And the winner is.....

The winner picked by Rafflecopter was Entry #37, Mel M. Mel said that she is going to use these tubes for steelhead and redfish.  Awesome choices!  :)


A big thanks to everyone who entered! Flies of Fancy and McFluffchucker are teaming up for pike fly giveaway in June! Keep an eye out for that!


Once again, congrats to Mel on winning this giveaway. Send us pics of the steelhead and redfish you catch on your new flies, Mel! 


Nikki

Shea's Bucktail Deceiver

My daughter has been enamored with fly tying since before she could walk. I recall one afternoon when I was sitting at my tying desk working away when suddenly there were tiny fingers and someone was standing beside me watching.

Yup, it was Shea! She had pushed a wooden box I kept feathers in over to my

desk and climbed on top of it and managed to balance herself so she could

watch me tie. She was only twelve months old!

Over the years she has spent time at the desk herself with bobbin in hand, tying

away. In the early days she tied flies with scraps of materials. It was very cute!

She is now nearly eleven years old and can tie very nice flies! She created

the egg pattern she named "Three Scoops Please" which was a huge hit this

steelhead season.

Pictured below is her two most recent flies, Bob Popovics' Bucktail Deceivers!

Both are tied on a small HMH tube and are completed with a Eumer large brass

cone. She did a brilliant job for her first attempt tying tube flies with cone heads!

Well done, sweetheart ;)

The Melon Ball!

Here is a nasty huge beastie that is awesome for big pike, muskie, cobia, off shore and if you're heading to South America it's a great fly for golden dorado! Just vary the colors for the fish you are targeting. I cast this fly on a 10 wt rod with either floating or fast sinking line. I suggest submerging it in the water to get the entire fly soaking wet before fishing it, this much fur my otherwise take a while to get totally soaked to the point of sinking on it's own.

I named this fly The Melon Ball because of the fl. yellow and the fl. red hair looking so much like the colors of a honeydew and water melon. In the past I used palmered marabou in place of the Finn raccoon, both work equally well. The overall length is approximately 9 inches and has so much action in the water that I want to eat it!

Here is the dressing!


The Melon Ball
Tube: HMH large cut to 3 1/4"
Thread: Fl yellow for the body, red thread for the collar and head.
Tail: Fl. yellow Finn raccoon strip twice as long as the tube. 6 Yellow cock hackles with 10-15 strands of firetiger holographic flashabou.
Body: Fl. yellow Finn raccoon strip palmered in touching turns. Leave enough room a the head for the collar.
Wing: 6 Yellow cock hackles with 10-15 strands of firetiger holographic flashabou.
Collar: Switch to red thread. Fl. red Finn raccoon strip wound three time with touching turns.
Eyes: 3/8 3D holographic pearl eyes, set with zap goo. If the eyes get chewed off, glue a new set on!

Tight lines!
Nikki