Howell's Strawberry Blonde
Fly of the Month 07.14
Howell's Strawberry Blonde
We are blessed in North Carolina with a creative fly tyer who happens to own and operate a very successful fly shop in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. Kevin Howell is the son of the legendary Don Howell who is well known for creating “GO TO” flies that work when other fly patterns do not.
This is a fly with a number of variations but we present it as Kevin ties it best.
Howell’s Strawberry Blonde
The Woolly Bugger fly pattern is often debated as a wet fly, a hellgrammite imitation or a streamer. We will never really know why trout are turned on by the Woolly Bugger fly pattern, but they seem to like it more often than not. We traditionally use a black, brown or olive woolly bugger with or without a bead head in our North Carolina Streams and in more recent years have found size 12 and size 14 to be very effective. However, RiverGirl, Kelly McCoy, swears by the pink woolly bugger, Fritz Mercer swears by the white woolly bugger, and there are purple, chartreuse, orange to be tried that will most likely work as well. Generally, bright colors in dingy waters and earth-tones in clear waters. Kevin Howell takes the Woolly Bugger fly pattern to the whole next level with the “hot Bead head”!
“This Wooly Bugger pattern came into existence on the Watauga River and has become a go to pattern for me in clear water when I want to fish a Wooly Bugger Pattern. While Olive, White, and Black buggers have always been a mainstay in fly boxes everywhere, pressured trout seem to figure out that maybe they should not eat those. By switching to the mottled tan and yellow coloration I was able to get strikes when other colors would not work. Then for weight I added a red Tungsten Bead one night when I ways tying flies for a trip the following day. Why red you ask? Simple, it was the color bead that was lying on my tying bench. The following day it turned out to be my most productive fly on a Watauga River Float trip. The Red bead seems to act as a Hot Spot or Attractor for the trout.” says Kevin Howell.
Fly of the Month 7.14 Strawberry Blonde
HOOK : Streamer, 4X to 6X. Tiemco 5367 or equivalent. Size 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4
Thread : 8/0 Uni Rusty Brown
Head : Red Tungsten Round bead
Body : Chennille –variegated orange and tan
Ribbing : Gold wire
Hackle : Saddle feather –barred ginger rooster
Tail: Mottlebou
Directions :
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker
Howell's Strawberry Blonde
We are blessed in North Carolina with a creative fly tyer who happens to own and operate a very successful fly shop in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. Kevin Howell is the son of the legendary Don Howell who is well known for creating “GO TO” flies that work when other fly patterns do not.
This is a fly with a number of variations but we present it as Kevin ties it best.
Howell’s Strawberry Blonde
The Woolly Bugger fly pattern is often debated as a wet fly, a hellgrammite imitation or a streamer. We will never really know why trout are turned on by the Woolly Bugger fly pattern, but they seem to like it more often than not. We traditionally use a black, brown or olive woolly bugger with or without a bead head in our North Carolina Streams and in more recent years have found size 12 and size 14 to be very effective. However, RiverGirl, Kelly McCoy, swears by the pink woolly bugger, Fritz Mercer swears by the white woolly bugger, and there are purple, chartreuse, orange to be tried that will most likely work as well. Generally, bright colors in dingy waters and earth-tones in clear waters. Kevin Howell takes the Woolly Bugger fly pattern to the whole next level with the “hot Bead head”!
“This Wooly Bugger pattern came into existence on the Watauga River and has become a go to pattern for me in clear water when I want to fish a Wooly Bugger Pattern. While Olive, White, and Black buggers have always been a mainstay in fly boxes everywhere, pressured trout seem to figure out that maybe they should not eat those. By switching to the mottled tan and yellow coloration I was able to get strikes when other colors would not work. Then for weight I added a red Tungsten Bead one night when I ways tying flies for a trip the following day. Why red you ask? Simple, it was the color bead that was lying on my tying bench. The following day it turned out to be my most productive fly on a Watauga River Float trip. The Red bead seems to act as a Hot Spot or Attractor for the trout.” says Kevin Howell.
Fly of the Month 7.14 Strawberry Blonde
HOOK : Streamer, 4X to 6X. Tiemco 5367 or equivalent. Size 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4
Thread : 8/0 Uni Rusty Brown
Head : Red Tungsten Round bead
Body : Chennille –variegated orange and tan
Ribbing : Gold wire
Hackle : Saddle feather –barred ginger rooster
Tail: Mottlebou
Directions :
- Debarb the point of the hook and slide the bead to the head and affix the hook in the vice. Begin thread wraps immediately behind the bead and wrap tight wraps to the hook bend. Let the bobbin hang.
- Choose a mottlebou feather. Size the length to be approximately the length of the hook shank. Holding the feather in your left hand by the tip, choose only enough feather of the appropriate length and stroke in the direction of the tip to separate the wanted feather from the waste. Eventually there will be a small section of the stem exposed at the tie in point. Once you are happy that this is the correct length for the tail, strip the marabou feathers away from the stem that will not form the tail, to reduce bulk. If the feathers are too unruly, you can slightly moisten your fingertips and control the shape until tied in. Be careful when moistening to not choose more feathers than needed (they will shrink down remarkably) in that it will add unnecessary bulk to the fly. Tie in above the hook point being careful to keep the marabou on top of the hook shank. Tie in firmly but not completely and let the bobbin hang. Take the thread in tight turns to the eye tying in the stem on top of the hook shank as you go. Let the bobbin hang .Select two flash fibers about three inches in length. Match the tips and fold at the midpoint. Tie in the folded midpoint immediately in front of the tail, on top of the hook shank so that two strands are on each side. Trim the lengths to be even and slightly longer than the marabou. Advance the thread to the head and let the bobbin hang.
- Select about three inches of wire and tie in on top of the hook shank and wrap in tight turns to the tail tie in. Let the bobbin hang.
- Select a saddle hackle which has barbs of the right length for about four or five turns. The length should be about one and one half the height of the hook gape. Saddle hackle barbs will increase in length as it goes toward the base. That is okay and will make a slight cone shape to the hackle, getting longer as it nears the head. It is also good to have some webby fibers at the head of the fly to form a collar of wavy material. Tie in with several wraps and let the bobbin hang.
- Select about three inches of chenille and with fingernails or gentle pressure from scissors, strip away the chenille strands revealing a short section of core thread. About one eighth inch or so. Tie in at the tail on top of the hook shank and advance the thread in tight turns to the eye. Let the bobbin hang. Advance the chenille to the head of the hook at the bead. Tie in and let the bobbin hang.
- Advance the saddle hackle with the shiny side forward in wraps between the chenille wraps (it is not necessary to fill every wrap) to just behind the bead head. At this point the hackle should be getting “webby”. Make several firm wraps of thread to secure the hackle and let the bobbin hang. Do not trim the hackle yet.
- Advance the wire in the opposite direction as the hackle (wrap toward you not away from you) and with a wiggling motion avoid trapping too many fibers. This will hold and protect the hackle. At the bead head make two turns of wire, bind with two or three thread wraps and break off excess wire.
- Finish the hackle wrap, forming a collar by making two or three turns of the webby hackle.
- Whip finish, trim the thread and you are finished.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker