Fly Tying
The Dirty Bird Fly
A Beginner’s Guide: How to tie the Dirty Bird bead head nymph
If Ken Morrish calls anything his “go-to pattern”, it’s best to listen.
The Dirty Bird is for those times when you just want to start casting. Maybe it’s too cold to want to flip over stones looking for bugs, maybe your free hand has a hot cup of coffee in it. Whatever the case, this pattern is the ‘master of none’ general attractor that will match nothing & anything.
I’ve added a new material with the Creepy Crawly Ice Dub. This dub can be a bit of a PITA to work with; I tend to toss it in a dubbing loop with my Swiss CDC Multi Loop tool and the Multiclamp. These two little tools make it a lot easier to get the right dub length and distribution, just measure out about an inch on your feather prep-per.
Tying Tips
- These flies are work-horses, so I like to tie them with yarn or a nice tight dubbing loop
- If you use the Creepy Crawly Ice Dub, be sure to get the length right before tying in, trimming this can be difficult after the hackle has been tied-in.
Pattern Details
- Family — General Attractor
- Category — Beadhead Nymph
- Lifecycle Stage — Nymph
- Style — Soft Hackle
- Best for Seasons — All Year
- Best Time of Day — All Day
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Ingredients
- Hook: Firehole Sticks 618, size 12–16
- Bead: Black tungsten bead, size 3.2mm
- Thread: Semperfli Nano Silk Thread Black 12/0
- Body: Semperfli Mottled Dark Green Dirty Bug Yarn
- Ribbing: Semperfli .2mm Copper Wire
- Collar: Creepy Crawly Ice Dub Brown
- Hackle: Speckled Brown Hen Saddle Patch
Steps
- Fix bead on hook
- Wrap down body, attach partridge feather fibers for tail
- Attach wire
- Attach body yarn
- Wrap body yarn up to bead, tie off
- Wrap wire up to bead, tie off and helicopter excess
- Wrap back down shank 2-bead lengths
- Attach creepy crawly ice dub in loop
- Use leftover yarn dubbed to thread to finish collar wrap
- Finish with water-based glue dropped down bead eye hole.
Additional Resources
- Morrish Makes Magnificent Trout Munchies, The Drake
Related Patterns
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