Sperm & Egg Fly
The basic construction of this fly came from my knife-making, guitar-playing, piano-tuning, composer, and fishing buddy, John Beth. He’s always got something new and fun to play with, and when he showed me his Sperm & Egg Fly that he catches all his steelhead, and some browns and salmon with, I was delighted. The basis of the fly is Otter’s Egg. These are silicon eggs available in a wide variety of colors and sizes. Cabela’s, Gander Mt., and others offer these. The eggs are tough but equally as tough to keep on the hook. Here’s a neat way to readily make a Sperm and Egg Fly that is fast to tie and totally prevents the egg from slipping off the hook.
Step One: Pierce the egg onto the hook. John prefers red hooks, but I’ve used other styles, too.
Step One is to pierce the Otter's Egg--try to get it as centered as possible.
Step Two: Attach the thread at the eye and tie in a strip if peaarlescent Twinkle Organza. Other cross-woven materials will work, too, but I really like the twinkling effect of this stuff.
Step Two is to tie in a strip of Twinkle Organza or other cross-woven material.
Step Three: Tie off the thread at the front of the egg, and tie it in at the rear of the egg.
Step Three is to tie off the thread, cut it away, and retie at the rear of the egg.
Step Four: Fold the Twinkle Organza over the top of the egg and tie down at the rear of the egg. The material will keep the egg securely on the hook. Trim the length of the material to form a short tail, and then, using a dubbing brush, comb out the material to remove all the cross-grain fibers, leaving only the length-wise fibers to form the tail.
Step Four involves folding the material over the top of the egg, tying it off, trimming the tail to length, and brushing it out.
Here’s a smaller Sperm & Egg Fly dressed on a standard bronzed egg hook.
Small Sperm & Egg Fly dressed on a bronzed hook.