THE BIG ASS LEECHY-SCULPINY THING - George Krumm
One of the reasons I like this configuration best is the Power Pro is very limp and gets limper the more the fly is fished. This really allows the rabbit strip to swim. Also, the hook is stashed right at the end of the rabbit, and as the rabbit strip wiggles, the hook is right there with it.
I wanted a fly that was long like some of the big leeches I’ve seen, but with a prominent profile up front, reminiscent of a sculpin.
Many years ago, while investigating the big leech and sculpin fly patterns that were in vogue at the time, I began what turned out to be a years-long dive down the rabbit hole looking for the simplest, most effective way to rig a hook for large, leech-type patterns. I was having difficulty finding exactly what I wanted in fly shop fly bins. My own Big-Ass Leechy-Sculpiny Thing (okay, if you’re looking for an easier way to say it, LST) started its evolution back then; around 2008, give or take. Back then, I was calling it a Krummy Sculpin, but that didn’t really stick. I wanted a fly that was long like some of the big leeches I’ve seen, but with a prominent profile up front, reminiscent of a sculpin. It wasn’t like I was tying a completely revolutionary fly. I borrowed ideas from Tom Larimer’s Loop Leech, the Ed Ward/Jerry French styles of Intruders, and when it came onto the scene, Jerry French’s Dirty Hoh.
I remember buying a few Loop Leeches in a fly shop when they became avail-able. They looked pretty good. I liked how the hook was back near the very end of the fly, and that a stinger loop of synthetic material (in this case, the old white RIO Slick Shooter) was threaded up and down through the rabbit strip tail. This method allowed changing out the hook if it got dull. But I didn’t like the Slick Shooter. It was stiff, and I thought it inhibited the free-swimming potential of the rabbit-strip tail. So, for my LST prototypes, I used Power Pro. Initially, I used 30-pound-test, but as time went on, I learned 50-pound-test was supple enough, and much more durable.
That was a long time ago. That hook configuration worked so well, I should have stopped there. Unfortunately, I didn’t, and began experimenting with shorter stinger loops, tubes, Jerry French’s Twisted Hitch (TH), and stinger loops made of wire for the next several years, looking for something easier and more effective. All of them caught fish, but the one hook configuration with the most pluses was the one I tried first: the one using a Power Pro stinger loop, threaded up-down-up-down through the rabbit strip.
This method allows you to have the hook point ride point up, hiding in the rabbit hair and minimizing snags. You can also rig it point down if that’s your preference. One of the reasons I like this configuration best is the Power Pro is very limp and gets limper the more the fly is fished. This really allows the rabbit strip to swim. Also, the hook is stashed right at the end of the rabbit, and as the rabbit strip wiggles, the hook is right there with it. I have found that this means more hook-ups (and fewer grabs that don’t result in a hook-up). I can also easily change the hook out if it becomes dull. Try doing that with some of the leech patterns that actually TIE a stinger hook to the rabbit strip with tying thread; you can’t, not on the water anyway, and the fly is essentially toast if the hook point gets damaged.
Jerry French’s twisted hitch allows the rabbit to swim, keeps the hook right at the end of the rabbit, and enables you to replace the hook, but the twisted hitch is sometimes only good for one fish before it becomes fouled, and it’s very difficulty to fix on the river when the rabbit strip is wet and your hands are cold. To me, for a fishery where you’re liable to hook many fish in a day, the twisted hitch is a no-go. The up-down-up-down method will work for fish after fish after fish without issues.
The LST is effective for pretty much anything you can swing flies to, if tied in the appropriate sizes and colors. I generally tie mine large (4.5” or so) for big rainbows, steelhead, and Chinook, though other species will also grab it.
You can vary the materials and colors to suit you. For trout, I commonly tie them in black, brown, and olive hues. For salmon, brighter colors with more contrast are often effective. Perhaps more important than color is that we give our string leech some profile. By building this profile at the front of the fly, water flowing around this “shoulder” creates a vortex behind it that animates the rabbit-strip tail. We want the fly’s overall shape to be an elongated teardrop, about three or four times longer than it is wide in the water; kind of like a tadpole or sculpin. This length-to-width ratio seems to provide an effective profile while still being very swimmy and easy to cast.
For a shorter fly, you could use a shorter rabbit strip (1.5”) and just thread the Power Pro through the rabbit strip twice (up-down) instead of four times (up-down-up-down).
For flies of this type, I use hooks rang-ing from size 6 to size 1, mostly depending on the size of fish I expect to encounter, but fly size plays a role, too. A light, size 6 Gamakatsu B10S will swim much better than a size 2 Octopus hook, but for really rainbows and steelhead, I go with a size 2 Octopus hook, both for the bigger gap and the stouter wire. For Chinook, a size 1 is my current favorite because it doesn’t deaden the action of the tail as much as a 1/0 does, and it penetrates more easily than a 1/0.
Below is the recipe for a generally black, 4.5” version of the LST.
Materials:
- Montana Fly Company 25 mm shank
- Danville 210 D Flat Waxed Nylon, color of choice
- Power Pro, 50-pound-test
- Brushable super glue
- Rabbit Strip, black
- Flashabou, electric blue
- UV Polar Chenille or similar, UV Black Ice Dub, UV Black
- Black bear hair (or Arctic fox tail), black Guinea feather, large, red
- Marabou feather, black
- Head cement of choice
All photos by George Krumm
1. Place the shank into the vise and build a thread base.
2. Cut a 7” length of 50-pound Power Pro. Fold it in half, and thread the point of the Power Pro through the shank eye from front to back. This will become the stinger loop. Position the stinger loop material over the top of the shank, and lightly tie it down with a few loose wraps of thread. I usually make the loop 2.25” long when using a 25 mm shank. This results in a fly that ends up being between 4” and 4.5” long. Measure the stinger loop. If it’s not long enough, pull it to make it longer. If it’s too long, pull on the tag ends, which should be sticking out of the shank eye. Once you have the length right, tightly lash the Power Pro all the way up to the eye of the shank.
3. Fold back the tag ends of the Power Pro and lash down tightly, half the length of the shank. Trim off the Power Pro tag ends and continue wrapping to the end of the shank. Brush thread wraps with brushable super glue.
4. Cut a 3” length of rabbit strip. Tie in firmly directly on top of the Power Pro.
5. Cut a strand of Flashabou and fold in half around the tying thread. Tie it in place along the flank of the rabbit strip. Repeat on the other side.
6. Tie in Polar Chenille and wrap forward 3 to 5 touching turns, sweeping the fibers back as you go. Tie off Polar Chenille and cut off excess. The Polar Chenille should occupy about half of the shank or slightly less.
7. Make a dubbing loop about 3.5” long. Wax the dubbing loop well. Fill about 1” of the dubbing loop with Ice Dub. Cut a section of black bear hair (or Arctic fox tail hair if you don’t have black bear) from the hide. Carefully comb out the majority of the underfur. Place the black bear hair (it should be mostly guard hairs) into the dubbing loop. Carefully spread the bear hair out so that it is uniformly distributed as shown in photo 7a. Spin the dubbing loop, picking out trapped fibers with a dubbing needle, and repeat a few times until the entire composite loop has a thin core. It may help to brush the dubbing loop with a medium-stiff toothbrush. Wet your fingers with water and part the materials as shown in photo 7b. This will make it much easier to wrap.
Note: You can make the composite loop as simple or as elaborate as you want. You could incorporate more and different materials to construct an even more robust shoulder. I sometimes incorporate ostrich, polar flash, and other materials if I’m feeling artistic. The version I tied for this article is pretty simple. Over the years, I’ve found the simple flies please the fish just fine. The elaborate ones please me because they look so good, and maybe they work a little better, but they take much longer to tie, and I feel like crying when I lose one!
8. Wrap the composite loop forward, sweeping the fibers back as you go, using touching turns. Tie off and cut off the reminder of the dubbing loop. Use a dubbing needle and a toothbrush to free trapped fibers.
9. Tie in a large guinea feather by the tip. Wrap forward 2 or 3 turns, then tie off and cut off excess.
10. Tie in a marabou feather by the tip. Wrap forward, using at least two wraps of marabou. I generally try to get 4 wraps on this fly. (Note: For a fly specifically tied for Chinook, I use a longer shank and usually use 2 marabou feathers) Tie off and cut off excess marabou. Whip finish and apply glue of choice. I usually use brushable super glue, or one of the UV resins like Solarez Bone Dry.
11. With the “fly” upside down on your tying bench, using a fine-point Sharpie, put a dot on the rabbit hide about 1/8” from the end of the shank. Then, put three more dots on the rabbit hide, each 1/2” from the last.
12. Poke a medium-sized needle up through the hide side of the rabbit strip at the dot closest to the shank. Then, poke the needle down through the hair side of the rabbit strip at the next dot. Repeat for the remaining two dots.
13. Thread the end of the stinger loop into the eye of the needle. Pull the needle all the way through the rabbit hide. Remove the needle from the stinger loop.
14. Loop on the hook of your choice, point up or point down, as you prefer. I used a size 2 Gamakatsu Octopus hook in this example.
15. Slide the Power Pro down to the hook eye. Trim the rabbit hide to a length that is just short enough that it can’t catch the hook point. Then, using a dubbing needle, free the trapped rabbit hair caught under the Power Pro on the hair side of the rabbit strip.
Finished Big-Ass Leechy Sculpiny Thing (LST) without a hook.
You may be wondering, Hey Georgie, where’s the dumbbell eyes, or the bead, or the cone? The truth is, I tie almost all my LSTs unweighted. I usually fish them unweighted, too, relying on the sink-tip to pull the fly down. If you watch a weighted fly and an unweighted version of the same fly in the same current, you’ll see the unweighted version swims better and seems more alive. When I encounter a situation where the water is deep enough or the current fast enough that I think I need a weighted fly, I’ll slide a brass or tungsten bead onto the leader, or pinch a split shot onto one leg of the nonslip loop knot with which I tied the fly onto my leader. The split shot looks goofy, but the fish don’t seem to care. I usually use tungsten beads, though, ranging from 4.6- to 5.5 mm. Tungsten is much heavier both brass and lead. Hareline Plummeting Tungsten beads and Blue Wing Olive tungsten beads are brands I’ve used. Both brands are available in numerous colors.
The author, George Krumm, with another giant rainbow caught with the Big Ass Leechy Thing.
If you like to swing big, swimmy, leechy flies for big trout, steelhead, and salmon, and you like to tie your own, the LST is a durable, highly effective fly. It allows you to change the hook to replace a dull one, or to put on a different size hook. You can vary the materials, colors, and size to match the species you’re pursuing. Since you can change the hook, it will probably last until you lose it on a snag or break it off on a fish. I often say, “It ain’t the fly.” But there are elements of the fly that are important, and the LST has all the desired elements for a swing fly.
George Krumm is the Editor of Fish Alaska and Hunt Alaska magazines. He can be reached at george@fishalaskamagazine.com.
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