Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Tombstone Shadow
[iteration of SMB and/or conehead bugger]

hook: #6 3x long is just about right on (curved shank is good)
tail: whatever crap marabou you have laying around
underbody1: the crap marabou wrapped forward and lashed down to add bulk
underbody2: flashy leech dubbing (from WFF)
hackle: grizzly or whatever garbage is laying around
collar: chocolate guinea
head: 1-2 coneheads depending on size

Note: fly will fish better if you swill beer and listen to namesake song while tying. Guaranteed.

This is tied precisely to be a big nymph or small streamer, to lead 2-nymph rigs in standard Driftless Area fishing. Twitch retrieve is nice. Dead drift is nice. What the hell. Pretty nice. When the caddis won't hatch and the rain and snow won't stop a guy can only make big dirty flies and catch fish below the surface. All the while singing this song:

When the sky is gray
And the moon is hate
I'll be down to get you.
Roots of earth will shake.

Sinister Purpose
Knocking at your door;
Come and take my hand.

Burn away the goodness;
You and I remain.
Did you see the last war?
Well, here I am again.

Sinister Purpose
Knocking at your door;
Come and take my hand.

I can set you free,
Make you rich and wise.
We can live forever;
Look into my eyes.

Sinister Purpose
Knocking at your door;
Come and take my hand.

Mm-mm-mm-mm....





And who wouldn't love yelling this on the stream?: TOMBSTONE SHADOW ON THAT ASS!

FOOK WHAT SPAWT (T. McGuane)

7 Comments:

Blogger Dustin's Fly Box said...

Great post! I have a whole bunch of crap laying around so I am sure I can tie it :)

9:45 PM  
Blogger John Montana said...

Good looking bug.

10:24 PM  
Blogger winonaflyfactory said...

Damn those look awesome. Nice work, I dig the hackle and the double cone. Very cool, they will find fish for sure.

7:26 AM  
Blogger Wendy Berrell said...

Put it to the test tomorrow. In the rain. Looking for heavy creel.

9:43 PM  
Blogger Bubba said...

Beautiful work!

I'm sure those get gobbled up.

8:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Leave a little space between the cones and let them rattle against each other. Oh and Hang on!

8:47 AM  
Blogger Wendy Berrell said...

Good notes.

My fly boxes are getting empty because I'm lazy. And because I like to set up "good problems to have."

I aim to commence restocking of standard patterns tonight.

On this particular fly: I fished it on Friday afternoon. Okay, nothing great. This rig that puts a large fly on front and #16 on back still needs some tweaking. It's prone to tangles, and also to occasional snagging of fish on the small fly (after striking the big fly).

8:31 AM  

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