Spinning deer hair around a hook or a tube can have different purposes. Depending on other choices muddler heads can make a fly float, wake or push water or fished on a sinking line or weighted. We’ve had a lot of rain in Denmark the past few weeks and I decided that I wanted a fairly small fly, fast sinking and one that sinks fast, so I don’t lose too much swing while waiting for the to drag the fly down.
I came to think about the Sonic that Morten tied years ago
I tied some of those, but thought that of I moved it onto a tube fly I’d have the option of weighting the fly exactly as I wanted. I chose to omit the wing and instead opted for two long pheasant hackles and a little flash. The style is open to endless colour combinations and variants. The only tricky point is spinning the deer hair head, but once you have that down, it’s quite easy to tie and doesn’t take long.
I was fishing quite a small, narrow stream a few days ago, which also has quite fast water, especially now with all the rain and I chose to put this on the leader. It fishes well, moves well and sinks fast as intended. It has one added bonus that I really didn’t think about. The deer hair collar seems to keep the hook out of the weeds. The stream was quite full of flora and I clearly felt the fly slipping through them as I retrieved it slowly under my own bank. It brought up some strands here and there, but wasn’t caught once.
Sonic Tube Muddler:
Tube: Pro Sportfisher Nano Tube, clear.
Weight: Here a 4,5mm FlexiBead, but other choices are available.
First hackle: Dyed yellow pheasant rump and four strands of pearl flash.
Second hackle: Dyed yellow pheasant rump and four strands of pearl flash.
Head: Spun deer hair, dyed yellow.
In front of this a ProSportfisher Ultra Sonic Disc, gold.
Here’s how I tie it:
Secure the tube on a tube needle and slide on the FlexiBead or what ever weight combination you need and prefer. Tie in the first hackle and distribute four strands of pearl flash evenly around the tube.
Tie in the second hackle and flash as above. Use as little thread here as possible to make the next step easier.
Cut off a clump of deer hair and stack it in a hair stacker.
Decide the length of the deer hair collar and tie in and distribute the deer hair evenly around the hook, leaving this royal mess.
Tie off the thread just in front of the deer hair, put a small dab of super glue on and push on the Ultra Sonic Disc of your choice and one that matches the colour and size of fly. Cut the tube off leaving a couple of millimetres of tube, which you burn to form the collar that secures the disc in place.
Before you start trimming the deer hair, swing the waste basket in place under your vice. Trim the deer hair at an angle, so the head increases in size from the disc back towards the collar.
Trimming done and fly done. All you need is a Hook Guide and to add the tube fly hook of your choice, my personal choise is the HR431 Tube Single Barbless.
FlexiBeads, RAW Weights, different colour of discs and other bits and pieces all change the properties and look of the flies.
Should you need a few pointers on tying with deer hair, check out this in-depth tutorial by the deer hair wizard, Andreas Andersson tying his Mini Sid.
