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Love Affair with Leeches :
DC Leech recipe and tying sequences
By Dennis P. Collier

Click here for the "Love Affair with Leeches" article.

DC Leech Recipe:
Hook: Size 4 to 8 TMC #9395, 4X long
Thread: Black UTC 50 Gel-spun
Weight: .010 lead
Body/Underbody: Fiery Brown Angora goat hair
Flash: Red Krystal Flash

Step 1:

Make a slight upward bend of the hook shank, approximately one-quarter of an inch behind the hook eye. Apply eight or ten wraps of .010 lead wire on the bent portion, leaving a little space between the lead and hook eye to finish the head. Anchor the lead with a few thread wraps and allow the bobbin to hang immediately behind the wire, ready for the next step.

Step 2:

Twist a fifty-cent sized wad of goat hair into a tight rope between the thumb and forefingers of both hands. Maintaining a good grip on the twisted hair with one hand, attach it to the hook shank right behind the lead wire with several tight wraps of thread.

Step 3:

Double a single strand of red Krystal-Flash around the tying thread and attach it at the goat hair tie-in point. Clip the Krystal-Flash just short of the tail length.

Step 4:

Fold the forward portion of goat hair toward the rear of the hook and secure with several more tight thread wraps at the original material tie-in point. Add a small drop of superglue at the lead/material junction to keep the body from rolling on the hook shank.

Step 5:

Dub a small amount of Fiery Brown Angora goat hair to your thread and cover the lead with a nicely tapered application. Crisscross this area with several tight thread wraps to form a compact underbody.

Step 6:

Coat the thread with a good hi-tack dubbing wax and apply some goat hair to form a dubbing noodle. This will become the shaggy over-body. Whip-finish and cement the head. Next, tease out the goat hair on the front portion of the fly with a strip of Velcro "hook" material and meld the entire body together by combing to the rear with a dubbing brush.

Dennis Collier
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Email: Dcollier943@comcast.net