Tying Tuesday: Beauty and the Beasts

This week’s Tying Tuesday features everything from an imitative dry fly to a ridiculously gaudy nymph, to a flashy streamer—with a buggy beetle thrown in for good measure. We kick things off with a variation on the classic Comparadun that uses synthetic fibers, rather than deer hair, for the wing. I particularly like the way that tier Brandon Moon uses the thread to help splay the tails and hold them in place. Next up is Devin Olsen’s famous Blowtorch, a nymph so unrealistic that it looks like it belongs in a disco, rather than a trout stream. But countless competitive anglers have proven just how effect the fly can be.

I had never heard of the Geehi Beetle before I saw the video from Kypes & Stripes Outdoors below, but I love an ugly, buggy fly. It’s sort of a cross between a Woolly Worm, and ant imitation, and a Griffith’s Gnat, and I bet trout and panfish will gobble it up. Finally, the great Tim Flagler shows us how to tie a pike pattern that origination on Saskatchewan’s Cree River (learn more about that fishery here). The way Tim doubles the fibers back to add bulk and avoid fouling is ingenious.

Guide’s Choice BWO Comparadun
Hook: Barbless dry-fly hook (here, a Moonlit ML102), sizes 14-20.
Thread: Olive dun, 12/0 or 50-denier.
Tail: Medium olive Semperfli Tail Fibre Fibbets.
Body: Tying thread.
Rib: Tying thread colored with a dark-olive marker.
Wing: Silver Baitfish Semperfli Predator Fiber.
Thorax: Olive beaver dubbing.
Adhesive: Superglue.

Olsen’s UV Purple Blowtorch
Hook: Jig hook (here an Umpqua XC 210BL), sizes 12-20.
Bead: Silver slotted tungsten bead, 3mm.
Thread: Purple, 8/0 or 70-denier.
Tail: Hot Pink Glo-Brite Fluorescent Floss (shade  #2).
Rib: Silver wire, small.
Body: Purple Ice Dub.
Collar: Natural dun CDC fibers.
Hot spot: Fluorescent pink thread, 8/0 or 70-denier.

Geehi Beetle
Hook: Standard dry-fly hook, size 10.
Thread: Black, 6/0 or 140-denier.
Tail: Golden-pheasant fibers
Hackle: Brown grizzly hackle.
Body: Peacock herl.
Hackle: Dark-brown grizzly hackle (one size larger).
Thorax: Peacock herl.
Head: Black tying thread.

Poor Man’s Whistler
Hook: Ahrex SA290 Beast Fleye, size 4/0.
Thread: Red, 3/0 or 280-denier.
Tail/wing: Yellow Slinky Fiber.
Flash: Gold Flashabou.
Adhesive: Superglue.
Body: Red Steve Farrar Blend.
Adhesive: Superglue.
Eyes: Bead-chain eyes, large.
Head: Red tying thread.
Adhesive: Head cement, UV resin, or epoxy.