How to Tie a Spoon Fly

The spoon fly is one of the most effective flies on the flats. The spoon fly will also come in handy on cloudy days when sight casting is impossible and you need an effective fly for blind casting. There are many variations and methods to tying spoons; however, this one is easier to shape the fly body and you have a built in weed guard handy as well. The spoon can be tied in a variety of colors with silver and gold the most common. However, you can tie clear, black, red, and green with equal effectiveness in the proper conditions.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• Bobbin
• Bodkin
• Thread
• Vise
• Wire weed guard
• Mylar paper
• Bucktail
• Crystal flash
• Bead eyes or lead wire for weight
• Tiny hole punch
• Rotary
• 5-minute epoxy

Instructions

1. 

   Tie back to the start of the bend and tie in a 3-inch strip of lead wire to act as a weed guard in the finished product. Tie in the wire using a figure 8 and then add a small drop of head cement on the intersection to ensure the guard does not twist during tying.

2. 

   Tie in a small amount of bucktail to give the fly life and add two to three strands of crystal flash to give it some additional shine. After tying in the flash and bucktail, tie back up to the eye of the hook.

3. 

   Cut a tear shaped section of the mylar in your chosen color. Make the piece about an 1/8 inch longer than the bend of the hook. The tail end should slightly begin to turn down.

4. 

   Use your tiny hole puncher to punch holes as close to each end as you can without ripping the fly.

5. 

   Mount the fly ‘carapace’ by running the weed guard through the thicker end of the mylar.

6. 

   Pull the weed guard back through the forward hole. Make sure you have the weed guard straddle both sides of the hook shank. Position the weed guard so it protects the barb, trim it down so it does not go past the barb, and tie off with a standard whip finish knot.

7. Place the fly on your rotary, mix up a batch of 5-minute epoxy, and cover the fly with a heavy coat of epoxy. Let the fly turn for twenty minutes to ensure effective curing.

Tips & Warnings

• This is an extremely difficult fly to tie. Practice, practice, practice.