2019 365 Fly Tying Challenge Day 4: Deep Poison Tung

Continuing with the Winter Confidence Fly weekly theme, today we feature a fly designed by Colorado based fly tyer and Umpqua Feather Merchants signature fly designer, Charlie Craven, owner of Charlie's Fly Box and celebrated author. The Deep Blue Poison Tung is a midge pattern designed around the fact that blue drives trout wild, especially when fished deep when its cold out. It's well established that the deeper your flies go, color dissipates and some have done research to show that blues and purple remain visible, or more so at least. I'm not a scholar, I just know that adding blue or purple to your flies can help catch you more fish when they aren't feeding actively. 

The Deep Blue Poison Tung is a simple fly to tie, and although the original recipe utilized a silver or nickle tungsten bead with fine blue wire by Lagartun, I've modified it slightly. To view the original dressing there is a link below. 

Recipe as shown:

Hook: Ahrex FW520 size 18
Bead: Heavy  Metal Nymph Head Bead 2.4mm Steelhead Blue
Thread: Roman Moser Power Silk 10/0 dark gray
Body: Flat Thread base
Ribbing: Ultra Wire Brassie Blue
Thorax: Hareline Dubbin Ice Dub UV Gray

Tools required: Bobbin (C&F featured), Scissors (Rising), and Whip Finisher (Marc Petitjean). 

Tying Notes: This fly can be tied in many different variations. I prefer the Ahrex FW520 hook for two reasons. First, it is an emerger style hook so the bead sits well. I mainly use this because of how much bigger the eye is compared to most midge/curved nymph hooks. Your frozen fingers will thank you when you don't have to fight to insert the tippet. If you wanted an even smaller profile as is often required, I will switch to a Tiemco 2487 for sizes 20-24. In the fly here, I'm using a larger wire size to accentuate the ribbing, but for smaller flies I prefer using Lagartun fine or xfine wire, finished with either a small silver tungsten bead, or a xsmall glass bead. 

To see Charlie Craven's original tying tutorial, click below:

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=82