Description
The Upper Sac is generally not a dry fly venue,
at least in my experience. There are some
exceptions: the fish will take large October
Caddis adult imitations in the late fall and
winter; there are, at times, small caddis
that bring the fish up during the late
afternoons and evenings; there can be good
BWO (baetis) hatches on certain days,
particularly those that are cloudy and
misty; and, most evenings there are small,
delicate, pink-bodied mayflies that will
produce some surface activity in tailouts
and riffle water during that last hour
before dark. Sometimes the pinkies, as I
call them, will be duns; at other times they
will be spinners. There are also times when
both are on the water, and it’s up to the
angler to parse out which one the fish are
after. I have seen these beauties on other
streams, and they are always very slender
and delicate in their light pink dress.
My Twilight Pinkie, developed over a long period
of time on this lovely river, is designed to
imitate the small, pink-bodied mayfly dun. I
also have a pattern for the spinners, but
I’ll leave that for a future article.
Tying Instructions
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1.
Smash the hook barb (the 900BL is already
debarbed) and place the hook in your
vise. Cover the hook with thread back to
the hook bend, beginning at mid-point on
the shank.
2.
Place a tiny ball of dubbing at the rear end of
the shank. This will help separate the
tail fibers.
3.
Cut three microfibbets from the skin, measure
them to about 1.5 times the length of
the hook shank, and tie them in on the
far side of the hook just ahead of the
dubbing ball. Repeat this process on the
close side of the hook. If you have done
it correctly, the fibbets will be
slightly flared.
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Move the thread forward to the 1/3 point behind
the eye. Cut a small segment of light
dun turkey flat from the feather and tie
it in at this point with the tips facing
forward. The length should be slightly
longer than the hook shank. Pull the
turkey up and to the rear and place a
few thread wraps in front of it to stand
it up. Take a few thread wraps around
the base of the feather, and return the
thread to the point where the tail was
tied in. Place a tiny drop of super glue
at the base of the wing.
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5.
Tie in a piece of fine gold wire. Dub a sparse,
tapered abdomen with the pink dubbing.
End the abdomen at the base of the
turkey wing post.
6.
Rib the abdomen with the gold wire, and tie it
off at the front end of the abdomen.
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7.
Tie in a properly sized hackle at the base of
the turkey wing post, with the feather
tip pointing rearward.
8.
Dub a small thorax behind and ahead of the wing
post. The thorax should be slightly
heftier than the slim abdomen.
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5.
Tie in a piece of fine gold wire. Dub a sparse,
tapered abdomen with the pink dubbing.
End the abdomen at the base of the
turkey wing post.
6.
Rib the abdomen with the gold wire, and tie it
off at the front end of the abdomen.
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Tying Tips
1.
The pink dubbing must be very light in color;
bright pink seems to turn the fish off.
2.
If there are a few hackle fibers that stick out
below the shank, trim them off. I
believe that the fly needs to sit down
right in the surface film. I have tied
pinkies in the standard “Catskill”
style, but the parachute style seems to
perform better.
So, “Think pink,”…..
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