The new Spawn Football Bead really makes this fly work on two levels. First the bead's weight distribution puts this bug in the feeding zone right away. Secondly the added buginess of the football design screams DINNER to any fish nearby. Tie it in any color to match your local waters. I would recommend tying at least one in blue. You'll be glad you did. Thanks for tying along and we look forward to seeing the new flies you tie with the Spawn Football Beads!
Materials List:
Hook- Umpqua U555 Jig
Bead- Spawn Football Bead 5.5mm Black
Weighted Wire- Non Lead .015
Thread- UTC Peacock Blue 70 or 140
Uni 8/0 or 6/0 Doc Blue
Tails- Nature's Spirit Stripped Goose Biots Fluorescent Blue
Body/Abdomen- Small Blue UTC Wire
Brassie Silver UTC Wire
Legs/Flash- Krystal Flash Royal Blue
WIng Cases- Thin Skin Mottled Natural Bustard
Abdomen- Spawn UV Pacific Kingfisher Simi Seal
Loon Hard Head
Loon UV Clear Fly Finish Thin
Step 1:
Slip your Spawn Football Bead onto your hook before placing it into the vise. Add 12-15 wraps of .015 non lead wire. After cutting and smoothing the wire edges with your curved scissors, make sure your bead is oriented with the solid portion facing the ground and the open slot facing upward, or toward the rear of the hook. Carefully add a small amount of Super Glue Gel or Zap-A-Gap to the wire wraps that will push into the back of the bead. Slide the wire securely into the back of the bead and hold in the proper position for a few seconds to let the glue take hold.
Step 2: Begin your thread on the hook shank behind the weighted wire. Make a few passes over the wires to secure them in place. At this point i like to add a bit of Loon Hard Head to the thread covered wraps to ensure the least amount of movement. Take your thread back to just where it begins to bend. Apply a few figure 8 wraps on top of each other to form a small bump. This bump will help us keep our biot tails separate in the next step.
Step 3:
Tie in two goose boots, each at roughly a 30 degree angle from the hook shank. The thread bump will help keep the biots angled away from each other. This is the underside of the fly, so we are seeing the concave, or bottom, of the biots. Once they are securely tied in trim the excess biots where they meet the weighted wire and finish wrapping down keeping a smooth underbody in mind.
Step 4:Now we will tie in our body wires. We will use 2 six inch pieces of Small Blue and one six inch piece of Brassie Silver. Tie thes in with the ends meeting the last wraps of weighted wire. Wrap them down all the way to where the tails are tied in. While still maintaining pressure on your last wrap of thread near the tail, gently bring all 3 wires into a 90 degree position before wrapping your thread forward. This will make your first wire wrap easier while preventing some of the tendency for the wires to want to slip on the first wrap. Bring your thread back to behind the bead.
Step: 5 Wrap all three wires at the same time up the hook shank as tightly as you can. Once you've wrapped 3/4 of the hook shank tie off and carefully trim the excess wire. Tie down the ends.
Step 6: Tie in a single piece of Krystal Flash on either side of the hook as the first set of legs. This first pair is roughly at the halfway point of the bug body. Don't worry too much about the angle of the flash. We will use some dubbing in the next step to position them.
The length of the legs should reach just past the base of our biot tails.
Step 7: Lots to cover in this step. First dub some Simi Seal on your thread in a thin, tight noodle roughly 2 inches. Wrap that dubbing in front and behind the flash legs to create the first thorax section. Now trim a piece of Thin Skin that is between the width of the body and the bead. Trim two similar pieces 1/2 inch long. Trim a crayon shaped tip in the end of one and tie it on top of the hook shank all the way against the dubbing we just added. This will prop up the wing case for that partially hatching aesthetic. Trim the Thin Skin to reach slightly past the dubbing section. We'll look at the next cut in step #8.
Step 8: Here you can see a simple V cut wil give the illusion of a split type stonefly wing case. You can trim as much or little as you wish, but this is my go to for stones.
Step 9: Now let's tie in our flash that will become our second and third pair of legs. Tie in a piece of flash of both sides of the hook that will run parallel to the first pair. Leave the longer trim ends going over the front of the hook. We will pull those back later as our third set of legs.
Step 10: Add more Simi Seal to your thread to form a 3 inch noodle. We will again wrap in front and in back of the second pair of legs so the underbody matches and the legs are propped into position. We need to keep just a bit of open space right behind the bead for our second wing case.
Step 11:
Pull back both remaining pieces of flash and secure with a wrap of thread or two. Add the second trimmed piece of Thin Skin behind the bead exactly as we did for the first. After 5-6 good thread wraps you can trim off the excess Thin Skin on the bead side.
Step 12: As you can see we'll use the same V cut. The important part of this second wing is that it has to reach to a point of overlap with the first wing case. The fish will still eat it if it's slightly off, but for showing your friends it's worth 7 style points.
Step 13: Let's add another very thin inch and a half worth of dubbing on our thread and wrap a few times to cover the Thin Skin tie in. Add two secure whip finishes of at least 4 wraps each, trim your thread and cover the thread wraps with Loon Hard Head or cement of your choice.
Step 14: For some added reality to your bug and just a bit of strength for the wing cases you can carefully apply two very thin layers of Loon UV Clear Fly Finish Thin to each wing case. Cure between layers with your Loon UV Torch. This adds the most benefit where the last wing case and bead meet. Keeps those teeth off the thread for a few extra fish. Thanks for tying along!
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