The pattern notebook · streamer
Egan's Poacher
How do you tie a Egan's Poacher?
Egan's Poacher is a streamer fly pattern for trout, bass. Find its 9 materials and 10 tying steps below.
- Difficulty
- 2 of 5
- Target species
- trout, bass
- Pattern designer
- Lance Egan
Added to catalog · Updated
At the vise
Materials
- Fulling Mill Jig Force Short 5125 - #12
- Tungsten Bead, 3.8-5.5mm
- Lead Wire .025"
- 100d Nano Silk Thread - Olive
- Sculpin Olive Pine Squirrel Strip
- Ice Dub - Peacock Black
- Arizona Simi Seal Mega Dub - Dirty Olive or Canadian Olive, or Fly Tyer's Dungeon Leech Dubbing
- India Hen Back
- Ice Dub - Claret
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Tying instructions
Begin by mounting the bead onto the hook and wrapping a dozen turns of lead wire. Place a drop of Super Glue on the front of the lead wraps, then shove them into the back of the bead to lock everything in place. Start the thread behind the lead wraps and build a smooth transition from the bare shank up to the diameter of the lead. Dress the hook with a smooth layer of thread from behind the bead to slightly down the bend of the hook.
Tie in a squirrel strip that is two to two and a half times as long as the shank. Start wrapping at the back of the lead and to slightly around the bend. The squirrel should be tied in with the leather side facing up as this jigged fly rides hook point up in the water.
Tie in a small clump of Mother of Pearl Ripple Ice at the center of its length just behind the lead wraps. Fold it back and wrap over it to the base of the squirrel strip. Form a 6-inch-long dubbing loop with the tying thread, and place your dubbing spinner in the loop to hold it open.
Cut a clump of Arizona Mega Simi Seal in half to shorten the fibers. Slide them into the loop from the top to the bottom, taking care to not overdo it. Spin the whirl to create a shaggy dubbing rope.
Wrap the dubbing rope in concentric turns up to the back of the bead and tie it off. Clip the excess. Use a stainless-steel ripper brush to shag out the dubbing and free any trapped fibers. Brush all of the dubbing up from the sides of the fly on each side so it is swept up above the hook.
Use a sharp pair of scissors to make an angled cut, leaving the fibers longer at the front of the hook and shortest at the bend.
Use the brush to splay the fibers back out along the sides of the hook, forming this tapered head shape when viewed from underneath.
Select a coq de León hen saddle feather and create a separation point at the tip. Tie the feather in by the tip just behind the bead, then fold the hackle fibers rearward. Make two turns with the feather, tie it off, then clip the excess. Lift the hackle fibers on the top of the shank and trim them flush with the dubbing to create a flat-bottomed fly.
Apply a tiny bit of the body dubbing (or Claret Ice Dub) and build a narrow collar behind the bead to cover the thread work. Whip-finish by letting the wraps slide off the back of the bead into the tiny space between it and the dubbing. Clip the thread and add a little head cement.
Use a black Sharpie marker to make bands on the leather side of the squirrel strip. This is the finished fly, top view. Note the wide head, the hackle fiber pectoral fins, and the quickly tapering body.