Michigan Skunk Dry - Tying the fly that saves the skunk days

MICHIGAN SKUNK DRY FLY TYING RECIPE:
Hook: Gamakatsu S10 #10
Thread:Uni 6/0 – Black
Tail:Kip/Calf Tail
Body:Ice Dub – UV Black
Foam:2 MM Black
Under wing:Krystal Flash – Pearl
Wing:Deer Body Hair – natural
Legs:Round Rubber Legs – Medium – White​

Michigan Skunk Dry Material Kits

Welcome back everyone. My name's Tim Hepworth. We're here with Fly Fishing Bow River Outfitters and Thursday Night Live Fly Tying  And I'm here to bring you another quick tie. Today we're tying the Michigan Skunk Dry. We wanna thank Rocky Mountain Fly Shop for sponsoring this quick tie and bringing it all to you guys.
I will be tying out of my season five kit today. You still wanna grab one of these? You just go ahead over to our website. You pick one up today at www.flyfishingbowriver.com/tnlS5. 

Well, without further delay, let's head over that vice and, let's get started. As you see here, the Michigan skunk dry, if you're getting skunked fish this dry.
Let's grab that size 10. Dry Fly hook. Get it in that vice. Firm it up. Make sure it's level. You want to hear the ping? The ping is good. You're ready to go. Slide on over to that thread of yours and let's get some black UTC  70 to tie this fly,  slip that thread under the hook shank. And get it going. One wrap at a time.

Back down the hook shank. Reach on over to those scissors and snip out the tag. Now when you're ready, you grab that first material. It's gonna be some antron yarn, slick white, and ready to be a tail. I'm gonna come in here, trim it off clean. Set that right on that hook Shank. Get that gathering wrap.
Couple of 'em in fact, and then slide it back. Let's take a few securing wraps back down that hook shank,  all the way to the bend.

Now if that's too fast for you, I want you to take a moment and slow it. Grab those scissors again. Come in here, measure half that hook shank and trim it off just like that. Now we're gonna reach over to that 2mm black foam. I'm just gonna snip a little pointy bit into the end.  We'll lay that on our hook shank with our thread started just behind the eye, and let's get it secured right on top of the hook, shank, one wrap ahead of time, all the way back to the bend.
And then let's go ahead and secure that.
Give it a little tug. Make sure it's secure.
Now from here, we're gonna reach on over to that black dubbing. We're gonna make ourselves a short little noodle on our thread. Take a little wisp secured onto that thread. As tight as you can as to not make too thick of a body.
Now let's advance that forward with some touching wraps.
When we get to the two-thirds mark, up the hook shank, we should have run outta dubbing Now grab that phone, flop it down on top. Gather it with a wrap pinch on top and give it a snug little tug. Now we'll just advance the thread on top of the foam down to the head. Secure nut, not phone. Once more,
just like so.
Now let's grab a piece of crystal flash. Fold it over a couple times, giving yourself a few more individual pieces. Do it once and again. Do it twice.
Now let's take that crystal flash. And lay it down the back and tie it in.
Secure the butts of the crystal flash into that opening you created
for length. Let's extend that just beyond the back of the foam.

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Now we're gonna grab our deer hair. We're gonna take a small little chunk about half of a pencil width and snip it off the patch.
Now reach on over to your hair stacker, get the tips put in first.
And give it a little tap.
And when the hair comes out, we want it pointed back down the fly.
If your tips are aligned and ready to go, let's set it on top of the crystal. To the same length. Switch hands
and secure it down. First wrap is loose, second is tighter, and so on. Get some wraps through the butts, securing it all the way down. Now while you're still holding that there, let's come in and trim everything. Nice and short, without cutting your thread.
Once you've completed that, let's get a few more wraps covering up the butts of the.
You can now let go of the deer hair and see your wing.
Let's go ahead and grab our rubber legs and get two pulled off. Align the tips. Let's set them right in that gap in front of the hair
and take a nice loose securing wrap before separating them onto the near and the far side of the fly. This is what we want it to look like.
Now. I'm gonna secure those rear legs. Right back against the hair.
We're very close to finishing up the fly. If you have any little hairs that are out on their own, should be a good time to get them outta the way.
Now, once again, we're gonna go over to that dubbing.
We're gonna start by bringing our thread forward to just in front of the hair.
Let's make another short dubbing noodle with a wisp of that dubbing.
Again, a nice tight dubbing. The first couple wraps will be in front of the legs,
and then a couple in between
to finish it off, the last step will be to bring that foam back
and pull it over, and that's finish off with a bullet.
A few wraps should do before sniping out the foam
and whip finishing the fly.
A two to three turn whip finish should suffice.
Once that's pulled tight, we'll clip out our thread and all that's left is to trim our legs, trim to a desired length, leaving the front legs slightly shorter than the back.
And there you have it, folks. The Michigan Skunk Dry. Thank you for joining me, Tim Hepworth with Fly Fishing and Bow River Outfitters, and Thursday Night Live Fly Tying. 

Author

Tim Hepworth