Undoubtedly, when one thinks of attractor streamer and bucktail patterns, the venerable Mickey Finn comes to mind. More often than not, it's the very first pattern streamer aficionados are introduced to when learning to tie...and rightly so, as it remains a productive pattern in our streamer wallets.
Introduction And Swap Hosted By R.A. Skehan
Undoubtedly, when one thinks of attractor streamer and bucktail patterns, the venerable Mickey Finn comes to mind. More often than not, it's the very first pattern streamer aficionados are introduced to when learning to tie...and rightly so, as it remains a productive pattern in our streamer wallets. The Mickey Finn, and other colorful, flashy, attractor patterns aren't designed to imitate a bait fish as much as they are intended to trigger an aggressive response from the target fish. Many times, a strike can be triggered with attractor patterns when more realistic forage fish imitations fail.
Speaking of the Mickey Finn....I can fondly recall a number of occasions when this and other attractor patterns have saved the day for me. On a frosty April morning a couple of years ago, I was fishing the open water caused by the inlet of a small stream on a central Maine lake. The stream was nearly all open, other than a small amount of "shelf-ice', and the moving currents had made a crescent-shaped area of open water on the otherwise frozen solid lake. I positioned myself at the head of this inlet to work a streamer through this area, and did so with little success. My luck changed when I decided to tie on a small casting-sized Mickey Finn. On one occasion, I was working the water close in.....fishing the Mickey on a short swing, when a large landlocked salmon rose from the dark waters and slashed at my offering. The fish was clearly visible through the entire take. No need to set the hook, as the strike was so vicious the deed was done automatically. It's takes like these under the conditions described above, that give attractors a warm place in my mind, and a dedicated spot in my wallet.
Select any of the links below to see the patterns submitted for the swap.
Quebec Sapphire
Bob Petti
Slightly Modified, Originated By Mike Martinek, Jr.
| Hook | Mustad 3665A, #6 |
| Thread | Black Danville 6/0 |
| Tail | Red Hackle Barbs |
| Rib | Silver Mylar Tinsel |
| Body | White Aunt Lydia's Sparkle Yarn |
| Wing | Small bunch of pale pink bucktail over which is a bunch of pintail flank tied flat |
| Hackle | Guinea Fowl and Silver Doctor Blue hackle, folded and tied back. |
| Head | Black w/ painted eyes |
Comments
My fly is modified from Mr. Martinek's original only in the use of some substitute materials. I left for home for the holidays with what I thought was a complete list of materials, but I discovered upon opening my tying box that I had forgotten embossed tinsel. Also, not being a huge fan of chenille bodies, I opted for a sparkle fuzzy yarn instead. The only pale pink suitable hair I had was bucktail, and I selected pintail in place of the teal, as I have a far greater selection of appropriate flank feathers. The hackle color calls for "silver doctor blue" in the original, but the photo in Mike's book "Streamer Fly Patterns for Trolling and Casting, Volume II" shows a definite Kingfisher Blue hackle. This is picking nits obviously, hardly worth mentioning. Even with such a nontrivial number of substitutions, the fly sent in for the swap seems to be a fair representation of the original.
The original pattern as shown in Mike's book is:
Hook: Casting Streamer, Sizes 4-8
Tail: Red Hackle Fibers
Body: White Chenille
Rib: Embossed Silver Tinsel
Wing: Small bunch of pale pink polar bear or calftail, over
this is a teal flank tied flat in a bunch
Hackle: Guinea Fowl and Silver Doctor Blue hackle, folded
and tied back.
Head: Black, red throat, white eyeball, black pupil
Marabou Royal Coachman
Bruce Whittle
| Hook | Tiemco 300 |
| Thread | black 6/0 |
| Tail | Golden pheasant tippet |
| Body | Peacock herl then red floss then peacock herl |
| Collar | grizzly hackle fibers dyed dark brown |
| Wing | White marabou with a few strands of pearl Krystal flash |
Doug's Lightning Bug
Doug Britton
| Tail | Golden pheasant crest |
| Body | Flat gold tinsel |
| Rib | Fine gold wire |
| Hackle | Orange |
| Wing | Jungle cock breast, tied flat. |
| Head | Orange |
Green Weenie
Bob Skehan
| Hook | Mustad 9575 |
| Thread | black |
| Tail | red yarn |
| Body | lime green day glow wool wil silver tinsel winding. |
| Wing | white marabou |
| Throat | red feather barbules |
| Head | black with white eyes and red pupils |
| Comment | This pattern was shared with me by Maine Guide, David Prince. |
Lucas Grizzly Streamer
Clark Lucas
| Hook | Tiemco 300, size 6 |
| Thread | Red |
| Tail | Sword (herl) |
| Body | Medium flat silver tinsel |
| Throat | White polar bear |
| Wing | 2 regular grizzly hackles "sandwiching" 1-2 yellow grizzly hackles. |
| Collar | Green-winged teal flank |
| Cheeks | Jungle Cock |
| Head | Loon Hard head (black) leaving small area unlaquered for gill. |
| Topping | Sword (herl) |
| Comment | A good fly for rainbow trout in our area (Idaho). |
Mating Dance
Ron McKusick
| Tail | 2 jungle cock body feathers dyed lavendar |
| Body | Red holographic Christmas ribbon that has been stripped in half. |
| Throat | Sparse bucktail, pink then chartreuse |
| Underwing | Pink ostrich then purplse flashabou, then chartreuse bucktail |
| Wing | White marabou plume, then yellow and hot red sparse bucktail |
| Cheeks | A pair of peacock neck plumes |
| Head | Red paint |
Brookie Parr
Kelvin Hartley
Flaming Tongue
Chris DelPlato
| Hook | 6xl streamer hook |
| Head | Black |
| Throat | 10-15 Peacock sword fibers |
| Body | Kreinik Metallic Ribbon, Vatican Gold Hi-Lustre (color# 102HL) |
| Wing | Marabou, equal parts - red on top, orange on bottom |
| Tail | 10-15 Peacock sword fibers |
Comments:
The motivation for this fly began after finding a spool of Kreinik metallic ribbon with the intriguing color name "Vatican Gold". Since this body material already had some religious overtone, my thought was to link this with some other kind of religious symbolism. I had remembered something being written about 'tongues of fire' descending upon the disciples, and that mental imagery seemed bold enough for a truly 'hot' attractor pattern. A combination red/orange wing would be fiery enough. The Vatican Gold ribbon gave it some flash, and peacock sword for contrast and just because I like it (though, one could further symbolize that the green represents a few dollars for the collection plate on Sunday).
Christmas Bugger
Wayne McMahon
| Hook | Tiemco 300 |
| Thread | 6/0 red uni-thread |
| Tail | olive marabou |
| Body | red poly yarn |
| Hackle | bron/olive saddle (2) |
| Head | gold bead, large |
Mickey Finn Bugger
Aaron Hirschhorn
| Hook | Streamer of choice, 4 or 6XL, size 8 - 12 |
| Thread | Black 6/0 |
| Tail | Yellow Marabou topped by Red Marabou |
| Body | Yellow Chenille or Vernille |
| BACK | Red Chenille or Vernille |
| Hackle | Yellow Saddle |
| EYES | Black inside Yellow (optional) |
Montreal Whore
Glenn Seibert
| Hook | size 2 - 10 streamer hook 3-4x long |
| Thread | Black |
| Body | Hunter Orange |
| Rib | Silver Mylar |
| Wing | 10-15 strands of each / red, white, & blue bucktail mixed, over which a full white marabou feather. Make sure the wing isn't longer than 1/4 inch beyond the hook or it will foul when cast. |
| CommentS | This is believed to have been originated by the late Lenny Loiselle, but it has definitely been popularized in the Greenville, Maine area by Dan Legere of the Maine Guide Fly Shop. Dan stated to me that he fishes a 3x or 4x length in the early season and an 8x in the fall. |
Golden Bear
Robb Nicewonger
| Hook | TMC 300 #6 |
| Thread | Black |
| Tail | GP tippet |
| Body | Embossed gold tinsel (the original called for flat gold with oval rib) |
| Wing | Yellow over orange over yellow calftail |
| Throat | Sparse teal flank, beard style (original called for mallard) |
| Originator | Mike Martinek, STREAMER FLY PATTERNS FOR TROLLING AND CASTING, VOLUME 2 |
Alexandra Streamer
Jimmie Toney
| Head | Black |
| Tail | A fairly long but rather narrow section of a red goose or swan wing feather |
| Body | Medium embossed silver tinsel |
| RibBING | Narrow oval silver tinsel |
| Throat | A wide black saddle hackle wound on as a collar and separated at the top to accomodate the wing |
| Wing | A fairly large bunch of bright green peacock herl. The herl should be so selected as to be very green and very fine. The wing extends beyond the tail of the fly |
Red and White Featherwing
John Lent
| Thread | black |
| Body | silver braid wound around hook shank |
| Wing | two red hackles flanked by two white hackles. |
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