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Current Tags for This Pattern
/ deer hair / Dragon / Moose / olive / Pheasant / Seal /

Fuzzy Dragon #2

 
tied by finZilla
Fly Type: Deer Hair, Nymphs,
Target Species: Trout,
Recommended Region: Northwest US, Alaska, Western Canada,
Imitation: Dragonflies,
Material List*:
Mustad 9672 #8
Sculpin olive deer hair
Medium olive seal fur
Pheasant tail
Hen pheasant wing
Mono melted eyes
Moose
*Materials with links give you direct access to that product at the J. Stockard store.
Tying Instructions:

1. Debarb hook - the only way to fly fish.

2. Attach thread at eye of hook, and lay down a solid cross hatch rib base of thread by going up and down hook 3 to 5 times times stopping before the bend. This help the deer hair from slipping.

3. Spin your deer hair near the bend of the hook to the 2/3rd mark up the shank, and wrap the thread to the eye to keep it out of the way. With each clump of deer hair you wrap use a fair amount, cleaning out the underfur and packing tightly together with each consecutive clump.

If your clumps are too loose you get gaps and that ain't pretty. Dragonflies may be ugly but they ain't that ugly.

4. Trim down the hair so that it is manageable, tie off the thread and remove.

5. Take the hook out of the vice and trim your deer hair to a cigar shape with a flat underbody. Trim it nice and tight as we'll still need to wrap on our seal fur which will bulk up the body.

6. Put the hook back in the vice and re-apply your thread near the bend.

7. Dub on a thin small section of seal fur and wrap through the deer hair - with each section wrap 2 or 3 times in the same spot to add segmentation. Keep the "ribs" fairly close together to get a nice bush fly. Repeat this step until you've reached the end of the deer hair.

8. Bring the thread forward and tie on the eyes at the half way point of the remaining hook space. I love melting mono eyes and then coloring them myself to match the bug. I've used brown in this pattern but you can use black or green.

9. Bring the thread back to the body. For the legs, tie in about 6 pheasant tail strands on each side laterally at a 15 deg angle.

10. Tie in a patch of hen pheasant feather (turkey quill also works quite nicely) so that it lays back.

11. Dub in a very small section of seal fur the same diameter of the body bringing it up to the eyes.

12. Tie in another section of hen pheasant laying back.

13. Dub on a nice seal fur head, again about the same diameter as the body. Wrap around the eyes figure eight style so as to build a nice realistic head.

14. Near the eye, tie in about 15 strands of moose, on a 45 deg angle, extending past the eye of the hook to act as a weed guard.

15. Build up a clean head, whip finish and apply head cement if you're so inclined.
Presentation Tips: Slow retrieve near the weeds.