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Barr's Bouface (Pike swap entry)

6K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  DFix 
#1 ·
Here's Dave Fix's swap fly and the recipe as he describes it:

As I leafed through the Umpqua pattern book, I noticed something similar
called "Barr's 'Bouface" - I guess it pays to have name recognition :D

This sucker is probably way overtied, material wise. I tend to tie heavy on
some things, as some of you know. If anyone wants to, I suppose some of the
materials could be snipped or cropped. It works in red/white, frog
green/yellow, yellow/blue/green, black/color, black/black. You choose.

Hook: (tyer choice) Varivas 990S 1/0 or 2/0.
Thread: (tyer choice - needs to be durable and finishing cement absorbent)
Danville Flat Waxed Nylon, Black (this project); 3/0 Monocord, etc.
Cement: Tyer Choice.
Tail: Black Saddle and Black Schlappen, 4 ea., minimum 6" long. Pick good,
matched quills in both materials.
Flash: Flashabou and Krystal Flash in Iridescent Green/Pearl Green, rainbow,
etc. (tyer choice)
Collar: Black Marabou Bloods; Orange Marabou Bloods. These should be full,
broad brushes, nicely matched in size and profile.
Eye: Tyer Choice. (left out this time)

Wrap hook shank from 1/3 behind eye to beginning of bend; hitch off, hang
bobbin; coat wrapping with cement.
Strip saddle hackle shafts of all but 1/2" marabou near base. Leave 1/2-3/4"
bare quill to bind to hook.
Bind saddle hackle one at a time, flatwing style, at point above bend.
Position quills so they match clock positions Eleven, Twelve (two quills),
One o'clock. Two top quills match tips; two side quills draw slightly
forward creating taper either side of matched tips. After positioning, wrap
quills to secure, hitch and hang bobbin; cement.
Tie Schlappen at 90 degrees each side, about 1/2" shorter than hackle ends,
praying hand style; wrap, hitch, cement.

At this point, even on a hook shank of about an inch, you've only used half
the hook shank for materials. Choose to wind in flash here, saving some for
collar finishing or hold until collar completed, then apply flash.

Marabou. Because Marabou is so much fun to work with, I'll be as detailed as
possible.

Marabou takes up an awful lot of room on a hook shank if you just slap it
on. Even with careful application, it can be a major P.I.A. It's beauty is
it's action in the water. If you tie this on a smaller hook, decrease
material count accordingly. If you are unfamiliar with using marabou or
don't like using marabou, use 1/8" cross-cut zonker strips. Marabou can be
tied down as far as #4 with quills correctly proportioned; anything under
that involves quills and barbs. If you don't like the full profile of
schlappen, tie it sparse with saddle hackles alone.

This collar is six to eight bloods heavy, depending on fill power of
marabou; three to four of each color, top and bottom.
Strip the base of each quill of rough material. Match sides of quills at
about 1 1/2 or longer. Leave 1/2" bare quill for wrapping.
At this point, save stripped, salvageable barbs to use as filler.
Beginning on bottom of hook shank, fix one orange quill each at Four and
Eight o'clock, matching brush ends. Fix the two remaining quills between
these. Hitch and cement. Turn hook over and repeat top with black quills,
matching lengths.
Observe small voids in collar colors. Fill with necessary saved barbs.

At this point you're approaching wrapping the head. If you have any quill
ends sticking out, trim so they taper toward the eye; do not cut them off
flush, or your thread will jump off the ends as you wrap. Also, be careful
to NOT tension your Flat Waxed Nylon so tightly as to fray it. I like using
FWN, but I tend to tension it quite a bit at the head, occasionally breaking
off with accompanying cursing.

As you wrap, you will find those spaces which may be filled with barbs of
marabou to finish building collar. Taper head wrap in tarpon style finish.
Include all or remaining flash. Whip, apply eyes if desired, cement, etc.

I've tied this before in different dimensions. Some past efforts have
included hidden collar rings like Electric Green between the major colors,
Jungle Cock nails, Golden Pheasant or Lady Amherst tippets, as well as
painted, holographic or molded eyes.

This thing can feel like a submarine when wet and submerged, but it can be
stripped at any of several rates, skipping over water's top to dredging
bottom. I particularly like watching this pattern be attacked while being
dragged outside a pond lily line or down the edge of a rip.

Enjoy.
 

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#2 ·
AND IT CAUGHT MY BIGGEST PIKE THIS YEAR
Tried it out last weekend at a local Pike lake, nothing else was working and the big guys have yet to come in to the shallow. I tied it on to a full sink, type 4, and thought it would sink better than the other flies I had been using. I also have to admit that it's size and color was intriguing to me. Up till now I had been using white's mostly since the water color is still murky.
First cast, let it sink to about 12-15 feet and BANG, a nice 15 pounder was making my reel sing...
Great pattern, will try it again tomorrow in clearer water.
Pics to follow sometime next week..
 
#4 · (Edited)
striblue said:
Nice Fly Dave..looks a little like a thick Rats ass without the clouser eyes.... In a different color that would make a great striper fly no doubt.... what... no Lolita eyes???
There's a piece of info missing from the beginning of my description, above. This thing is kinda the Mepps Lusox of the pike-fly world in the colors anybody can imagine tying it in; I'd played with this pattern for a lot of years in quite a few colors before I ever knew about the Umpqua registered Barr Bouface. I was jarred to make this after seeing it in the Umpqua catalog. My past efforts with this are more large streamer hook oriented, with eyes, as noted. But, when we started talking about pike, and knowing some of us live in 'REAL PIKE' TERRITORY, I used the Varivas saltwater hook instead. I've also used this as a eel 'cuz it pushes so much water.

Pete, I'm so pleased this bugger worked for you ! :cool:

John: Thanks - regarding eyes, with the tarpon taper winding on the head, it would be a paint job. Yes, you've seen my secret arsenal of highly attractive nail colors and sequin nighttime flashies :eek:, but I chose to not eye these :eyecrazy:

Answer this question: if you suggest this is a thick Rat's Ass, I can see the proportioning you mean, but - IF I make this Rat's Ass style, do I want to palmer the marabou, tie it on quill style, or is it tyer choice?
 
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