Spring is here in Western Montana. The Glacier lilies are blooming, Bitterroots and Arrowleaf Balsamroots are popping up. The geese can’t shut up and fight the Redwing blackbirds for the title of noisiest birds around. Of course, it still snows and blows and when it rains the temps are in the 40’s and it’s pretty miserable to be out in it.
That said, it can be a great time to be out fishing. Most of the mid to lower elevation lakes are ice free and the trout are hungry. The weed beds are all beat down after the long hard water season and there aren’t a lot of hatches going on yet. It’s one of my favorite times to fish a leech, not that there is ever a particularly bad time, but there are fewer options for the fish right now and a leech is a great chunk of protein slowly gliding by.
This pattern is my take on Mayer’s mini leech, or to go back farther in time, Chuck Stranahan’s marabou leech. It’s super easy to tie and looks great in the water. I prefer to fish this fly without any added weight to give it the neutral flowing buoyancy of the natural. That means I almost always fish it in tandem with another fly. Typically I pair it with a beadhead scud or a small wooly worm (yes, fish still like to eat wooly worms). Purple and black are my go-to colors, but brown and olive are good to have as well. Most of the time it won’t matter, but if you only have one color then that will be the time they want something else.
As we get closer to summer and for those of us that also dabble with warm water species, this is a great panfish and bass fly. Even big bass* will happily inhale tiny leeches that drift past them.
*big bass is a relative term considering that we are talking about bass in Montana
Mini leech
Hook: size 12 2X short, fine wire, straight eye
Thread: 6/0 UNI-Thread
Body: 1/8 Zonker strip cut in half lengthwise and two strands of purple flashabou
Collar: rabbit fur from zonker strip
Bead: 3/32 red glass bead or the smallest you can fit on the hook
