Although I have given this fly a unique name, there is really nothing unique about this pattern. Like many of the flies I use, it is a blend of a number of applications that I have found favor with. This pattern blends the effective properties of dyed barred rabbit strips with the zonker style of applying the material to the dorsal area of the fly, and finishing with a Shenk's style spun deer hair head.

While living in the State College area of Pennsylvania, attending Penn State and fishing the local limestone streams, I was turned on to the effectiveness (and fun!) of fishing sculpin patterns. The area streams were, and still are, virtual sculpin factories. The folks at Flyfisher's Paradise made me aware of the use of patterns that imitate these creatures, especially during high water events when the scuplins would get disoriented. The owner, Steve Sywensky, advocates the use of an Art Shenk pattern built from black marabou, yarn, and deer hair. It is a pattern I still use today when the waters are roily with silt since I can see it well and so can the trout. In those cases I am fishing to "see" the take so pattern visibility is a characteristic I place great importance on. I'll cast it upstream and aggressively strip and twitch it back to me just under the surface. The takes are always surprising and violent!

What I have learned is that there is a breakpoint in pattern size, somewhere around #6, where the fish will lose interest. If I try to fish smaller sizes I get far less attacks. However, even a small fish will nail a large pattern. I have also learned that streamers are not only a muddy water affair. In some waters, resident brown trout are truly a piscivorous predator, especially the larger denizens. In those places, during normal conditions, it pays to use more natural patterns that represent the bait of the area. Sculpins are typically present, and so are suckers. This pattern aims to combine the features of the two into one effective streamer--I think rather successfully.

I almost always fish this on a Type III through Type VI full sinking line with a smaller pattern trailing. "Swinging" this fly will get little response as it needs to be stripped and twitched in order to elicit the killing response from the fish. I should add that it works as well for smallmouth bass.

MATERIALS

Hook: Mustad R74 (#2-#6)

Thread: Danville Flat "A" to match hair color

Rib: Mono Thread

Body: Single-ply Tan Wool Yarn

Wing/Tail: Tan dyed barred rabbit strip

Pectoral Fins: Unclipped hair tips on either side

Head: Spun/Clipped brown deer hair

Place debarbed hook well back in your vise. Use the hook pocket if available.

Secure heavy lead wire to the front half of the shank. This will help create the "jigging" motion and offset the buoyancy of the deer hair.

Start you flat "A" thread amidst the lead wraps.

Lock down the lead and form the fore and aft tapers. End at the rear above the point.

Attach the mon thread to the nearside and lock it into your material clip for later use. Advance the thread to the 1/2 position on the shank.

Select a long section of tan wool yarn and split it into individual strands.

Select a single strand and secure it to the near side of the hook.

Bring your thread back to the 1/2 point of the shank.

Wrap the yarn up, back, and up again forming a stout, tapered 3-layer body. Pass the yarn on the back side of the hook and in front of the hanging bobbin...

...pull the yarn to the nearside of the hook and pull it up and back...

...then make 2 tight wraps of thread to secure it in place.

Trim the excess. You have just made the belly of the fish.

Select a strip of tan barred rabbit hide.

Orient the strip so that the fur flows away from the hook eye and then tie it in by the tip if the hide at the middle of the shank. Be sure there is no thread gap between where you secure the hide and where the wool body ended.

Pull the strip back and taught. Directly over the tie-in location of the mono rib, separate the fur.

Make 3 tight wraps with the mono thread to secure the rabbit strip to the hook.

Stroke the fur back and then split it again slightly forward.

Make another wrap of mono forward of the first 3 wraps. Continue to do so as you move forward, binding the strip to the hook. This will form the tail, back and dorsal fins of the baitfish. Once you reach the thread, repeat the tie-off process you used with the yarn.

About one-hook length beyond the bend, separate the fur one more time.

Trim the hid with scissors at this point to set the length of the fly. By splitting the fur first, you avoid clipping the fur and losing the mobile tips. Notice how much added length the fur alone provides.

Select a piece of dyed brown deer hair. The patch should be from a winter harvested deer and be comprised of hair fibers that are hollow well into the tips.

Cut a very healthy bunch from the patch.

Shift your grip towards the tips...

...and comb through the butt ends to removed the shorts and underfur.

Place the bunch, tips first, into a large volume stacker.

Aggressively stack the hair to even the tips. Pull the barrel from the base so the tips face the rear of the hook.

Grasp the bundle by the tips and comb through it again.

Measure the tips to reach from the forward edge of the body to almost the hook barb.

Place your measured point directly above the thread which should be hanging at the edge of the body.

Clip the butt ends of the hair bundle short of the hook eye. This will make flaring and trimmer easier. Holding the tips, shove the bundle onto, and around, the hook shank--keeping the measured location at the edge of the body. Take a complete, yet loose, wrap of thread around the hair and hook.

Still holding the tips, take another complete wrap and start to apply some pressure. The hair will begin to flare.

As you begin your third wrap, let go of the tips and allow the thread to pull the hair around the hook as your increasing pressure pinches it down and makes it flare.

Make a few more tight wraps forward through the hair. Be sure the hair is locked into place and no longer spins around the shank. Often this is where the thread will break without you knowing it. If you cannot get the hair to cinch tight, but instead it keeps spinning, then you have broken your thread. If that happens, unwrap--remove the hair--and reattach the thread before restarting with a new bundle of hair.

Pull the hair back and advance the thread to just in front of the spun bundle.

Select another healthy dollop of hair. Comb through as before but this time do not stack the hair.

Instead, transfer your grip so that the tips are exposed, then remove the tips with your scissors so that you are left with a bundle of butt ends.

Lay the bundle diagonally on the hook shank just in front of the spun hair you just applied.

One complete wrap, holding on, no tension. This acts to contain the hair and secure it to the hook.

Second complete wrap, still holding on. This time you begin to apply pressure, creating that pinch point where the hair flares.

As you start the third wrap let go and boost the pressure. As the thread bites the hair, it will grab and pull it around the hook, at the same time maximizing the flare.

Take a few very tight wraps forward to lock the hair to the hook.

Pull back the hairs and advance the thread forward.

Repeat with a final bundle of hair.

Note: the number of bundles you use depends on the density of the bundles as well as the hook size.

Once the last bundle is flared and locked, whip finish directly in the hair. No one will see it and you will drive yourself batty trying to build a neat head in front.

Clip the thread and you are left with a mess!

Notice that I did not stack the bundles of hair once I applied them to the hook. This is a subsurface pattern so I do not want the deer hair head to be as tight as a cork or it would never sink!

Remove the fly and boil some water. Once the steam starts escaping, hold the hair in the steam and allow the individual hairs to stand erect and puff out. This will make your trimming job a bit easier.

Note: this also works to restore matted hackles and other hairs.

Put the fly back in the vise.

Select a pair of very sharp serrated scissors. I like serrated blades over razor blades and non-serrated scissors because the serrations act to grip the hair as you cut instead of pushing the hair away.

Expose the belly of the fly to make your first cut.

Remove the hair from the underside of the head by keeping the blades parallel to the hook shank. Until you get the feel, only cut away small amounts of hair at a time. You can always trim more, but you can never put hair back on! Be sure to lop-off the hair tips on the belly. DO NOT REMOVE THE TIPS FROM THE SIDES OF THE FLY!

Notice how the bottom is trimmed flat, just like a real sculpin or sucker.

Next, expose the top of the fly. Got to love rotary vises!

Expose the eye of the hook, in this case it is a TDE for a reason! Place your scissors blades on the eye as this will set the angle for the initial cut.

Make a snip to remove the hair in the middle of the head. This will be the beginning contour.

Continue trimming up the middle of the head using the initial contour as a guide. Once you reach the rear of the head, broaden the path to either side--be sure to use the angle you have set to keep your blades in the proper position. Small cuts as first!

Next, one at a time, trim the sides to compliment the shape of the head. Notice I have left the hairs long. My first step is to set the shape. Now, we will go back over the head and bring it to length.

Here is the top view of the final trim. Notice that I trimmed off the hair tips on the dorsal side, leaving only the tips exposed on either side.

Bottom view. See how the tips form the pectoral fins?

A completed LW's Sculper! MMmm-MMmm good!