The Icelandic gold head buzzer
The pattern for this fly was given to me by Hans van Klinken who stressed repeatedly that it must be tied on a gold hook and the gold must show through the dressing. It is designed for char fishing in clear water - see Fishing for char.
Sounds easy till you try and buy good quality gold hooks, especially curved ones. I finally tracked down a very limited source, so limited that I'm unable to share it with you. Hopefully I can find a better source soon.
Anyway to business.
Dressing
| Hook | Gold grub hook - sizes 10, 12 or 14 |
| Head | Gold plated tungsten bead, or ordinary brass works just as well - I use 4mm on a size 10, 3mm on a 12 and 2mm on a 14 |
| Thread | 8/0 light olive or yellow |
Body | Nymph body wrap or similar fine tubular plastic wrap |
Thorax | Seal's fur or substitute |
Collar (optional) | Red Glo Brite No. 4. I only use a collar on dark coloured flies |
Step by step instructions
1) Place the gold bead on the hook.
2) Tie on the thread immediately behind the bead.
3) Take the thread in very open turns to the middle of the bend and then tie in your body material using three or four turns of thread. If done correctly the hook shank will be visible through the wrapped body. The turns of thread that are visible serve as an under rib.
4) Return thread to thorax area in wide turns.
5) Wrap body and tie off behind bead.
6) Wrap a thorax of dubbed seal's fur tightly to ensure the bead cannot move.
7) Tie in some red "Glo Brite" floss and form a thin collar.
8) Whip finish and varnish.
Ring the changes with different colour body wrap. Clear wrap over black thread gives a great segmented effect as does clear wrap over the yellow thread. Change thorax colours to complement the body material.
That's all folks. Sounds too easy to be true?