No Brainer

Originator: Wally Lutz, Fly: Wally Lutz, Photograph: Hans Weilenmann

Hook: #10 to #14 long shank dry fly Mustad or equivalent
Thread: Kevlar
Hackle: Palmered coachman brown, ginger is good too or match the hair color. Select a hackle which is slightly undersized for the hook
Tail: Elk body hair or deer hair any colour but I like the natural Elk
Body: Elk hair
Middle wing: 20 to 30 pieces Elk or Deer hair set in middle of body. Wing length is just a little shorter than the tail
Beard: 20 to 30 pieces Elk or Deer hair

Tying tips:

Tie the hackle in over the barb of the hook first thing then proceed to the tail.

Trim off a bunch of elk (or deer) body hair, especially the urine stained stuff off the belly of a bull. I know hard to come by but if you're a hunter out in western Canada it happens ;-)

Tie the hair in very tightly to make it flare into a bushy wing/tail. Don't allow it to spin freely but do allow it to roll around the hook shank. Don't cut off the butts as this will make our body.

After tying in the tail wind the thread forward on to the hook shank between the tail hair butts and up to the eye or head position. Pull the elk hair butts forward so that they lay along the shank and loop the thread over the butts. A couple of turns of thread and then pull the butts together over the hook eye with the thread and clip off butts to a height of about half the hackle length. Palmer the hackle forward and again the hackle is sized to the hooks gap. This helps present the fly with a lower profile on the water. I fish this one as a searching pattern in much the same way as the Mikstim.

It just doesn't matter how you present this one it works hence the name. It's a skinny "Bomber" style pattern without the hassle of clipping a hair body.


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© 2001 Hans Weilenmann
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