The best spoon fly I have ever
seen.....
Materials
Hook: Gamakatsu SC 15 1/0 or 2/0
Thread: Tan Unithread
Weed guard: 22 lb steel Calcuta wire
Blade material: Offray # 2" woven craft ribbon
Tail: Red fox tail
Tail accent: olive slinky fibre
Dumbbell eyes: small
Tail and Weed Guard
- Place hook in the vise so that eye is pointing toward the floor (Figure
1).
- Tie in squirrel tail using 6/0 tan Unithread.
- Be sure to tie tail half way into the bend of the hook.
- Directly over the thread wraps for the tail, tie in lead eyes.
- Remove hook from vise and position normally.
- Wrap thread forward and tie in wire weed guard (Figure 2). Weed guard
should be tied in as shown below to assure the guard does not twist on the
finished fly.
- Whip finish and cut thread.
Blade Construction
- Spray adhesive (3M M-77) on to back of Offray ribbon and let cure for 5
minutes.
- Cut a piece of the ribbon long enough to fit between hook eye and dumbbell
eyes (Figure 3).
- Place ribbon on the underside of the hook (hook is point up in the vise)
so that the hook shank will contact the ribbon at about one quarter of the
ribbon width (see the line drawing).
- Next fold the free side of the ribbon over to meet the opposite side.
- Finally press the ribbon together being careful to make good contact with
the hood shank.
- Cut the blade to a tear drop shape by first clipping off the corners
closest to the eye at a 30 degree angle.
- Cut the back of the blade to produce a smoothly rounded edge.
- Key Point: if the blade is not symmetrical on either side of the hook
shank, small adjustments can be made by simply pulling on the woven ribbon.
- Mix and apply a thin layer of two part epoxy being sure to lay epoxy up
onto the thread and dumbbell eye to anchor the blade.
- Place on drying wheel to harden.
Weed Guard Placement
Kink the end of the weed guard loop and bend the guard back under the hook
point. If a fingernail is placed were the weed guard and spoon blade meet when
bending the weed guard you can avoid pulling epoxy away from the hook shank.
Capt. Randy Hamilton (Click
here to email
Capt. Randy Hamilton) 1922 Capri Drive, Charleston, SC 29407
