October 2000 Fly of the Month - The Blonde Pattern

The Blonde pattern was developed by the legendary Joe Brooks, one of the "Founding Fathers" of saltwater flyfishing. It was dev

eloped at a time when fly fishers didn’t have the wide range of synthetic materials we enjoy today. To this day, the Blonde pattermn remains a simple but highly effective style of fly for all manner of game fish including stripers, weaks, blues, fluke, drum, tuna and snook.

The beauty of this style of fly is that it can be tied on almost any size hook and in an almost infinite variety of color combinations! Some of the traditional color patterns include the Platinum Blonde (all white), the Honey Blonde (all yellow), the Strawberry Blond aka Blushing Blonde (red/white), the Irish Blonde (green/white) and the Argentine Blonde (blue/white). Using more contemporary tying materials the pattern can be further enhanced by adding flash to the tail and upper wing, a stick on eye and an epoxied head.

1	Place hook in vise and anchor thread near the bend of the hook.
2	Tie on a medium clump of bucktail at the. Do NOT trim the bucktail after the initial thread wraps. Instead, continue to wrap thread tightly around the bucktail and hook shank working your way forward to just before the hook eye. Then trim the excess. This builds a more smooth and evenly shaped body.
3	Attach a strip of mylar to the hook just behind the eye. Wrap the shank of the hook in mylar. Be sure to cover the entire shank so no bucktail or thread shows through.
4	Apply a thin coat of head cement over the mylar to prevent the wraps from slipping. Allow to try completely before continuing.
5	Tie on a medium clump of bucktail over the top of the fly, anchored at the front of the hook just behind the eye (where you tied off the mylar from the body wrap).
6	Whip finish the head and coat with head cement. Done!

Hook:	Mustad 34007 size #2 through 3/0
Tail:	Bucktail
Body:	Mylar
Upper wing:	Bucktail
Lower wing:	None
Thread:	Black
Adhesive	Head cement