Monday, March 27, 2023

Pumpkinheads


John Kent developed this great little pattern many years ago. He initially used a glass orange bead, then a brass orange bead and now; we can tie them up with tungsten Head Turner Beads on jig hooks.

I love head turner beads because you can hang this pattern under a strike indicator in a balanced (horizontal presentation) fashion by using a clinch knot and sliding the knot slightly towards the body of the fly. The tail is olive marabou, the body is a blend of olive rabbit with a pinch of olive ice dub and the hackle is orange. You can keep the hackle sparse by stripping the hackle fibers off of one side of the feather. If you die your own hackle feathers, try unsweetened kool aid with grizzly hackle. John did not reinforce the hackle with wire because he figured the hackle was buried far enough inside the dubbing to keep it from falling apart. Many tyers do decide to add a wire rib to reinforce their pumpkinheads. I do not!

Remember you can purchase head turner beads from Canadian Llama Company.

 

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