FIT TO BE TIED

Uncommon Success with an Uncommon Material

In recent years, decades at the most, synthetic materials innovation and production has led to a boom in fly tying creativity. All good. But didn’t we catch fish before synthetics?

Fly tying from the beginning used only natural materials, including thread and bone hooks. The universe of natural fly tying material was limited only to the imagination, but commonly consisted of hair and feather from wild animals. But even then, when such as elk, deer, muskrat, rabbit, chicken, duck and grouse were the most commonly used materials, other natural materials were used, even if not common. Enter the coyote.

Most everyone has heard the wail of a coyote. Maybe you haven’t seen one at all or maybe you’ve only seen one at a quick glimpse running in a field or across the road. Coyotes are sneaky predators, so they don’t just hang out in the open and hope you’ll come along and take their picture. But coyotes commonly live all over the country, even in urban areas, so I bet you have heard them calling to each other some evening.

If we could somehow search the entire database of all the fly tying patterns that have ever existed, and in the search bar type in “coyote,” we would of course get some search results. But not a lot, I’d hazard to say. So, it’s refreshing to interact with tyers that first, remember that one can tie with natural materials, and two, that there are some uncommon natural materials out there with outstanding fish attracting qualities.

Bill Frangos is a long time tyer. The first time he broke his thread, the only synthetic material available was the gold tinsel from the king’s robe. Other than a short haired red-banded burrowing monkey (yes I made that up), there probably isn’t a natural material that Bill hasn’t experimented with. So Bill’s Coyote Streamer pattern is uncommon. Bill is one of those tyers that doesn’t bother with a small package of material. He goes for quantity—natural or synthetic. He didn’t buy just a small package of coyote hair, he bought a whole skin.

Bill has twitched and jigged this pattern all over Colorado and New Mexico. Check out Bill’s book, 49 Trout Streams of New Mexico to see just a sample of the waters where Bill has fooled fish with this streamer.

COYOTE STREAMER

HOOK: 6 – 10 STREAMER, 2X OR 3X LONG THREAD: BLACK (OR ANY COLOR), VEVUS 10/0 TAIL: COYOTE GUARD HAIR BODY: COYOTE UNDERFUR WING: COYOTE TAIL TINSEL: ORANGE, VEVUS H14, HOLOGRAPHIC WEIGHT: GOLD OR SILVER BEAD CHAIN, OR DUMBELLS WITH EYES

Watch the video and you’ll learn the pattern and why Bill favors coyote over other materials. There are a lot of streamer patterns out there, and the general design of this pattern is proven. It incorporates weight at the head to ride point up, it uses a wing stiff enough to ward off hangups, but soft enough to collapse on the take, and is simple in that the tail, body, and the wing are all of one material.

Variations are easy. Add tinsel for flash, ribbing of a different color or of a colored wire, different hook sizes small or large, and lighter bead chain or heavier dumbbells, even tungsten. Fish it with a dead drift, a swing, a strip, an indicator, a sinking line, or whatever you and your waters require, but tie it and fish it.

About The Author

Joel Evans is a fly fishing writer, photographer, and long-time member of Trout Unlimited from Montrose, CO. You can contact him via the HCA editor at frank@hcamagazine.com.