared for the witching hour when the Shad starts. Then it’s time to drop everything and head to Bull Shoals Dam. The astute shad watcher will carry at least 3 styles of fly.
Floating patterns, like Davy Wottons Floating Shad, Crease flies or Gurglers, are a must for those days when the shad drift along on the surface, twitching, and jerking. Perhaps this is the most magical time of any shad kill.
Lightly weighted, mobile patterns of the marabou puff style are incredibly versatile and enable a person to fish in the midwater, when the shad are being carried along in the current.
But there are plenty of days, perhaps more than are recognized, when the shad are deep, not even a wink from a shad side to give them away, tumbling and rolling along the bottom. Jigs are very productive in this role; but a couple of years back, I wanted something a little more attractive and recognizable as a fly.
The heavy nickel lead eyes (1/20 oz) were a Monte for the sink rate I wanted. So was the B10S stinger for its strength, gape and point. Pearl palmer chenille provided some flash and sparkle and a marabou tail for life and movement was obvious. But I blame time tying with April Vokey and her Spey flies, for the palmered wing on this fly veils and drapes the eyes and body.
Look for Marabou feathers with a thin flexible stem. For the wing, use the stiffer stemmed feather for the tail. Train the palmered marabou around the eyes which help deliver a shaddish “chesty” profile. Fish it deep, or use it to carry a puff shad or worm deep. Don’t use light tippet.
RECIPE
Hook Gamakatsu B10s 2 or 4
Thread Wapsi UTC 140 red
Eyes: Wapsi Nickel Plated Lead Dumbbell Eyes, Large.
Tail: Wapsi Blood Quill Marabou Fl. White.
Body: Pearl Palmer Chenille, Small
Wing: Wapsi Blood Quill Marabou Fl. White, Palmered
Throat: Krystal Flash redFly designed by Steve Dally and tied by Ron McQuay. They can be purchased at Dally's Ozark Fly Fisher.