July Fly Tying Get Together - Balanced Leeches

This month we will be tying balanced leeches.  Balanced leeches are effective still water patterns fished as the point fly under an indicator.  They can also fish effectively, without the indicator, by casting and stripping.

The patterns I will demonstrate are the traditional Cinnamon Leech, the Vampire Leech on a teardrop bead and a balanced mini leech, size 16.

Tied sparsely in size 14-10, the cinnamon leech an effective pattern on many waters.  Dubbed with either a dubbing loop or directly on the thread, don’t be afraid to experiment with dubbing blends

These patterns will incorporate traditional materials as well as some newer innovative materials.

I have enough materials to share for the Vampire Leech

Materials:

Hooks: Size 10 to 16 jig hooks

Thread: 6/0 or 7/0 in black, brown or olive

Dubbing: Your choice of cinnamon dubbing, bug yarn, straggle string, etc. anything shaggy and buggy!

Tails: Marabou, rabbit fur, saddle hackles  

Videos of the three flies can be found here

https://youtu.be/IqGpajDDVf0

https://youtu.be/e4HBYZR-Vj4

https://youtu.be/9r71D7n-qfg

Contact Stephen Holtzclaw if you have any questions.