Salmon Egg Cluster

Materials

Hook

Partridge McHaffie Masters MM1B wet-fly hook, size 8 (Global FlyFisher); for Great Lakes salmon step up to a Gamakatsu C14S in 4 to 8Needs a sturdy short or standard shank; the cluster is heavy and bulky.

Thread

Our choice: 6/0 or GSP in a colour matching the veil (the source lists no thread)

Eggs

Glo Bug yarn in egg colours, one 1 in piece per pom-pom, three to five per flySource colours: orange, salmon red, salmon pink. Our Michigan colours are Bug Shop names: Steelhead Orange, Sockeye, Flame, Chartreuse. Mix two shades in one cluster.

Tippet cores

0X to 3X monofilament tippet cut into 6 in lengths, one per pom-pomEach pom-pom is knotted onto a mono core, which is what gets tied to the hook.

Skein veil

Glo Bug yarn in pale pink, cream or pale yellow, a 1 in piece teased thin

Tooloptional

A plastic pen tube cut down (keep the writing end) to use as a pom-pom maker

Head cementoptional

Thin cement on the tie-in wraps

Steps

1. 1.Make the eggs first, away from the vise. Tie a loose overhand knot in a 6 in length of tippet, poke a 1 in piece of egg yarn through the loop, and pull the knot tight so it cinches the yarn at its middle. Trim the short tag of mono to about 1/16 in.
2. 2.Feed the long tippet end into the wide end of the pen tube and draw the yarn in until about 1/4 in of it shows at the tip. Snip the yarn flush with the tip, push it out and roll it into a ball. Make three to five, mixing two egg colours.
3. 3.Put the hook in the vise and lay a thread base from behind the eye to above the point.
4. 4.Tie the pom-poms in one at a time by their mono cores around the middle of the shank, at random angles so they stand out about 3/8 in in different directions. Use several tight wraps per core, trim the mono, and touch the wraps with cement.
5. 5.Prepare the skein: take a 1 in piece of the pale yarn and stretch it sideways until it is thin and translucent. Fold it around the thread so it hangs loose like unspun dubbing, or trap it in a split-thread loop.
6. 6.Wind the veil around and through the cluster, sweeping the fibres rearward with each turn so they surround the eggs without hiding them. You want an even, see-through haze, not a second layer of yarn.
7. 7.Build a small neat head in front, whip finish and cement.
8. 8.Tease the veil open with a toothbrush or dubbing brush so the individual eggs show through it.

From the tier

• Steve Schweitzer's note on the pattern is that it is the veil that sells it: wet, the fly reads as a cluster of eggs held in a skein sac, so aim for a uniform translucent glow around the whole bunch.
• MidCurrent's egg-fly primer: cluster and loop-style eggs are forgiving of mistakes, and for steelhead and salmon move up to a heavy Gamakatsu C14S rather than a trout scud hook.
• Michigan usage (Ted Kraimer, Current Works): in fall, fish a large bright egg like this as the attractor on a two-fly rig with a realistic egg behind it, especially when leaves are drifting; go smaller and more natural once the water clears.

Hook and hardware

• Heavy wet-fly or egg hook1

  size 4 to 8 · Gamakatsu C14S or Partridge MM1B

  Hook

  1

• Monofilament tippetabout 30 in per fly (five 6 in pieces)

  0X to 3X

  Tippet cores

  about 30 in per fly (five 6 in pieces)

Synthetics, flash and legs

• Glo Bugs yarn, egg colours1 bag per colour (about 5 in per fly)

  Steelhead Orange, Sockeye, Flame, Chartreuse · The Bug Shop

  Eggs

  1 bag per colour (about 5 in per fly)

• Glo Bugs yarn, pale veil colour1 bag (about 1 in per fly)

  Cream Delight, Baby Pink or Sunrise Yellow · The Bug Shop

  Skein veil

  1 bag (about 1 in per fly)

Thread and finish

• Tying thread1 spool

  6/0 or GSP, veil colour

  Thread

  1 spool

• Head cementoptional1 bottle

  Head cement

  1 bottle

Other

• Plastic pen tubeoptional1

  Tool

  1