tying

Sticky Flies

By Jeff Morgan

Sometimes you wish you had flies that stuck to trout like Velcro. Well, here's a couple of patterns that are the next best thing.

hen I guided and taught flyfishing lessons, I spent 90 percent of my days with people who were picking up a fly rod for the very first time. Since the majority of these lessons took place on Oregon's Deschutes River, we spent nearly all our time nymphing.

Remember your first day of nymphing? The tangled line, the snags on the bottom, the missed strikes? It was no different with my clients. Unless they caught fish, they gradually lost interest and focus, which only made things worse. Regardless if they were paying clients or students, positive reinforcement in the form of fighting trout was essential if they were to learn the basics of nymphing.

Problems and Solutions

The problem, of course, is how to catch trout when people respond to strikes with hesitant or slow hook-sets--assuming they notice the strike and set the hook at all.

One solution is "sticky flies." These patterns utilize tying materials and techniques that ensnare the fly in the trout's teeth. The concept of "sticky" lures is not new-largemouth bass anglers have long used "sticky worms" or "sticky lizards," and gar anglers often fish with a piece of rope (no hook) that wraps around the gar's teeth and jaw. Stickiness can be just as important a factor in fly tying as visibility, density, or durability.

To make sticky flies you need sticky materials. Fuzzy dubbings can be sticky, but they are also loose enough for teeth to cut right through. I prefer making loops or bubbles of fine-fibered yarns like egg yarn or antron yarn. This creates hundreds of strands of small loops to hang on to the fish's teeth.

The Sticky Egg

The Sticky Egg is a variation of a pattern that I found at a California fly shop. One of the shop guides was telling me about steelheading on the Stanislaus River and how they used a pattern that seemed to work far better than any other pattern. The fly was an egg cluster, but tied with loops of yarn, rather than spun and clipped yarn. It was clear why the pattern worked: unless the steelhead lost its teeth, it would be difficult to reject the fly! I started tying and fishing this fly below spawning steelhead and salmon for trout, whitefish, and steelhead. It is not as effective for imitating trout or whitefish spawn.

The Sticky Pupa

The other important "sticky fly" in my box is a caddis pupa imitation, the Sticky Pupa. You can vary the size and colors of this simple pattern to imitate the pupa of any caddis species. The underbody of Krystalflash is essential because it shines through the yarn when wet and makes the pattern useful even when all the yarn is shredded. This fly can easily be tied with a bead head without affecting its performance.

Alternatives

My "sticky-fly" system rests on these two patterns, though there are likely many alternatives. Since use of a sticky fly results from a tactical difficulty and not from an imitative difficulty, I simply need one pattern that is generally effective at whatever time of year I'm fishing. The Sticky Egg works well November through March, and the Sticky Pupae works (in a variety of sizes and colors) from April through October.

Many standard patterns, with minor modifications, can become sticky flies too. The waters you fish may mean that cranefly or midge "sticky flies" could be effective throughout much of the season. I have done well at times with "sticky ants" (two "bubbles" of black egg yarn separated by hackle) on terrestrial sipping trout. Standard parachute patterns can be quickly made "stickier" by creating a loop with the poly wing.

Testing with Velcro

The drawbacks of sticky flies are their bulk and their durability. Because sticky flies create a bulky silhouette, they make poor imitative patterns and generally poor dry flies. Also, sticky flies can be torn to pieces after three or four trout. It pays to have a sharp nippers to trim stray fibers.

If you do decide to experiment with sticky flies, test them at home before graduating them to on-stream use. I prefer the "lob test." Put a four-by-four inch patch of Velcro on the wall near your tying desk. If you can lob your fly at that patch from several feet away and it sticks, you've got a sticky fly. Most dubbed body patterns will snag if you set them on it or gently rub them on a horizontal piece of Velcro. The real test is to get a bit of velocity and gravity working on the fly, then make it stick to a vertical surface. If your fly passes this muster, it will probably work as a sticky fly.

Mouth Time

Experienced trout anglers who practice slack line nymphing, high-stick nymphing, or even long-distance indicator nymphing can benefit from the extra "mouth time" these flies provide. Sticky flies can also be useful when strikes are rare and/or the fish are prized. I especially like the Sticky Egg for my winter steelhead fishing. When one or two strikes may be all I get in a long, cold day on the water, it's nice to make them count.

New Patterns

Sticky Egg
Sticky Pupa

Jeff Morgan has written many articles for Westfly, mostly on entomology and fly tying. He is the author of An Angler's Guide to the Oregon Cascades and Small Stream Fly Fishing. Jeff is currently a graduate student at Stanford University, where he is finishing his PhD in History.

Uploaded 01/19/2005.

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Sticky Egg

Sticky Pupa