Fly Tying Group: At the Vise
Bird Shot Wobbler
Al and Gretchen Beatty

(Originally Published in the Flyfisher Magazine)

It’s kind of funny as we look back on the year we spent writing/editing the Fly Pattern Encyclopedia. Our publisher, Frank Amato, had given us the goal that most (ninety percent) of the sixteen hundred patterns in the book would be flies never before published. With that expectation in mind we sent out request letters from the many good fly tiers we know who are scattered across the United States and Canada. Over two hundred tiers decided to participate; each day’s mail would bring several “new” flies to our post box. It was really a lot of fun reviewing each looking for that “something” we had not seen before. In a few instances we got a real surprise and in fact not long after you read this piece our next book Innovative Flies & Techniques based on some of those ideas will be on the market through Frank Amato Publications. We can almost hear you telling us this is just an article to plug a new book and quite frankly it is somewhat. But also it is chance to share one of the funny (humbling) things that happened to us while we were writing the Encyclopedia.

Over the years we’ve usually taken the position that there is really not many new techniques in fly tying. If a tier thinks he/she has come up with an original idea the chances are good someone thought of it long before they did. You would think with that kind of attitude we wouldn’t let ourselves get sucked it to thinking we had made a discovery on the fly we are sharing with you today. Yes, we know that Jon Cave is credited with developing the spoon style of fly or at least he was one of the early pioneers. But as far as we could figure out no one had glued split shot to such a pattern to make it sink faster. We were pretty darned sure we had made a discovery and the fly you see here today is the result of “our” idea.

We were in for a rude awakening. Not long after we put the Wobbler in the book we got a fly from Gale Doudy who only lived about ten miles from us. It was called the Buckshot Bonefish and his “new” pattern was built on the same general design as ours. We had never shown our fly to anyone. How could he have copied it? He didn’t. Like a lot of people, we allowed ourselves to believe we had developed something. In the end we got a chance to eat a little “humble pie.” Now you know “the rest of the story” as radio commentator Paul Harvey would say.

We are not sharing the Wobbler with you today because we wanted to embarrass ourselves instead we’ve discovered over the past several years it is a heck of a good fish catcher; in other words it produces “All Fish In All Waters.” We’ve successfully used it in salt, warm, and coldwater environments. The side-to-side action as it falls in the water column during the paused period of a standard streamer retrieve seems to drive fish crazy.

We tie it in a range of sizes from 2/0 to 10. Even though we are presenting a saltwater version here today don’t let that keep you from using a freshwater hook to construct an “in-land” pattern.  We’re confident you’ll like it no matter where you use it.

Material List
Hook: Size 2/0 to 10, salt or freshwater
Thread: Red or color of choice
Tail: Pearl Krystal Flash, long and sparse
Under body: Square of plastic milk carton
Eyes: Split shot, black paint, Zap-a-Gap
Body coating: Glitter Glue, Aqua Flex
Wing: Two white Chickabou feathers
Hackle: Dyed red saddle feather
Head: Thread

 

Step 1: Place a hook in the vise and use it as a gage to cut the plastic milk bottle square. First cut a strip that is about as wide as three-fourths the length of the hook shank. Then cut the strip into squares.

Step 2: Hold one of the squares on top of the shank so it lays diagonal along the hook. If the diagonal measurement is longer than the hook shank, use a pair of scissors to trim the plastic to that size. Cut the point off two opposite corners and knick the other two corners so the thread won’t slip off the plastic. We’ve illustrated a trimmed square (in the tweezers) and another attached to the hook.

Step 3: Whip-finish and temporarily trim the thread from the hook. Place a drop of super glue on one of the trimmed corners then press a split shot over the plastic/glue. Repeat the process on the other corner forming the eyes. Allow the glue to dry before continuing to the next step.

Step 4: Paint the body with Glitter Glue and the eyes with any black craft paint if you think it’s needed; we didn’t paint the eyes on the illustrated fly to help you decide if it’s important. Allow the application to dry then coat the whole unit with Aqua Flex. Place it in a rotating dryer to cure. Glitter Glue is available at many craft stores or a two-part epoxy would work as well. Also different colored plastic could easily be used for the body; a plastic orange juice container is one source that comes to mine.

Step 5: Remove the body/hook from the dryer, place it in the vise, and reattach the tying thread at the back of the hook. Tie on six strands of pearl Krystal Flash to form a tail that is three times as long as the complete hook. Select two white Chickabou feathers and tie them to the hook to form wings that are as long as the shank. Notice that we placed the feathers so they curve away from each other.

Step 6: Strip the fuzzy material from the stem of a saddle hackle feather. Tie it to the hook in front of the wings and wrap a several turns to form a collar. Tie off the feather and trim the waste end. Construct a whip-finish, trim the thread from the hook, and apply Aqua Head to complete the fly.