The Killer Bug is not a new fly in any way, but it is a great simple pattern that plain works. I just stumbled on some new yarn that I thought looked awfully nice so I figured it was a good time to do a post on the Killer Bug. The Killer Bug has been around for over 90 years now. UK River keeper Frank Sawyer of pheasant tail nymph fame developed the fly for the purposes of catching and removing grayling from the upper Avon river.
“I now come to the dressing of what has come to be known as the Killer Bug. This, as I have mentioned elsewhere, was a name given to it by an American friend. I devised this originally to kill grayling in the upper Avon but in later years found it to be very effective when fished for trout in reservoirs and lakes. Also in a much larger version for salmon, and sea trout.”
Frank Sawyer, Nymphs and the Trout
The Killer Bug first entered my awareness in April 2009. Chris Stewart (the Tenkara Bum) made a comment on a post that I did about Walt’s Worm. This was pre-tenkara for me (and most of the US) as Tenkara USA had either just launched or was just about to (I’m not sure of the exact date). Since then the Killer Bug (and other yarn bodied flies) have become a staple of many American tenkara angler’s fly boxes. Though other folks took up the Killer Bug and contributed to its tenkara presence and experimented with finding appropriate yarns (notably the guys at Tenkara Guides, LLC), I’m pretty sure that the Killer Bug resurgence owes it’s genesis to Chris Stewart.
But for deeper fishing I devised a lure which at the time I thought was taken exclusively in mistake for a shrimp … It has a good resemblance to a shrimp it is true, but it also serves well as a representation of a beetle larvae and also for the hatching nymphs of the brown Silverthorn Sedge.
Frank Sawyer, Nymphs and the Trout
The Killer Bug was designed by Frank Sawyer to imitate fresh water shrimp but he found it to be useful in imitating other trout foods as well. To me the Killer Bug has always seemed like a great sowbug or crane fly larva imitation. To Sawyer the particular yarn that he used Chadwick’s 477 was key to the Bug’s success—that particular yarn went out of production many decades ago. I will not dare to dispute Sawyer on his assertions about the special qualities of that yarn – but as I don’t have access to it I’ve used substitutes and had success with all of them.
Chris Stewart began using the Sand shade of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift wool yarn (darkened with a sand Primsacolor marker). A little later, the Tenkara Guides settled on the Oyster color Spindrift for their Utah Killer Bug variant.
Another yarn that I like is 2 ply Regia Darning Thread – especially the Camel Mix color (#17). But as I have said I’ve used many different yarns and caught fish. For better or worse, I’m not too uptight about matching the Chadwick’s exactly.
My wife likes to crochet and knit and so from time to time I find myself in a yarn shop with her. Invariably my eyes scan around for some nice looking fly tying yarns. And so I found myself last week in a local yarn shop called Kid Ewe Knot, when I found a nice looking yarn by BC Garn called Bio Shetland. And it’s organic to boot.
The color that I bought is called Oatmeal – but there are a few other colors of Bio Shetland that I think would also make some killer Killer Bugs – or go for a different color altogether, say a green or cream for some caddis larva. The Bio Shetland is thinner than Jamieson’s Spindrift, which I kind of like. Anyway, I think it makes a pretty good looking Killer Bug.
Below I present a step by step for tying the Killer Bug. The materials are few, just yarn and copper wire. I usually use a small sized wire (Ultra Wire is a good choice) in natural copper but I’ve also used pink and red wire. For hooks I prefer heavy wire hooks. The one used here is a Fulling Mill Heavyweight Champ. I’ll also tie them on longer shanked hooks (such as a size 12 streamer hook) which I think looks very cranefly larva like.
- Start the wire on the hook just as you would with fly tying thread by wrapping over itself and then trim off excess. I like to put the wire in a bobbin holder and use it just as I would fly tying thread.
- Secure yarn at back end of hook with a few turns of wire
- Build underbody of copper wire with two layers or more of wire. Be sure to end with the wire back near the bend of the hook as shown
4. Wrap yarn forward to eye of hook and back over itself to near the bend as shown.
5. Secure with a few wraps of wire.
6. Finally finish with a three turn whip finish and trim yarn. I like to apply some head cement or superglue to the wire wrap at this point to further secure it.
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