Flashabou pike/musky streamer

[Fish For Life 0]

Decided to put together a quick step by step of a pike and musky flashabou streamer. No i did not come up with this streamer, and if you would like you can Google search for it to get a better video description of it being tied. I did however put some of my own spin in it, so i would like to share this patter with you guys as its a killer pike and musky pattern. Its movement and shine in the water is unmatched! I like this patter as it is so customizable.

 

 

Step 1:

Big fly, big hook. I like to use a Bass pro XPS 5/0 hook for most of my pike and musky flys. Lay a thread base (i like BigFly thread) half way down the shank of the hook.

 

Step 2:

With you selected color of big fly fiber... Take a good hunk and tye it in at the halfway point on your hook where you ended with your thread. You want the most curly and bulky part at the bend of the hook. Tye off and cut off the excess front to make that so. Apply a coat of crazy glue, varnish, head cement, or whatever else you may use at this point.

 

Step 3:

Tye in a small bunch of flashabou around the previous big fly fiber. I like using magnum flashabou as it is longer than regular, so it can be doubled back. You do not want very much flash tied in at this step, it is just to give the tail some flash. The majority of the flash is still to come. I like the tail to have some red flash, so either tie this in separate, or as i have done chosen a flash combination that had red mixed in.

 

Step 4:

If your flash is long enough double it back. Add more super glue, or whatever you use.

 

Step 5:

Buck tail is added to form more of a body, and give the flash a base to support on. Select your color, and choose the longer hairs near the base of the tail. Tye them in front of the flash and apply good thread pressure to try and flair them up a bit. Add more crazy glue...

 

Step 6:

In front of the buck tail, form a large dubbing loop. This will be used to spin the flashabou, which forms the body.

 

Step 7:

Grab a large hunk of flashabou. Grab what you initially think you need, then grab some more. To get a proper full body, you need alot of flash. This is where this fly can get interesting. You can either just use one color of flash, or mix two or three different colors together to get mix of colors. I happened to have this pre mixed flashabou (sorry dont remember the name of it) so i used it. But in most cases i select two colors and mix them together. While mixing try to either evenly mix the flash together, to get an evenly mixed colored body. Or have one color separately in front of the other while in the dubbing loop, to get a two stage body look. Whatever you choose, once selected evenly spread in your dubbing loop.

 

Step 8:

Once evenly spreaded in your dubbing loop. Pull one side of the loop fibers down farther than the other side. This is to achieve more of a tapered flash body when you start to form your body. Rather than have them all bulky tied up together at the same length.

 

Step 9:

Spin your dubbing loop closed. While you are spinning you fibers will start to get looped up and tangle together. To fix this you will have to stop spinning several times and pick out the fibers using a bodkin. You want the fibers to stay as long as they can, not get all tangled ad wrapped up. You will understand this better in person when you start spinning.

 

Step 10:

Once you have your dubbing loop spun. Rotate your hook in the vise so the eye is facing up. This allows you to much more easily wrap you dubbing body around the hook. If you dont do this and leave you hook horizontal, you will not get an evenly wrapped body. In this position you can much more easily control how the body is laid, and get a more even body. Again, this step clarify itself while tying. If you think im crazy, tye one with the hook horizontally. Than tye another with the hook up like this. You will quickly understand what im talking about.

Hold you tying thread straight up if you can ( i have a hanging lamp above my table witch i use to hold my bobbin). It makes wrapping your body easier.

 

Step 11:

Evenly wrap your flash dubbing loop up to the eye of your hook. While you are wrapping you will notice your flash fibers getting tangled and wrapped around the hook. Again, use a bodkin to free these fibers so they fall straight down.

 

Step 12:

Take your thread and secure the dubbing loop. Then form a small head. It helps to keep the hook in the upright position top stop the flash from getting in your way.

 

Step 13:

Whip finish,crazy glue, and you done!

 

You can mix and match the big fly fiber, buck tail, and flashabou, to get very different and unique looks. Have fun with different combinations and see what you can come up with.

 

In the end it is a very simple patter. However it will more than likely take a few goes at it to get it correct. You will quickly learn from your mistakes and work on from them. As with all patters, practice makes perfect.

 

Some people get concerned that with such a long fly (around 11" long) that the fish will miss the hook as it is so far up in the body. For the most part this is not a concern. If you have ever seen a underwater video of pike or musky eating you will see why, if you haven't you really should. However if you keep getting short striked you can either start off by tyeing in a stinger hook during step one, or just tye one in afterward on the bend of the hook.

 

Hope you enjoy the patter, and the step by step ( its my first one, hoping all goes according to plan)

Thanks for looking

 

[Adam Saarinen 0]

I put bucktail first under the bigfly fibre, just saying. But i really like how you turned the hook up to wrap the flash hackle, looks much more eazy! Thankyou!

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

FFL

Thanks for posting this SBS. You were very good and thorough. I want to try and use this pattern.

Tom

[muskyhunter81 0]

AWESOME!!!

[agn54 0]

Great SBS and a killer looking fly! That thing, like a lot of musky flies, would probably do really well in the salt as well