Taneycomo Sculpin

[Phil Lilley]

Taneycomo Sculpin

Jeremy Hunt

Recipe:

Hook - TMC 5363 size-6,8

Thread - UTC 140 (color to match body)

Body - rabbit strips

Collar - grizzly olive saddle hackle

Eyes - 7/32 presentation eyes (not dumbbells)

As you notice in the picture I already secured the eyes on top of the shank. If you know how to do this step go ahead. For those people that don’t know here we go. **You can buy a lot of hour glass eyes that come in many different shapes and styles but the ones that I prefer are the presentation eyes. The reason being is when you look at the eye closely you will notice that the middle comes more to a “V” shape which really keeps the thread wraps sliding down in the center to keep each wrap tighter. Let explain the reason why. I don’t like the other eyes as much as this presentation eye because of the center part that connects the two sides together. Let’s say that you have some other eyes lying around the house. If you look at the difference between the others compared to the presentation eye you will notice that the lead eyes or dumbbell eyes, the centers don’t taper to a V. It has more of a long post in the middle like an axle on a car. Think about it like this you have a rod connecting the two tires together. So what I’m trying to explain is because the style of the eye it is harder to cinch the thread wraps to the shank without the eye slipping or shifting. I understand that you can use types of glues to secure the thread and the eye from shifting but the key is not to use too much glue because it could be detected by the fish and they will refuse it because it has to much smell. So what I have found out about the presentation eye is that it holds around the shank more securely verses the other styles. Of course I always use a little glue to keep the eyes from shifting faster because of the way the eyes are tied on the top of the hook this will allow the fly to ride upside down (keeled style). So when you’re striping this fly you need to remember that the rocks will get the best of it over a period of time and will definitely shift and create the eye to start turning around the hook shank. Another tip I would like to share is how you tie in the eye to the shank. I have seen this way tied so many ways. What I have found works best is try not to tie this in and go one direction a lot of turns and then the other direction in a lot of turns. What you want to do is one turn around in a figure eight repeating that same process going the other direction in a figure eight motion. . Do enough turns to fill in the “V” and then rotate the fly upside down and do the same thing on the other side. This will really secure the eyes on the shank. Also move the eyes with your fingers and see if they shift. If they do not than I would say that you did well. The next thing I do is when you’re done with the figure eights on each side. You can use a technique called posting. What this means is post around the eyes. Look in the pic 3 and 4. You will notice the thread is going under the eye but staying on the top of the shank. What this does is cinches down any loose wraps of thread when you were tying the figure eights and it also tightens it up all together. I believe you will notice a big difference next time you do it this way. One thing I did leave out is when you add your glue add your glue when you first start to tie the eyes in. Just get the eye secure on the shank with the thread then add your glue and figure eight them. Do the same thing on the underside if you don’t have a rotary vise just take the hook out and turn it upside down. After you have completed this step your ready to move on. The only other thing I would say is if you are using a glue make sure the glue dries before you complete the fly. If you don’t you could find some of your rabbit stuck together in the glue when you start to palmered the strip forward. What I do is pre-tie my eyes and then go back and tie the rest of the flies.

Go ahead and advance your thread to the bend (past the point). Cut a strip of rabbit. This should be about four inches in length. Before you poke this through the hook point wet your fingers and spread apart the rabbit hairs on each direction. This will keep the hairs on the rabbit strip apart so you can see where to tie it in at. So once you poke it through the point you will need to take your hook out of the vise a slide it down and put your hook back in the vise once you slide it down. Tie the hide down about five tuns of thread tying over each turn. Don’t go side be side when doing his step. Then lift the strip up and tie in front of the strip locking the hide down preventing the strip or the tail from spinning. Advance your thread up just behind the presentation eyes now.

When you tie down the strip and your ready to make your cut be sure to cut it off on the top side of the shank. Now you will see a little of the hide showing after you cut it. Tie all that in to create a smooth foundation to be ready to wrap the hackle around. If you have bumpy foundation it will create your feather to have a mind of its own. Because of the stem being so stiff if you do have any ridges it will make the feather slide or shift making you have to maneuver the feather instead of just making smooth turns forward with the feather.

Select a saddle hackle. I always use olive grizzly hackle for the collar of all my different sculpins patterns. If you notice I cut it right where the barbs are all the same. I don’t want any of the soft feathers to be used for the collar.

Tie the hackle in concave. The shinny side facing down. Wrap the hackle about four turns and cut off the rest.

Now once you have done that you’re ready to dub the head. I use blends of sowscud dubbings but you can use whatever you want. SLF is a great substitute. Just make sure that it blends with the rest of the fly. Just remember this phrase in the dubbing world. We like to say you can always add but you can not take off once you have tied it on.

So once you dub the thread with some dubbing you are ready to tie around the presentation eyes and then the fly is pretty much completed.

Do your first wrap behind the eye and in between the hackle. This will kind of lay the hackle back instead of it being so straight up. Next you will want to figure eight the wraps around the eyes. Just do enough wraps to cover the thread and make a nice head. You will need to turn the fly over and do the same thing on that side to.

Since you dubbed the fly with you fingers you are not going to have that picked-out dubbing look so you will need to pick it out with a bodkin. Something I found that works real well is a gun cleaner brush. It’s a lot faster and it looks a lot better. It grabs more of the dubbing making the head look portion right with the rest of the fly. Well that’s the fly and I will tell you hat this is a deadly pattern for big browns and also a great night pattern tied in grays and blacks. I hope you have as much luck with this fly as I have. Good luck.

Taneycomo Sculpin

Jeremy Hunt