Black Nose Dace Patterns

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SCRAGGLY LAKE DACE
Submitted By Will Taylor

SCRAGGLY LAKE DACE

THREAD	Black 6/0
HOOK	6XL streamer hook, sizes 10-4 (example on Mustad 3665A, size 4)
TAIL	short red wool
BODY	flat silver tinsel down & back
RIBBING	fine oval silver tinsel
THROAT	white bucktail, length of wing, next to hook
WING	8 strands yellow crystal flash next to hook; then two black saddle hackles, tied flat; then a mallard flank feather, dyed chocolate brown(I dyed these myself), tied flat
HEAD	cement with penetrating head cement, finish with Loon Outdoors Black Hard Head Fly Finish
EYES (OPTIONAL)	painted on head, white with black pupil

Will's Comments

Inspired by blacknose dace in breeding coloration netted by my son during a trip two summers ago to (northern) Scraggly Lake, near Patten, Maine. I originally tied this with a black bucktail underwing, but find that the black saddle hackles create a better lateral stripe. I've grown to like these flatwing flies, though have not tied many. They present a realistic slim profile for such forage fish as smelts and dace. The mallard flank feathers have wonderful action underwater, and the flat wing alternately lifts and slims back on a stripped retrieve, alternately displaying and concealing the underlying flash in a minnow-like way.

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