FrequentTyer
Member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2009
- Messages
- 927
I tied this pattern a few years ago for a carp swap, and when I decided to revisit it for the current PAFF carp swap I quickly realized that I had forgotten how I tied it. There are a few posts on the net describing the fly and providing patterns, but I was unable to find a step-by-step. So, I decided to make one that I can use the next time I forget
The pattern is a fairly simple one, but has a few tricky steps. Figuring out how I tied the bristles tool me 3 or 4 attempts.
The fly was first described in “Trout flies: Proven Patterns” by Gary LaFontaine who designed it to sit on the bottom so that the bristles would sink into the silt. If the fly is stripped from this position, a puff of silt is produced that is supposed to look a lot like the trail left by a darting leech. Supposedly this can trigger a strike from trout or carp.
LaFontaine Bristle Leech
Hook: Daiichi 1730 #8
Thread: Brown 3/0
Weight: ~1 inch of 0.02 lead wire doubled over and tied on top of hook
Bristles: Maxima Chameleon monofilament (20 lb, 0.017 inch dia.)
Tail: Grizzly natural rabbit fur
Body: Grizzly natural crosscut rabbit strip wound around hook shaft
Throat: Tan marabou
I like to pre-make the lead pieces and bristles. The part of the hook shank I want to cover with lead is ½ inch, so I cut a 1 inch piece of 0.02 lead and double it over. The bristles are cut about 1 inch long and about ¼ inch is bent over and crimped to form an angle as shown.
Lay down a thread base starting about 2 eye widths behind the bend in the shank and extending to the barb. The thread start point will later indicate where to tie in the bristles. Spiral the thread back to the bend in the shank.
Tie in the lead with the bend in the lead just above the bend in the shank. Be careful to keep the lead on top of the hook and lash it tightly to the shank. This is critical because the lead needs to be on the top of the shank to invert the fly and get the bristles into the silt. I make a small thread ramp at the rear of the lead which is optional.
Spiral the thread back up to the bend and tie in the bristles by the short ends. At this point you want to make sure that the bend in the bristle comes just to the thread tie in point (2 eye widths in front of the shank bend) and that the bristles are tied to the sides of the hook. The wraps at this point are secure, but still a bit loose.
Rotate the bristles up to their final position and use tight wraps to lock them in place and cover the remainder of the butt ends. You can play with the angle. I shoot for about 30 degrees between the bristles (by eye, no protractors ;-).
If you are tying a number of these you can move the thread to the front of the bristles and tie off at this point. Once I had the pattern down I tied these to this point 6 at a time and then finished them.
Either re-attach the thread (if you made several) or move the thread back to the barb and tie in a tail of natural grizzly rabbit fur. Based on the way the body is formed on this fly, I'm thinking that the tail is optional. But you have to cut the hair off the strip to prep it for tie in, so you might as well use it for a tail.
Prep a natural grizzly crosscut strip by removing about a ¼ inch of fur and trimming the hide to a point. You need to choose the end such that when palmered the fur will lay back toward the hook bend. Tie the strip in just in front of the tail and move the thread up to a position approximately one eye width in front of the bristles. At this stage I apply a coating of flexible cement to the thread wraps making sure I really saturate everything. This is optional, but I think it makes the fly more durable.
Palmer the strip forward being careful to draw back the fur after each turn. If you use cement you will see it being forced ahead of the strip and will need to be careful not to get it mixed into the fur. Tie off where you left the thread just in front of the bristles and cover the but end of the strip while beginning to form a conical head.
Invert the fly and tie in a sparse throat of tan marabou with a few loose wraps. Check to insure that the marabou is centered before locking with tight wraps and clipping off excess.
Clip the bristles to about ¼ inch each. Make additional wraps to tidy up the marabou butts and form a nice head. Every version of this fly that I have seen has a large conical head. You may be able to shift things forward a bit more, but you need to have enough space to tie off the bulky rabbit hide, and I think the length of the head is to allow a gradual transition. I finish up with two 3-4 turn whip finish knots and a coat of spar varnish.
I hope this is helpful or at least interesting for someone. Thanks for looking.
Mike.
The pattern is a fairly simple one, but has a few tricky steps. Figuring out how I tied the bristles tool me 3 or 4 attempts.
The fly was first described in “Trout flies: Proven Patterns” by Gary LaFontaine who designed it to sit on the bottom so that the bristles would sink into the silt. If the fly is stripped from this position, a puff of silt is produced that is supposed to look a lot like the trail left by a darting leech. Supposedly this can trigger a strike from trout or carp.
LaFontaine Bristle Leech
Hook: Daiichi 1730 #8
Thread: Brown 3/0
Weight: ~1 inch of 0.02 lead wire doubled over and tied on top of hook
Bristles: Maxima Chameleon monofilament (20 lb, 0.017 inch dia.)
Tail: Grizzly natural rabbit fur
Body: Grizzly natural crosscut rabbit strip wound around hook shaft
Throat: Tan marabou
I like to pre-make the lead pieces and bristles. The part of the hook shank I want to cover with lead is ½ inch, so I cut a 1 inch piece of 0.02 lead and double it over. The bristles are cut about 1 inch long and about ¼ inch is bent over and crimped to form an angle as shown.
Lay down a thread base starting about 2 eye widths behind the bend in the shank and extending to the barb. The thread start point will later indicate where to tie in the bristles. Spiral the thread back to the bend in the shank.
Tie in the lead with the bend in the lead just above the bend in the shank. Be careful to keep the lead on top of the hook and lash it tightly to the shank. This is critical because the lead needs to be on the top of the shank to invert the fly and get the bristles into the silt. I make a small thread ramp at the rear of the lead which is optional.
Spiral the thread back up to the bend and tie in the bristles by the short ends. At this point you want to make sure that the bend in the bristle comes just to the thread tie in point (2 eye widths in front of the shank bend) and that the bristles are tied to the sides of the hook. The wraps at this point are secure, but still a bit loose.
Rotate the bristles up to their final position and use tight wraps to lock them in place and cover the remainder of the butt ends. You can play with the angle. I shoot for about 30 degrees between the bristles (by eye, no protractors ;-).
If you are tying a number of these you can move the thread to the front of the bristles and tie off at this point. Once I had the pattern down I tied these to this point 6 at a time and then finished them.
Either re-attach the thread (if you made several) or move the thread back to the barb and tie in a tail of natural grizzly rabbit fur. Based on the way the body is formed on this fly, I'm thinking that the tail is optional. But you have to cut the hair off the strip to prep it for tie in, so you might as well use it for a tail.
Prep a natural grizzly crosscut strip by removing about a ¼ inch of fur and trimming the hide to a point. You need to choose the end such that when palmered the fur will lay back toward the hook bend. Tie the strip in just in front of the tail and move the thread up to a position approximately one eye width in front of the bristles. At this stage I apply a coating of flexible cement to the thread wraps making sure I really saturate everything. This is optional, but I think it makes the fly more durable.
Palmer the strip forward being careful to draw back the fur after each turn. If you use cement you will see it being forced ahead of the strip and will need to be careful not to get it mixed into the fur. Tie off where you left the thread just in front of the bristles and cover the but end of the strip while beginning to form a conical head.
Invert the fly and tie in a sparse throat of tan marabou with a few loose wraps. Check to insure that the marabou is centered before locking with tight wraps and clipping off excess.
Clip the bristles to about ¼ inch each. Make additional wraps to tidy up the marabou butts and form a nice head. Every version of this fly that I have seen has a large conical head. You may be able to shift things forward a bit more, but you need to have enough space to tie off the bulky rabbit hide, and I think the length of the head is to allow a gradual transition. I finish up with two 3-4 turn whip finish knots and a coat of spar varnish.
I hope this is helpful or at least interesting for someone. Thanks for looking.
Mike.
