The Quiggly represents an emerging mayfly that is dressed in an unusual manner to make the rear end of the tail hang down in the water and the thorax and wing out of the water. Apply saliva to the body and tail, then floatant to the wing and hackle. During a hatch, fish tend to be more eager to take an Emerger than a Dun because they are not ready to fly off.
HOOK: TMC 100, sizes 14 16 18.
THREAD: 8/0 or 12/0 (Preferable for the smaller sized hooks).
TAIL and BODY: gray Marabou (fluffy).
THORAX: dark olive dubbing
WING: deer hair with narrow fibers
HACKLE: grizzly.
1. Crimp barb.
2. Attach thread behind eye, wrap to rear of shank with touching wraps.
3. Select 3 to 5 barbs of marabou, cut from stem, tie in with tips extending hook shank length to rear. Tie down with 2 thread wraps forward, then fold marabou backward and make two thread wraps backward.
4. Make dubbing loop with marabou. Wrap thread forward to 1/3 back on shank.
5. Gently twist dubbing loop into rope. Wrap forward with touching wraps up to hanging thread.
6. Dub a round thorax that surrounds a section of the shank starting 1/4 back and ending 1/2 back..
7. Select small bundle of deer hair. Clean out under fur, stack tips. Lay on top of shank, tips out over eye that measure shank length in front of thorax.
8. Tie in by making first wrap around only hair fibers and second wrap around both fibers and hook shank. Make several snug wraps on top of one another. Make one wrap around base of wing to bundle it, then one more wrap around shank. Cut butt ends so that they just cover thorax.
9. Reposition hook with eye tipped upward.
10. Select hackle with barbs one and a half hook gap. Cut off fuzzy end. Cut 5 to 6 barbs short along base of stem on each side forming a “crew cut“. Holding feather tip to rear, dark shiny side towards you, crew cut both behind I and wing. Tie in crew cut behind wing with two wraps, then two wraps between eye and wing. Position thread between wing and cut butts. Make 3 to 5 hackle wraps in the same place around deer hair and shank. Tie off cut access.
11. Have hitch behind eye.
12. If tail longer than hook shank length, pinch marabou to cut (don’t use scissors).
Posted on December 29th, 2024