Fly of the Month

Bob Ireton brings together his experience in fly fishing, aquatic entomology, and knowledge of fly tying techniques and materials, to design and tie durable and effective flies.


   Volume 3,  Issue 10                                                                    October 2002

 SALMON EGG

Fly and Text by Bob Ireton

Photography by Bob Kimsey and Bob Ireton

 

Once Salmonid anglers learned of the ravenous fish egg eating abilities of migrating steelhead and salmon, both West Coast and Great Lakes steelheaders have had a long affair with colored yarn.

With the egg flies meager beginnings from the corner yarn shop to the patterned ‘Glo Bug’ egg fly pioneered by Anderson, California’s Bug Shop operation, the egg fly is perhaps the single most important and often used pattern in the Great Lakes. The perfectly round ‘Glo Bug’ with colored dot to show the nucleus or eye-up version of the egg, is still the most seductive and widely used pattern.

By using different materials and hook sizes, there is almost an endless array of egg patterns to be tied. Although best known as a steelhead fly, the egg pattern works well for other species. I have personally used it to catch trout, bass, carp, catfish, etc. If you had a fly box of only different colors and sizes of egg flies, I believe you could catch practically any fish!

 

MATERIALS

Hook – TMC 2457, TMC 105, Mustad 80200BR, Dai-Riki 135, Daiichi 1150, Daiichi 2571 

Size 6,8,10

Thread – 3/0 or equivalent. Color to match the egg yarn

Body – Egg Yarn: chartreuse, fl. orange, oregon cheese, peach, pink, red

 

TYING STEPS

1 – Place the hook properly in the vice. If tying smaller size flies for smaller size fish, consider pinching down the barb. If tying larger sized flies for larger size fish, such as salmon and steelhead, consider leaving the barb intact. Lay on a thread base on the center half of the hook shank. Bring the thread back to the center, and tie a half hitch. egg 1.jpg (19157 bytes)

2 – Cut two 1” pieces of egg yarn, and lay on top of the center of hook. Take two turns over and around, and pull tight, allowing the yarn to spin to the bottom side of the hook. Keep tension on the thread, and tie a half hitch or two.

egg 2.jpg (24464 bytes)
3 - Cut four 1” pieces of yarn. If you want a blood spot, one of the pieces of yarn should be red. Now lay the four pieces of yarn on the top of the hook, and if you are making a blood spot, make sure the red yarn is the topmost piece. Take two turns over and around the yarn, and pull tight. Wind thread through to edge of material on hook eye side, and using a half hitch tool, make several half hitches. Cut off thread, and add a drop or two of head cement to the half hitches only.

egg 3.jpg (24156 bytes)
4 – Pull the four pieces of yarn on the top up, and cut straight across with scissors. If you have curved blade scissors, use them. Remember, the closer to the hook you cut the egg yarn, the smaller and more dense the egg will be. Cutting higher will give a larger, less dense egg. egg 4.jpg (23065 bytes)
5 – Now lift the bottom two pieces of yarn, and cut. Do a little trimming if needed, to finish shaping the egg.

egg 5.jpg (18866 bytes)

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