Fly Of The Week

Olive Damsel Marabou




Back around 1999 and 2000, I fished this fly a lot on Blue River and always had good results. Why I've strayed away from this pattern is a mystery to me.

This pattern found itself in the vise quite regularly back then and yes...there were some alterations. When fished, it was always fished with action and motion.

The movement of this fly seems to trigger the reaction of the fish and the fly has to have a good deal of fluidity to it. In other words the fibers need to pulsate.

For a tail, olive mottled turkey marabou was used if available but dyed marabou will also work. The eyes are glass beads that are threaded together with tying thread or monofilament - and mono holds up much better.

For sure it is a more time consuming tie, but once you're finished... there seems to come a special sense of satisfaction with the end result.

Materials needed in tying this pattern include:

Olive mottled turkey marabou
Size 10 -13 long shank streamer hook
Fine gold wire for ribbing
Olive mottled marabou for body dubbing or palmering
Olive mottled marabou fibers for legs and wings
Glass beads for eyes, emerald best color, red and black also work
Olive yarn for thorax
Olive thread