Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Yellow and Black Floating Leech -- Step by Step

The floating leech was one of my first patterns I learned to tie. It is a great beginner pattern and an even better producer. Give these a try on the vise and throw them at your favorite fishing hole.  You won't be disappointed.  I tie these in all sorts of colors

Yellow/Black Floating Leech

Hook: Mustad 9671 #6
Thread: Black UTC 140
Tail: Yellow Marabou with Gold Widow Flash
Body: Yellow Chenille 
Hackle: Brown Saddle
Shell Back: Black 2mm Foam

 I use Fly Tyers Dungeon Gold Widow Flash mixed in with the tail. It is a cool synthetic mixed with gold flashabou
I have a couple of these cheaper brown saddles that I use for the hackle. They are perfect for buggers or anything that needs a little bigger hackle.


Start your thread and tie in the tail and flash. The tail should be the length of the shank.


Tie in your hackle and then the chenille. On the body of this fly I really don't care about keeping an even taper.  It really doesn't matter nor effects its performance.


Cut your foam and the length is up to you. I always make it a little longer so I have room to work with. The width should be from the hook point to the shank. Then cut it into an arrow shape.

That arrow shape is where you tie it in. Make sure to pull the foam to the front of the eye to make sure you wont have any thread wraps behind the foam at the tail. Once that is tied in then put some super glue over the all the tie in areas. I do this because if you don't the foam will tend to move around on the hook.

Wrap your chenille and tie off. Next wrap your hackle over the chenille. I usually do 6 wraps but it all depend the length of the shank.  Clean up the head and add a little bit of cement.

Pull the foam to the front. Don't make it really tight. Leave it a little loose. You can trim the hackle on top but I just pull it right over the top. Once that is tied in cut the front foam to about a 1/5th of the hook shank.  Whip finish and add cement, then you are done!!  Simple tie and a lip ripper.  Give this one a try and see for yourself.

7 comments:

  1. I'll ty and try on the Spring River next week.
    Thanks for the details

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  2. Thanks for the step by step. I hate working with foam, but this looks easy enough that I might be able to make one that's almost fishable.

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  3. Let me know how it works Kevin. Anthony, it is a quite simple fly to tie so good luck :)

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  4. I've never tied these, but I'm sure they would tempt a few Smallies to the surface. I'll have to try them out. Do you have any favorite color combos?

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  5. Jay -- I like these in the color shown and also in all black. You can throw some rubber legs in there as will if you like

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  6. I just tied a few of these for my brother who will be fishing some really nice water next weekend. I wish I was going with him, but these flies will have a represent me. Thanks for posting this!

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  7. Awesome! I got about 4 dozen of them now in just about every color of the rainbow and some with rubber legs

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