November is a great month to be fishing. Browns and Brookies are spawning and if you fish the right waters, the rainbows are as fat as they’ll be all year, feasting on eggs of the aforementioned spawners. Until the weather really turns, the fish will feed aggressively for at least a few hours every day. This streamer pattern is a simple platform that can be endlessly modified. It’s my favorite type of fly. Flies like the Wooly Bugger, the Clouser Minnow, the Humpy, the Parachute ?, you want to say Adams, but really, it’s just a parachute mayfly platform; alter it as you will.
The keys to this fly are the movement of the rabbit, the flash of the Ice Dub, and the hook up jigging motion. Fish it deep; fish it tight to cover. Use bead-chain eyes and fish it shallow; go no weight or even foam and a sink-tip line. Fish tail-outs early and late, fish riffles and runs. Fish whenever you can. And hopefully this fly will help. Have fun!
Pig Bait Streamer
Hook: Eagle Claw Baitholder size 2 Tail and Over-body: Hareline Rabbit strip Under-body: Hareline Ice Dub Eyes: 5.6 mm dumbbell Thread: Ultra Tread 140 Legs: Barred Sili Legs small
Tie in the thread and attach the dumbbell eyes. If you are using the baitholder hook, you can align the eyes right in front of the front barb. Wrap the thread back to where it hangs just behind the lower barb of the hook. This placement is important for lining up the rabbit strip in the next step.This is the only tricky part of the fly. You have to measure out how long you want the tail and splay the fur at that spot. I use some spit to tame the fur. If you don’t want spit on your fly, you can use water. Once you have the fur splayed and ready, take the hook out of the vise and stab the hook through the rabbit strip. Always start on the leather side and the hook point comes out on the fur side. Then put the hook back in the vise, but with the hook up. Tie down the rabbit strip with 6 tight wraps. Now try to forget everything you have been taught about dubbing a body. It’s hard to make this messy enough. You want the long fibers of the Ice Dub to stick out and extend all the way the length of the tail. Wrap the dubbing up to the eyes. Comb the dubbing down from the top so that most of the longer pieces stick out from the bottom.Tie in a two rubber legs right behind the eyes. Tie in another set on the other side. Add more dubbing around the eyes and end up with the thread in front of the eyes. Pull the rabbit strip forward over the top of everything and tie off. Add a drop of glue to the head and you’re ready to fish. This is a great simple pattern that is effective in so many different iterations. Find out what combinations work in your area.
