I wanted a yellow perch pattern that could be dragged slowly along the bottom to imitate the yellow perch that are a primary food source in the local river. This is what I came up with. The hook is inverted to help prevent snags, and there are strips of lead on the shank to make the fly sink without having a jigging action. I used Super Hair for the wing because it seems durable enough to withstand some abuse from the hungry pike that live in the river.
3/0 bass bug hook, point up. White thread. Small bunch of hot orange Fluorofibre for "tail" (pectoral fins). The body is two strips of lead lashed to the bottom of the shank and covered with pearl body material. I left about 3/4" between the body and the eye of the hook. I also made one strip of lead slightly shorter than the other so the body is tapered. Obviously, you can vary the amount of lead to produce different actions. You could also use a weighted keel hook. On this fly I covered the body with pearl fabric paint, but I will probably just use pearl ribbon in the future.
The wing is "hi tie" style with white Super Hair with a few strands of pearl Krystal Flash, then yellow Super Hair, then olive Super Hair with a few strands peacock Krystal Flash, then a few strands of black Super Hair. I used markers to color the top of the head to match the wing and to make the black bars on the wing. I applied one thin coat of epoxy back just far enough to cover the location for the eyes. After it hardened I applied stick-on eyes and a second coat of epoxy just to cover eyes.
After the epoxy was fully hardened I trimmed the fly to give it the proper shape. I also "thinned" the end of the wing so it has a more tapered look when viewed from above. I did this by carefully trimming the outer layers of hair on the sides of the fly. (try not to cut the krystal flash!) I noticed that the vertical bars got messed up when I trimmed the wing. Next time I will put the bars on last.
3/0 bass bug hook, point up. White thread. Small bunch of hot orange Fluorofibre for "tail" (pectoral fins). The body is two strips of lead lashed to the bottom of the shank and covered with pearl body material. I left about 3/4" between the body and the eye of the hook. I also made one strip of lead slightly shorter than the other so the body is tapered. Obviously, you can vary the amount of lead to produce different actions. You could also use a weighted keel hook. On this fly I covered the body with pearl fabric paint, but I will probably just use pearl ribbon in the future.
The wing is "hi tie" style with white Super Hair with a few strands of pearl Krystal Flash, then yellow Super Hair, then olive Super Hair with a few strands peacock Krystal Flash, then a few strands of black Super Hair. I used markers to color the top of the head to match the wing and to make the black bars on the wing. I applied one thin coat of epoxy back just far enough to cover the location for the eyes. After it hardened I applied stick-on eyes and a second coat of epoxy just to cover eyes.
After the epoxy was fully hardened I trimmed the fly to give it the proper shape. I also "thinned" the end of the wing so it has a more tapered look when viewed from above. I did this by carefully trimming the outer layers of hair on the sides of the fly. (try not to cut the krystal flash!) I noticed that the vertical bars got messed up when I trimmed the wing. Next time I will put the bars on last.