Fly of the Month 04.11 Mickey Finn
This “fly of the month” represents the latest in the TimWilhelm/Tom Adams series.
I suppose most of us know what a Mickey Finn is because of the 1941 film. The Maltese Falcon where Joel Cairo slipped a Mickey into Sam Spade's whiskey. There are also references to it in many other detective novels and movies such as the Philip Marlowe series. So how did a fly come to known as a Mickey Finn instead of the Yellow and Red or maybe something sinister such as the Assassin?
The Mickey Finn is an old pattern that continues to be a favorite among trout and salmon anglers to this day. Its popularity is probably due to the fact that it catches fish, even if it doesn’t represent anything in nature. Reportedly, it was developed by a Canadian fly-tier by the name of Charles Langevin and for a while the fly was called simply the Langevin. It has also been called the Yellow and Red and the Assassin. Greg Clark, a well-known Canadian writer of the time proclaimed, after a very successful a fishing trip, that the fly was as effective as a Mickey Finn. Now, at that time the Mickey Finn was a famous drink, developed in New Orleans in the 1920s, that was very potent because it contained narcotics of some sort. As the story goes, famed actor Rudolph Valentino died from drinking too many Mickey Finns while at a hotel in New York and Clark reasoned that the fly was as deadly as the drink. Clark published a story about the Mickey Finn in 1937 for Hunting and Fishing magazine. The magazine was published to coincide with the annual Sportsman Show
in New York City. The fly became so popular at the show that it was estimated that up to half a million Mickey Finn flies were tied and sold in a few days. Give it a try. (The fly not the drink.)
Fly of the Month 04.11 Mickey Finn
Hook: Streamer hook, 3xL to 6xL, perfect bend, 2x heavy, Size: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Thread: Uni- 8/0 black
Body: Silver mylar flat tinsel
Ribbing: Silver oval tinsel, silver wire may substitute
Wing: Yellow and red bucktail
CAUTION: Leave room for a proper head!
Directions :
1) Start three or four eye lengths back from eye and wrap tightly to above the hook point. Trim tag. Cut flat silver mylar at a forty five degree and tie in firmly at the cut. Tie in the oval tinsel and advance the thread in tight, smooth wraps to where you began tying in and let the bobbin hang.
2) Wrap the flat tinsel toward the hook bend in smooth, tight and non overlapping but covering wraps. Stop just before the hook bend and return in smooth, non overlapping wraps toward the head. Lift the oval tinsel as the wrapping goes past to avoid a “lump”. Continue to the head stopping at the starting point and secure the tinsel and let the bobbin hang.
3) Wrap the oval tinsel in tight, evenly spaced wraps to the same spot as the flat tinsel. Secure with thread wraps and trim tag ends, let the bobbin hang.
4) Select a small portion of yellow bucktail from the tip of the tail. The fibers are thinner and not as hollow as at the base. Even the tips and tie on top of the hook shank extending slightly past the hook bend [about a third of the hook length]. Tie in firmly and trim at an angle. Let the bobbin hang.
5) Select the same size portion of red bucktail as above and repeat, tying on top of the yellow.
6) Select a portion of yellow bucktail equal to the previous yellow and red portions combined and tie in on top. Cut at an angle and secure with several wraps advancing the thread to the hook eye after forming a tapered head with thread wraps. Whip finish and lacquer the head.
Note : Generally I use several coats of head cement for the head but have also tried black, glossy nail polish with good results.
- Tom Adams, Tim Wilhelm
This “fly of the month” represents the latest in the TimWilhelm/Tom Adams series.
I suppose most of us know what a Mickey Finn is because of the 1941 film. The Maltese Falcon where Joel Cairo slipped a Mickey into Sam Spade's whiskey. There are also references to it in many other detective novels and movies such as the Philip Marlowe series. So how did a fly come to known as a Mickey Finn instead of the Yellow and Red or maybe something sinister such as the Assassin?
The Mickey Finn is an old pattern that continues to be a favorite among trout and salmon anglers to this day. Its popularity is probably due to the fact that it catches fish, even if it doesn’t represent anything in nature. Reportedly, it was developed by a Canadian fly-tier by the name of Charles Langevin and for a while the fly was called simply the Langevin. It has also been called the Yellow and Red and the Assassin. Greg Clark, a well-known Canadian writer of the time proclaimed, after a very successful a fishing trip, that the fly was as effective as a Mickey Finn. Now, at that time the Mickey Finn was a famous drink, developed in New Orleans in the 1920s, that was very potent because it contained narcotics of some sort. As the story goes, famed actor Rudolph Valentino died from drinking too many Mickey Finns while at a hotel in New York and Clark reasoned that the fly was as deadly as the drink. Clark published a story about the Mickey Finn in 1937 for Hunting and Fishing magazine. The magazine was published to coincide with the annual Sportsman Show
in New York City. The fly became so popular at the show that it was estimated that up to half a million Mickey Finn flies were tied and sold in a few days. Give it a try. (The fly not the drink.)
Fly of the Month 04.11 Mickey Finn
Hook: Streamer hook, 3xL to 6xL, perfect bend, 2x heavy, Size: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Thread: Uni- 8/0 black
Body: Silver mylar flat tinsel
Ribbing: Silver oval tinsel, silver wire may substitute
Wing: Yellow and red bucktail
CAUTION: Leave room for a proper head!
Directions :
1) Start three or four eye lengths back from eye and wrap tightly to above the hook point. Trim tag. Cut flat silver mylar at a forty five degree and tie in firmly at the cut. Tie in the oval tinsel and advance the thread in tight, smooth wraps to where you began tying in and let the bobbin hang.
2) Wrap the flat tinsel toward the hook bend in smooth, tight and non overlapping but covering wraps. Stop just before the hook bend and return in smooth, non overlapping wraps toward the head. Lift the oval tinsel as the wrapping goes past to avoid a “lump”. Continue to the head stopping at the starting point and secure the tinsel and let the bobbin hang.
3) Wrap the oval tinsel in tight, evenly spaced wraps to the same spot as the flat tinsel. Secure with thread wraps and trim tag ends, let the bobbin hang.
4) Select a small portion of yellow bucktail from the tip of the tail. The fibers are thinner and not as hollow as at the base. Even the tips and tie on top of the hook shank extending slightly past the hook bend [about a third of the hook length]. Tie in firmly and trim at an angle. Let the bobbin hang.
5) Select the same size portion of red bucktail as above and repeat, tying on top of the yellow.
6) Select a portion of yellow bucktail equal to the previous yellow and red portions combined and tie in on top. Cut at an angle and secure with several wraps advancing the thread to the hook eye after forming a tapered head with thread wraps. Whip finish and lacquer the head.
Note : Generally I use several coats of head cement for the head but have also tried black, glossy nail polish with good results.
- Tom Adams, Tim Wilhelm