June FOTM - The Kinky Muddler

[Stephen Bradbury]

June’s fly of the month is the ‘Kinky Muddler’ this baitfish pattern is an awesome representation of many baitfish species, which by the use of a combination of natural and synthetic materials has good movement in the tail (bucktail & saddle hackles) combined with a profiled head that pushes water and prevents fouling without becoming to waterlogged to cast effectively (trimmed kinky fiber/SF blends). This fly combines the best attributes of a Fatboy fly (profile, underwater sonic signature, lightness etc) and a Lefty’s Deceiver (plenty of natural movement).
Have a look online for some really great tying tutorials/videos on this fly pattern by American ‘Johnny King’ there are a few different material variations and many many different colour combo’s out there depending on which baitfish your trying to represent.
This is my first foray into tying this fly myself as in the past I have fished bought versions of this fly for good results. Most baitfish feeding species can be targeted with this fly in appropriate sizes such as Mangrove jacks, Emperor species, Tailor, Giant herring etc (1/0, 2/0), Salmon, Queenfish, Barramundi, Cobia, Longtail tuna, smaller Kingfish, Mackerel, Trevally etc (4/0), big Trevally etc (8/0)
This fly can be tied slightly weighted (lead wire around hook shank in the head) or without weight as per this version that once wetted and cast has a very slow sink rate (almost neutral) and so can be worked/stripped fast through to very slow.
Recipe :
Hook – 1/0 – 8/0 Gammakatsu SL12S (4/0 this fly)
Thread – fine mono or 210 Denier Flat waxed your choice of colour (white for this fly)
Eyes – 3D eyes of appropriate size for fly size (8mm Tie down eyes with tab for this fly)
Tail – a bunch of bucktail (white for this fly) under 3 or 4 pairs of saddle hackles (3 white & 1 olive each side for this fly) tied in ‘Tented’ fashion to create an inverted ‘V’ approximately 3.5 x hook length.
Head – Kinky fiber, SF flash fiber blends, trimmed to desired shape.
Head glue – UV flex only around the thread finish at the hook eye and the eyes to make the fly a little hardier.

Fish this fly on a fluorocarbon tippet with a loop knot as fast or slow as the situation or species demands.

[Tony Ong]

Steve, I think you haven't stroked that fly enough. I can see a couple of unruly fibres.
Jokes aside, nice tie.