Fly Tying Group: At the Vise
Chick Pea
Al and Gretchen Beatty

(Originally Published in the Flyfisher Magazine)

Have you ever noticed when you really need something somehow it magically appears or at least the opportunity to purchase it falls in your lap? That is exactly what happened the morning this fly first jumped off our vise and into our lives.

We had just completed an order of flies and Al was preparing the package for mailing. When he started to print the invoice a message popped up on his computer screen that the black ink cartridge was empty in the printer requiring a trip to Office Max to get a new one. That supply house happened to be right next door to a really neat craft store. Ever a sucker for fly shops and craft stores, Al just had to take a quick tour before returning home. He made “another wonderful discovery” while wandering the isles therein. It was Ross Craft Washable Glitter Glue in five great colors; one looked just like peacock herl. Wow! What a find! He was excited to share his discovery with Gretchen.

When he returned home we both started to speak at the same time, “You’ll never guess what I’ve got to show….,” then our voices trailed off. “Ok, you go first,” prompted Al. “I just got one of the neatest flies from Henry Hoffman for the book (the Fly Pattern Encyclopedia),” she responded. “It’s called a Copper Charlie tied with a Chickabou wing. See!” she handed the fly to Al. “What did you want to show me?” He slipped the Glitter Glue out of the bag and showed her the great colors. One thing led to another and this pattern flew from our vise onto page 200 of the book positioned directly above the inspirational fly, Henry Hoffman’s Copper Charlie.

You could say, “Anyone can put a fly in a book but does it catch fish?” At that time we lived in Colorado and had no way to test the fly ourselves. We turned to our old buddy, Bob Lay who lived in Florida at that time. We sent him several patterns tied out the five colors of Glitter Glue. He discovered the bonefish in his part of the world liked them all but seemed to really favor the peacock color the most. We’ll let the fish in your part of the world be the judge. We can’t speak about bonefish (we’ve never caught one on this pattern) but the freshwater fish in our local waters like it a bunch, especially the bluegill in a pond not far from our home.

Materials List
Hook: Size 2 to 8, standard saltwater
Thread: Black or color of choice
Eyes: Dumbbell with stick on, black/gold
Body: Ross Craft Washable Glitter Glue
Body/eye coating: Aqua Flex or Flex Coat
Wing: White Chickabou feather or color of choice
Wing topping: Peacock herl
Head: Thread coated with Aqua Flex

Step 1: Mount the hook in the vise and attach the tying thread about one-third of the way back on the shank. Wrap to the end of the shank and back to the front of the thread base. Place a couple of stick-on eyes on the ends of the dumbbell then tie the assembly to the hook using several crisscross thread wraps. We like to coat the whole unit (including the eyes/thread base) with head cement before continuing.

Step 2: Whip-finish and temporarily trim the thread from the hook. Use a small, disposable paintbrush to coat the thread base with peacock colored Glitter Glue. Place the wet fly body on a rotating wheel to dry. We like to manufacture our own paintbrush by tying a stacked clump of deer hair on the end of a toothpick. They are inexpensive and really do the job.

Step 3: Return the hook to the vise and apply a coating of Aqua Flex over the dry Glitter Glue. Be sure to coat the dumbbells including the ends where the stick-on decals were placed. Put the body back on the rotating wheel to dry.

Step 4: Once again return the hook to the vise placing it upside down in the jaws OR rotate the jaws one-half turn if you are tying on an in-line rotary vise. Reattach the tying thread in front of the dumbbell eyes. Select a white Chickabou feather and tie it to the bottom of the shank (top of the fly) to form a wing. It should be long enough to extend to the end of the hook bend. Trim the surplus feather.

Step 5: Select several peacock herls and tie them to the hook to form a wing topping. Trim the waste ends then cover wrap over them while forming the head.

Step 6: Whip-finish and trim the thread from the hook. We like a real glossy head and accomplish that using Aqua Tuff or clear finger nail polish. It usually takes about three coats of either product. Allow each coat to dry before applying the next.