The Northern Angler Featured Fly 3-9-09

We are going to feature one of our better selling streamers this time around, Clarke's Rat.

It is definitely not a streamer for the faint of heart, at nearly 5" long and with a conehead that could be used as a weapon in the wrong hands it is a monster fly for big trout, pike, and bass. It gets down, has nice motion with the two rabbit strips, and some good flash without overdoing it. It can be very easily tied in countless color combinations to suit conditions/preferences too. Over the years we have had numerous requests for the cones (they are much bigger than the standard conehead) and we now have them in stock in the shop. They are called cross-eyed cones and in addition to coming in an extra large size, they come with circles drilled out on the sides to put stick on eyes into for a really sweet look. So here it is:

Hook: TMC 8089 #2
Tail: Two magnum rabbit strips in contrasting colors
Body: Medium Pearl Chenille
Wing: Flashabou (a dozen or so strands)
Head: Cross-eyed cone in extra large size with stick on eyes (3.5mm) to fit

1. Thread cone onto the hook
2. Tie in rabbit strips at bend and leave approx 2 1/2-3" long tail
3. The bottom strip can be cut off, the top strip needs to have 1" left to pull over the top
4. Tie in pearl chenille
5. Take thread forward and then wrap chenille forward and tie off but leave enough of a tag for a couple of wraps for a collar.
6. Pull remaining piece of top rabbit strip over the top of the fly and tie off.
7. Tie in flashabou.
8. Finish the fly by wrapping remaining chenille around behind the cone and tie off.

There it is, Clarke's Rat. Make sure to watch your backcast!

The Northern Angler