Hatches Magazine Fly Patterns

claws: olive hen back feathers
legs: olive hen saddle feather
back/body: mottled green bohemian yarn
tail: same as claws

tie on the two claw feathers splayed out at the front. then place the bohemian yarn inbetween them and tie it down the body so the “working end” of the yarn is on the right, inbetween the claws. then tie in a saddle feather right behind the claws (ontop of tied down yarn). wrap the feather about halfway down the body (to the left). then either trim or mash down the fibers on top and fold the yarn over. tie down the yarn right behind legs. for that fat tapered look on the body, clip off the yarn about half way between where you tied it down for the back and the end of the hook. then as youre wraping down the tag end, wrap lightly at first then start coming down on it to get it to taper. tie on the tail feather. coat the tail and claws in a fixative so they dont get messed up. also coat the back (the part over the legs) in the fixative so its hard and smooth.

“congo hair” an EP fiber like material available from flytyersdungeon.com

light green, white, yellow, orange

brown and black sharpie (black for spot, brown for everything else)

stick on eyes (i made mine from adhesive backed aluminum foil tape, that i colored w/ sharpies)

tie on the fibers starting w/ the belley, then working towards the back then the sides.

two large stinger hooks
black thread
2′ of black boa yarn
black craft foam
12lb mono

this is a lengthy fly to tie (pun intended =] ). begin by making a teardrop/arrow head shape from black foam. then take a small rectangle that is the length of the first piece and maybe 2/3 the width. fold it in half. then take it and cut it so its like a triangle. take a stinger hook and lay it down the middle of the teardrop piece so the eye is at the point. press hard so it leaves a little indent. put crazy glue in this indent. then put the hook back in it and let it dry. next take that folded triangle piece and lay it over the hook shank so the pointed end is forward. glue it on there like that. its hard to explain, ya just gotta do it. then take the 2′ of black boa yarn and attach a dubbing twister to one end and put the other end in the vise. start twisting the twister so that the boa yarn is tightly twisted. then take the en dw/ the tool and bring it up to the vise end. the whole thing should furl and be about a foot long. tie a knot where the open ends are to close it. tie this on at the knot to the hook w/ the head.then put another hook in the vise and tie it to the other end of the boa yarn. then take a couple chunks of scrap foam and cut them to this shape (). then glue one ontop of the second hook. glue another in the middle of the whole thing. finally take the 12lb. mono and tie it to the eye of the second hook and the bend of the first. use good knots! i used palomar knots cuz those are supposed to be the strongest knots ever. youre finally done!

my snake turned out to be 11.5″ from nose to tail.
you can also use whatever colors you want, i just chose black…you could use green, white, or brown.