Mini-Leech  

Hook:    Tiemco TMC 200R # 6-10 and Gold Bead

Thread:   Black 6/0 

Tail: Black Marabou

Rib: Gold Wire

Under Body: Black Seal's Fur

Shaggy Over Body: Seal's Fur 70% Fiery Brown 30% Black

1/ First off slide your brass bead onto the hook and move it forward to the hook eye. Remember to push the bead on small hole first so that when you get it onto the hook and in place it doesn't slide off. Don't use your smallest beads either as they will be impossible to thread on a hook of this size.
2/ Next wrap a nice even base of thread starting from near the front of the hook and extending to your first tie in point just above the hook barb. You will notice that their is a bend in this style of hook which gives the fly its attractive shape and we still bring the thread back to the point above the barb as with most other patterns.
3/ Take a piece of Marabou feather. Break a clump of the feather off trying to retain as much of the soft middle section. Measure your clump off against the hook shank. For this fly half to 2/3 the length of the shank is the ideal length of the tail. Tie in with marabou extending out to the rear of the fly. Cover stubs with a few wraps and move to Step 4.
4/ This next step involves making a dubbing loop, something we have not done before. Pull about 10 inches of thread from your bobbin and with the bobbin above the hook shank run the index finger of your left hand down the loop of thread so that you have a 5' long loop. Make a few wraps with your thread so that it cannot come undone. Enlarge picture for more detail.
5/ Now simply take a piece of gold wire and tie in at the rear of hook as shown. This is something we have done many times while constructing the various Fly of the Week patterns. Pull this wire to the rear of the fly like the marabou so that it is out of the way of the next steps. Trim any excess wire before moving on.
6/ Leaving your dubbing loop out of the way for the time being grab a pinch of Black Seal's Fur and dub it to the thread. Make sure you only use a little and dub it as tight as possible. If you find this too difficult just use black Antron. Once you have a very tightly dubbed rope of Seal's Fur move onto Step 7.
7/ Wind the dubbed rope forward to the bead just behind the hook eye. Keep the wraps tight and close to each other. When you reach the front of the hook you should have a narrow profiled body as shown in the accompanying picture. Once you have done this add a half hitch just behind the bead for strength and so that it doesn't unwrap while completing the next steps.
8/ Now keeping your thread at the front of the fly let's focus on the dubbing loop you constructed earlier. Slide the thumb and forefinger of your right hand into the loop so that it is taught and slightly open. Take the Seal's Fur mix and gently place small amounts in the gap between the thread loop. This is somewhat finicky but we still have some work to do.
9/ Take your dubbing whirl and attach it to the bottom end of the dubbing loop where your thumb and forefinger were. Gently swing it down in the vertical position and give it a spin. The thread will spin tight trapping the dubbing in a shaggy fashion as shown. This will create a thin rope with plenty of daggy bits that make flies like this come to life in the water. The dubbing loop rope is shown here pulled to the side for viewing.
10/ Now take this rope and start winding it forward towards the hook eye creating a shaggy over body. Stop after each complete wrap and stroke the fibres back towards the rear of the hook to get the correct look and action. You can see in the photo that these fibres are sticking out at every angle possible and so this technique allows you some control over the end product.
11/ Continuing to stop and stroke the fibres after each stroke is very important. You can see here we have almost completed this stage of the fly, once again stopping to work on the Seal's Fur fibres. Keep winding forward until you reach the bead and then tie off the rope. Use your scissors to remove any excess dubbing loop rope that you don't need.
12/ Here you have the almost completed fly. The dubbing rope has allowed us to tie a lovely shaggy body that will become almost translucent in the water and come to life. We will next rib the fly and then tease out the fibres a little more to get the perfect look to the fly.
13/ Once again moving to the rear of the fly grab the gold wire between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand. Gently wind the wire forward in even wraps to the back of the bead. Be careful not to trap the fibres that are standing out from the fly. Once you have completed this tie off the wire with your thread and remove any excess and add a couple of half hitches to secure it. Cut the thread away once this is done.
14/ Take a dubbing brush now to finish off this fly. Dubbing brushes can be bought commercially although I wouldn't waste my money. Buy a small section of Velcro and attach it to a bit if cardboard or similar. I prefer the small Velcro dots and simply stick them back to back for a double sided brush. Brush the fibres gently away from the fly body.
15/ So there you have the completed fly. Not too difficult at all and when you get the hang of it you should be able to knock them over in a few minutes each. Tie them in a couple of sizes and colours for a great non-descript searching pattern. Also feel free to remove the bead with one fellow who comes into the shop doing very well with a no bead, no tail version.
16/ Just another view of the completed fly. You will notice the thin profile we have managed to obtain by the use of a tightly dubbed under body. The fibres that are standing out away from the body streamline when wet and bring the fly to life. Remember, keep the profile of this pattern narrow for best results.

The Pattern

We have been using these patterns for some time now mainly as a result of mixing with visiting anglers from the USA. Over there leeches are an important part of a trouts diet and although not much is known about them here this fly works extremely well at times. In all the netting sampling we have done we have not seen much in the way sizeable leeches with most looking like overgrown midge larvae and nothing even near to the size of these patterns. We use them more as a non descript searching pattern. Sort of a mini Woolly Bugger. We all know how well the Woolly Bugger works but their are many times when the fish will not touch them. I don't know how many times a fish has followed the Bugger back to the rod tip and stayed just back from it refusing to commit to eating it. This fly has proved to be the answer on many such occasions. It is very small with a narrow body and with movement from the marabou tail and shaggy overbody creates the illusion of life. The bead head also adds to this. Not just aiding it in sinking it also gives the fly a delicious up-down swimming action that trout find so irresistible. 

This fly works very well in stillwaters. In the Pondage at times it is without equal. The beauty of its small size is that you can comfortably fish two on the one leader allowing to you try a couple of colours at the same time. When the Pondage is dropping, like it is now, many of the sub aquatic insects and baitfish are forced to drop with the water levels. This migration triggers major feeding activity with the water alive with stick caddis and baitfish schooling up around the edges not used to the levels. The fish soon work this out and cruising trout can be found charging out of the deep water on raids in the shallows sending bow waves all over the place. Just this morning I found several trout doing this and managed to take three of them on the brown version of this fly. It really is deadly when a non matching the hatch fly is needed.

We would also recommend you tie these in colours other than the Black/Fiery Brown combination highlighted here. You can see examples of these other patterns here and feel free to play with other colours, sizes and hook shapes. Tie some up for a go this winter and let us know how you go.

Tight Threads

Antony, David and Geoff