While I tend to prefer dry flies and don’t fish sinking flies much, I thought it would be fun to start experimenting with some reverse hackle Tenkara wet flies. When I do fish wet flies, I usually want them to sink fast. So, I’m playing around with some different ideas for Tenkara-style flies that use copper wire for the body to give them a little more weight than the traditional thread bodies. Also, I’ve been reading a lot lately about the effectiveness of blue-colored flies. And that’s what inspired this pattern.
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It’s called the “Ninja’s Victim” because it goes down fast and is black and blue (get it?). It’s a very simple pattern but one that I think has a lot of fish appeal (like iridescent Starling hackle). Here is the recipe:
Hook: TMC 2457 #16-20
Thread: Black UNI 8/0
Body: Blue copper wire (with tapered thread underbody)
Hackle: Starling
I’m thinking about adding a peacock herl thorax to add to the iridescence but am not sure if that would slow down the sink rate. The Starling already makes it look buggy enough so maybe the peacock herl is redundant. I guess I’ll just have to put it in front of “the judges” to get the final verdict.
I like the starling hackle. This fly is not associated with Charlie Sheen though is it?
LOL. If it were, I’m sure I’d get a lot more traffic to my blog!
That’s a really great looking fly. I don’t know that the peacock herl would be a necessity, but I’d tie one that way for comparison. Once it’s wet, the sink rate shouldn’t be affected too much. It might actually make it a little heavier once it’s water-logged.
I was thinking the same thing–it would absorb more water and sink better.
As I prepare to embark on my own tenkara adventure, I find myself asking what types of birds and feathers are more suitable for tying the tinier sized kebaris?
Obviously starling is an option; as are small genetic dry fly hackles.
What others are worth buying to tie the smaller stuff, for like small blue wing olives, midges, tiny caddis or stonefly inspired kebaris?