JohnnyUtah
Member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 445
The zug bug
Here's a fairly simple tie. It is a very productive fly in the fall, hell all season long. Zug's are hard to beat. I say fairly simple but it does call for several techniques. But they are all simple. So here we go.
Now this one I did with a fire orange head, for extra attraction on those fall stockies.. The wild browns are fans of the fire orange as well.
Thread- 8/0
Hook- I prefer daiichi, but any wet fly, nymph, or dry fly hook will work just fine. 10-20
Tail- Peacock swords
Body- Peacock hurl. You can use the swords, but I prefer hurl, of a bronze tone. Seems to work great.
Rib- Silver tinsel, silver wire.
Wing- Natural mallard flank feather
Hackle- Brown hen neck, Partridge works well also.
start your thread and wrap back to the bend
Tie in 4-6 peacock swords, Allow the tips to extend past the bend by about the half to 3/4 of the hook shank. wrap thread forward.
On the way back down tie in your tinsel and silver wire. I use both so the tinsel doesn't break or move. I also like to use holographic tinsel.
Tie in 2-3 peacock hurls, by the tips. bring thread forward. Stop about a hook eye and half behind the eye.
wrap your peacock forward. Wrap the opposite way you do your thread. Peacock hurl is very weak and this will help strengthen it when we counter wrap the tinsel and wire. Stop at the thread and tie down. Clip off the excess.
First wrap the tinsel. Counter wrapping.
Then bring your wire up through. Wrap right on top of the tinsel. Tie down tight with a 90 degree bend in wire.
Tie in your hackle. I prefer to do this one by the tip, as I want the fibers to lay back and i want the shorter fibers.
Wrap hackle two full turns, stroking the fibers back with each turn. Tie down and clip the excess. Stock all the fibers down ward that are on top of the fly.
Select a nice mallard flank feather. Remove all the fluff at the bottom, and run your finger nail along the exposed stem, to get the curvature out of it.
Tie in the mallard feather by the exposed stem. Bind this baby down tight, do two on the stem, lift up and two on the shank, do this all the way to the hook eye. You want this feather secure. if this feather comes, off your zug will lose much of its effectiveness. Trim off the excess stem.
Take your scissors and trim the mallard feather. Just cut it straight across. Its very simple and easy.
Make a nice head, and whip finish. I like to put some sally on the head and a wee bit on the mallard wing. It makes the fly practically bomb proof.
Hope you all enjoyed this one.
