Anglish Bead Head Stone

(Click on the image to get a larger jpeg version)

Materials

Hook: English bait hook

Head: gold bead

Thread: yellow*

Tail: gold goose biots*

Shellback: gold Swiss straw*

Rib: gold wire*

Body: yellow/brown varigated chenille*

Hackle: fairly large light brown hen*

Note:

I must be honest and say I have yet to fish this pattern, but when I tied it, it just looked too wicked not to stick on here. So I'm asking you if you try one of these to let me know how it does...

Tying Instructions

1. As with all bead head flies, the first thing you should do is pinch down the barb of the hook and slip on the bead -- small hole towards the eye of the hook. I'd recommend putting on the largest bead you can get to fit around the bend of the hook. By the way, tying on these kinds of hooks is a bit tricky -- you might want to read the first step or two in the green rockworm description if you're unfamiliar with these things...

2. After building up a bit of thread behind the bead to hold it in place, wind back just behind the point of the hook and tie in the goose biot tails. Something I was fooling around with this time was securing the biot on the underside of the hook, splayed out about 45 degrees to the side, then carefully winding the thread back over it, causing it to bend towards the rear more. (it helps to hold the tips up while doing this) When the biot was bent to an angle I liked, I stopped & wound back forwards a turn or two.

3. Now you should tie in the gold wire, gold Swiss straw, and chenille for the abdomen and shellback. Wind the chenille up about halfway to the eye & secure it with a few winds. Don't cut it off yet!

4. Pull the Swiss straw over the back of the abdomen and tie down. Don't cut it off yet! Then wind the gold wire rib up the abdomen to give it a segmented look. This time, trim the excess wire...

5. Look over step #4 in the Montreal description, then tie in the hen hackle tip first like it says there. Don't wind it yet, just be ready.

6. Now build up a fat thorax with the chenille. Tie it off flush with the bead.

7. Wind the hen hackle through the chenille, folding it as you go. The fibers should be fairly long, to give a lot of movement, like the natural's legs. Tie the hackle off flush with the bead.

8. Pull the Swiss straw over the top of the thorax, and tie it down at the head of the fly. Then pull the tag end back and secure it so it stays that way. Trim the tag end to be half the thorax's length, finish off the head, put another hook in the vise and go to step number 1.

These material combinations are for the upper (Claassenia) pattern:

Hook: English bait hook

Head: gold bead

Thread: brown

Tail: tan Goose biots

Shellback: light brown Swiss straw

Rib: copper wire

Body: tan/black varigated chenille

Hackle: fairly large grizzly hen dyed tan

The McKenzie Page

last update: Oct 13, 1996

dmason@zebu.uoregon.edu