N E W S :
I invite you join me on a trip to Patagonia, Chile in December of 2008. For details, go to the Trips page.
My new book Flies for the 21st Century is now available! If you'd like a personalized, autographed copy, please click here for details.
Framed flies hand-tied by Uncle Dickie are available on my Framed Flies page.
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November 28, 2007
The Gurgulator
This is a novel fly designed and named by myself.
It is a "marriage" of Jack Gartside's Gurgler and the ever-popular Stimulator, with a couple of added innovations. It is a super floater, and makes a wonderful indicator fly. It also works on its own. Here's the recipe:
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Hook
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long-shank dry fly; here, the 4XL Daiichi model 2460.
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Thread
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something strong, such as the white Uni-Nylon 210 denier seen here,
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Tail
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deer body hair.
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Body/Back/Head
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a strip of 1/8 inch yellow closed-cell foam about two and a half times the shank length, and about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch wide, depending on hook size and thickness of underbody.
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Hackle
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a grizzly dry fly grade saddle feather with fairly short barbs; see note to follow.
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Wing
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deer body hair.
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Adhesive
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super glue, such as Zap-A-Gap or Plastic Surgery, AKA Surehold.
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Note: the hackle barbs on the Gurgulator should be only about as long as the hook gape. This gives the fly better balance on the water.
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- Cover the hook shank with thread. Tie in the tail hair about a quarter of the shank length rearward of the hook eye and cover it as an underbody, wrapping the thread to the bend. The tail should be quite short, as shown.
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- Tie in the foam strip at the very bend of the hook. At this point, it's a good idea to fold back the foam strip and cover the thread wraps with a thin coating of super glue. Emphasis on thin; you don't want this stuff oozing out onto your fingers.
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- Spiral-wrap the thread, forming a segmented foam body, and causing the foam to encircle the hook shank.
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- Tie off, go back to the bend, tie on again, and tie in the hackle feather by the butt end.
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- Wrap the thread forward to near the eye, following the spirals, then wrap the hackle, also following the spirals, with the "pretty" side of the feather facing forward.
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- Bend the remainder of the foam strip forward, and tied it down, using plenty of thread wraps, so as to create a base for the wing. Then tie in a bundle of deer hair and trim the butts. The wing should extend to slightly beyond the rear of the foam body, and should be fairly sparse.
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- Finish the fly by bringing the remaining foam back over the wing butts and tying it down. This will spread and reposition the wing. Tie off, then trim the excess foam from around the head. If you wish, use an orange permanent marker to simulate the orange thorax of the Stimulator, but this is optional. Coat the finishing thread wraps with super glue.
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- Top view of the finished Gurgulator.
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Gurgulator Tying Notes: The Daiichi model 2460 the hook specified above is listed as a streamer hook; however, the wire is light enough for tying long-bodied dry flies, such as the Gurgulator. This hook in bronze finish is not available larger than size 8. However, it is available in larger sizes as the model 2461in black finish for different sized Gurgulators. Other hooks may also be used to achieve varying effects, such as 2XL and 3XL dry fly models. For really large versions, fairly light wire streamer hooks will work, including the Daiichi 2461. The so-called stinger hooks also work fine when a wider gape is desired.
All of my fly tying projects are available as downloadable, printable PDF files! Just click and print each of the projects listed below, and you will be on your way to developing a library of specialized flies and fly tying techniques.
These PDF files require an Acrobat Reader. If your computer does not
have one, you can download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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