Easy Finn Raccoon Leach

Easy Finn Raccoon Leech is a real easy, fast and simple egg sucking leech fly for steelhead, trout, and smallmouth.  This fly is tied with Finn Raccoon hair which has great movement in the water. The key to the effectiveness is sparseness, don't use a lot of material.  The egg on this fly is a 8mm Otter's Milking Egg but you can use a Trout Bead if you wish. Orange is the most effective color but you can experiment with pink or chartreuse. You can tie this fly can be tied in an endless number of color combinations.  Tie some up for your next steelhead trip

Hook: MFC no. 7008 size 8-10
Thread: black or olive 6/0
Tail: Ice Dub
Wing: Finn-Raccoon Hair
Egg: size 8 hook - Otter's Soft Milking Egg 8mm or Trout Bead
         size 10 hook - Otter's Soft Milking Egg 6mm or Trout Bead
Color Combinations: (Ice Dub/Finn Raccoon) Chartreuse/Black, Pink/Black, All Black, blue/olive, olive/black.

STEP 1: Take a Montana Fly Company no. 7008 size 8 streamer hook and place it in your vise.  Take your 6/0 black thread, attach mid-shank and wrap back to the tie in point.  While tieing this fly, try not to get any of the black thread where the egg will go, it will show through the translucent Otter Egg.

STEP 2: Select a clump of Ice Dub and tie in a sparse clump mid shank. Tie the clump in so there is an equal amount of material on either side of the wraps.  

STEP 3:  Wet your fingers and comb the Ice Dub back to the rear of the hook.  Make a couple of wraps over the spot where the dub was tied in to keep the Ice Dub in position.  Advance your thread half way between the dub and the hook eye.

STEP 4:  Tie in a sparse clump of black or olive Finn Raccoon hair. Push the hair around the shank with your fingers so all 360 degrees of the fly are covered.  DO NOT trim the butts, they will be used to form a collar.

STEP 5:  Push the butts of the Finn Raccoon back and secure with several thread wraps to form a collar. Be sure to leave enough room for the egg.  Whip Finish and cut the thread.

STEP 6: Place a drop of Loctite Super Glue Gel on the hook shank.

STEP 7: Push your Otter Egg of choice over the drop of super glue.  Hold the egg in place for several seconds until the glue dries.

The Finished Fly

 

Steel Juan Worm

The Steel Juan Worm is my variation of the popular Orvis steelhead fly the Eggi Juan Kenobi. The Steel Juan Worm is essentially a san juan worm with an egg in front, like a Egg Sucking Leech. Instead of having a glo-bug egg like the Eggi Juan Kenobi, the Steel Juan Worm has a 6mm Otter's Soft Milking Egg.  This is a good steelhead fly for all water conditions, and since it looks different from normal steelhead flies its a good choice for the pressured PA waters.

Hook: MFC no. 7045 size 10
Thread: 6/0 (color to match vernille)
Weight: beadhead (optional)
Body: vernille
Egg: Otter's Soft Milking Egg 6mm
Colors: (vernille/egg) brown/tango, brown/tangerine, red/tango, red/tangerine, pink/tangerine

STEP 1: With a MFC No. 7045 size 10 in your vise, attach your thread and wrap back past the tie-in-point. (Photo 1A)


Photo 1A

Take a 2 1/4in piece of vernille and tie it in so that 3/4in extends past the bend. (Photo 1B)



Photo 1B

STEP 2: Advance your thread to the mid-point between the tie-in-point and hook eye. Be sure to leave enough room for the Otter Egg.  Bring the vernille forward forming a loop, leaving approx. 3/4in sticking forward.

STEP 3: Now take a 6mm Otter Egg (Tango and Tangerine work good) and push it over the eye of the hook. Bring your thread underneath the egg and make several wraps in front to secure the egg.  Whip finish and cut your thread. Your fly is now ready to be fished if you choose not to do the next step.

STEP 4: If you want to you can burn the ends of the vernille with a small lighter. Be careful not to burn to much or burn the egg which will ruin the fly.  Remember this step is completely optional, it only makes the fly look a little nicer to the fisherman and has no affect on the steelhead. Please read my warning below.

***Warning***: Since this is Country KIDS on the Fly I am going to make this statement, if you are a kid DO NOT DO THIS STEP WITHOUT IMMEDIATE PARENTAL SUPERVISION!!! Also do not do this in your fly tying area. Fly tying glues are HIGHLY TOXIC and materials are HIGHLY Flammable. Exercise caution.

Well there you have it, a nice steelhead egg/nymph for steelhead. Try it the next time you head out to the creeks.  If you catch anything email me, I like to here from fisherman.




The finished fly.



Red worm with Tango/Silver Flash egg.

Brown worm with Tango egg.



Red worm with Tango egg.

Tyler Straight

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