DREW CHICONE
saltyflytying.com
Drew Chicone is an author, award-winning outdoor writer and fly designer, photographer and materials expert, with a passion for teaching the art of fly tying.
His fly creations are well known and in high demand among saltwater anglers and guides across the globe.
The Devil’s Daughter is one of my earliest creations, yet it is still one of my favorite patterns for backwater baby tarpon and skittish over-slot snook. It’s a mashup of several old patterns and techniques drawing inspiration from the original muddler pattern, Leiser’s Angus, and Tabory’s snake fly, to name a few. This black and UV reflective pattern silhouettes well in off-color water or low-light conditions, and its spun deer hair head effectively pushes volumes of water. Peacock herls intermingled throughout the pattern are naturally iridescent and glows with an orange-color in cloudy water, working well to call attention to this small yet deadly fly.
In the spring of the year, as the water begins to warm up, the brackish rivers and creeks begin to fill up with juvenile tarpon and snook, making their way to the ocean to spawn. The increase in rain has a tendency to make the water off-color and cloudy, like chocolate milk. As I paddled down the creek, I could see the little guys rolling in the distance, so I knew that even though the water clarity was terrible, it was full of baby tarpon. I tried all my usual go-to’s, but everything I threw seemed to get the middle fin! These fish were super-educated; everybody and their fat Harry Uncle had found them in the last few weeks, and they had a severe case of lockjaw. After seeing so many different patterns, I’m sure a few of these fish could tie flies by now.
After experimenting with several different colors, shapes, and sizes, I finally realized that I had nothing that they wanted. I had a few encouraging looks but no takers, and anything with synthetic flash was disregarded immediately. Darker flies seemed to appeal to the little guys, but they just weren’t convinced. I needed to create something that could be fished extremely slowly, move a lot of water, and get their attention.
Although it looks a little strange in the vise, once in the water, the fly comes alive. The supple feathers are set in motion by the slightest movement, and the buoyancy of the deer hair head causes the fly to suspend just under the surface and nudge water out of its way as it swims along. Incorporating the same iridescent material throughout the body and head of the fly makes it look natural; only it lights up and shines when the light is just right.
Materials
Hook: Gamakatsu SL-12, size 2/0
Thread: Black Danville 210 denier
Tail: Peacock Herl and Black Ostrich Plume
Body: Black Marabou Plumes
Head: Black Deer Body Hair
Misc.: Solarez Thin Hard Formula
Step 1:
Start the thread at the point of the hook. Tie in 10 to 12 black ostrich plumes 2-½ – 3 times the hook length.
Step 2:
On top of the ostrich plumes, tie in 8 to 10 peacock herls the same length. Advance your thread slightly in front of the materials, two to three wraps.
Step 3:
Gently gather up the barbs at the tip of an Extra-Select Marabou plume and tie them in at the base of the Ostrich and Peacock. Marabou tends to have fragile rachis or quill and will break if too much thread pressure is applied.
Step 4:
Advance your thread forward 2 to 3 turns, and while holding the butt end of the feather, palmer it forward until it becomes too woody to wind without cracking.
Step 5:
Tie it off the feather and cut away the woody portion. Make 2 to three wraps over the tied-off end to secure it in place.
Step 6:
Repeat the process with a second marabou plume, pulling back the plume’s barbs and packing them tight with each turn so that you do not trap any of them. The thread should be slightly in front of the middle of the hook.
Step 7:
Cut a pencil-size bunch of black deer body hair, clean out any loose hairs or underfur, and mix it with 10 to 15 peacock herls cut approximately the same length as the hair.
Step 8:
Make two loose wraps around the middle of the bunch and work the hair and herl around the shank of the hook with your fingers. Pull the thread tight and spin the bunch around the hook.
Step 9:
Lock the bunch in place with two firm wraps and work the thread forward. Push the hair and herl back, and place a couple of half hitches or a whip-finish in front. (If you break the thread, it will secure the bunch from coming apart).
TYING NOTES
Whenever I work with deer hair, I like to place a couple of half-hitches after each application of materials just in case the thread breaks. This will lock the materials in place and ensure that they do not loosen with the loss of thread pressure.
A simple way to do that is to spin the thread counterclockwise and slowly move the bobbin toward the eye of the hook. This will twist the thread, causing it to want to curl back on itself when the tension is released slightly from the bobbin. Help the loop over the hook eye with your finger, and secure your tensioned wraps with a simple half-hitch. This step secures the wraps and allows you to hold all the hair out of the way at the same time.
Step 10:
Repeat the process 1 or 2 more times or until you fill the shank of the hook, lightly pushing the hair and herl back as you go. Do not pack the hair tight, or the fly will float on top like a popper. The herl should be evenly dispersed among the deer hair around the shank of the hook. When you run out of hook shank to spin hair on, with your non-dominate hand, pull all the deer hair back away from the eye of the hook and place a few half-hithes in front of the spun hair.
Step 11:
Once secured, push back the hair and herl away from the eye of the hook. Whip-finish twice and cut away the thread.
Step 12:
Using a dog brush gently loosen and trapped hair or marabou barbs and fluff up the head of the fly.
Step 13:
Turn the fly over in the vise (hook point up) and, cut away the hair, and peacock herl as close as you can to the shank. This will give you a flat base and open up the hook’s gap.
Step 14:
Being careful not to cut the marabou, trim the iridescent head to a slider or cone shape with a pair of sharp scissors or razor blade. On top of the fly, line your scissors up with the eye of the hook and make an angular cut toward the tail of the fly. Again, do your best not to cut any of the tips of the deer hair collar or marabou. Turn the fly on its side and repeat the same process on both sides of the fly. Tidy up the head of the fly with a few more cuts to even out the head. This will give you a cone-shaped, slider-style head with a flat bottom.
For more patterns, check out www.saltyflytying.com
