April Storm - step by step

Two years ago I tied a few big flies for "Flies for Fins." They were on big cotter pins, tied with mobile hackles and feathers, and had tented feather tip spey wings front and back. I liked them at the time, but wanted to revisit them and do a little tinkering around.

I had the West Coast and Squid on the mind so I tried to use some of the things from the previous version and incorporate a few more materials to make the fly more dynamic and definitely more colorful. There is still a lot of movement and space within the fly even though it looks on the bulky side.

The rear part of the fly is like one of the stations for and Intruder, except I didn't spin any of the fibers in a dubbing loop.  That can be done if the tyer prefers that look, but I wanted to keep the profile a little more streamlined.

All of the steps are not complicated, and most tyers shouldn't have a problem, but there is a bunch of steps.  Please follow along and if you have any questions please send me a m

Materials
Shank: 2" Cotter pin
Hook Loop: Beading wire 20#
Beak/Mouth Area: Holographic Ice Dubbing
Feelers: Bucktail
Sides: Fine Peacock Herl fibers
Crown: Lady Amherst tail fibers
Tentacles: Saddle Hackles - alternate colors
Rear Body: Ice dubbing
Rear Body Hackle: Schlappen
Sides: Fine Peacock Herl fibers
Tentacles: Saddle Hackles - alternate colors
Mid Body Wing: Marabou
Crown: Lady Amherst tail fibers
Front Body: Ice dubbing
Front Body Hackle: Saddle Hackle
Wing: Pheasant Rump hackles - Two staggered and stacked
Weight: Medium or Large barbell

Step 1
Before inserting the cotter pin into the vise or tube fly vise, hold it in your hand and attach the thread.  Cover the shank with thead so the two sides of the cotter pin stay together.  Select a 6" piece of 20# beading wire and attach it to the top of the cotter pin shank.  Insert the butt ends through the eye of the hook then double them back and wrap thread over them.  Apply your favorite glue to the shank at this point.

Note: The vice is making the beading wire stick up.  It will extend straight out the back when the fly is done.

Step 2
Make a dubbing loop about 3" long and apply some tacky wax to the thread forming the loop.

Step 3
Insert some holographic ice dubbing into the loop making sure that the fibers are sticking out at right angles to the thread.

Step 4
Spin the dubbing loop and make sure to pick out the fibers as you go so they don't get bound together.

Step 5
Wrap the spun dubbing loop around the shank a few times.  Make sure to fold the fibers back out of the way as you wrap.  Tie off the dubbing loop and go back over the dubbing a little bit to make sure it is secure.

Step 6
Select a small clump of white Bucktail fibers.  Seperate the longer fibers from the shorter fibers and save the longer fibers.  Attach one clump of fibers to the top of the shank and another clump to the bottom of the shank.  After making a few light wraps of thread, use your thumbnail to spread the fibers evenly around the shank.

Step 7
Cut off about 10 fibers from a bleached and dyed peacock stick....pre-dyed herls will work just fine as well.  Attach one clump to the near side and one clump to the far side.

Step 8
Snip off about 6-10 fibers from a Lady Amherst tail feather and attach them to the top of the shank.

Step 9
Pick out two different colored saddle hackles.  Tie one feather to the near side angled down below the hook.  Take a different color saddle hackle and tie it to the far side of the shank angling down as well.

Step 10
Trim off all of the excess material and make sure everything is bound tightly to the hook.

Step 11
Tie in a schlappen feather by butt of the stem, then spin some ice dubbing onto your thread.  Wrap the dubbing forward to about the midpoint of the hook and stop.



Step 11
Palmer the Schlappen hackle forward and tie off where the dubbing ends.

Step 12
Trim off the schlappen fibers on top of the hook shank.

Step 13
Cut off about 10 fibers from a bleached and dyed peacock stick....pre-dyed herls will work just fine as well.  Attach one clump to the near side and one clump to the far side.  The tips should not extend to the rear of the fly.  Keep them about two inches short of the longest fibers.

Step 14
Top View

Step 15

Using the same two differently colored saddle hackles, the the opposite color on the near side.....different than the one you tied in previously.  Again, tie one feather to the near side angled down below the hook.  Take a different color saddle hackle and tie it to the far side of the shank angling down as well.  Keep the length about an inch shorter than the previous saddle hackles.

Step 16
Top View

Step 17
Take a marabou blood plume and strip off the lower fluff so the top 1/2 to 3/4 remain on the stem.  Tie the plume flat on top of the shank with the tips extending about an 1" past the butt end of the cotter pin.  Take a few Lady Amherst fibers and tie them directly on top of the marabou plume.  Let the tips extend slightly past the tips of marabou.

Step 18
Top view

Step 19
Spin some ice dubbing onto the thread and wrap forward to form the front half of the body.

Step 20
Palmer the hackle forward and tie off.  Trim off all of the hackle on top of the shank.

Step 21
Take two Pheasant Rump Feathers and stagger them on top of each other.  Tie them to the top of the shank so they sit flat over the body and extend just shy of the marabou wing.

Step 22
Finish the fly by adding 1 medium or 1 large barbell with figure 8 wraps and gathering wraps to mount them securely.  Coat the head with head cement or epoxy.