Tying the Snail Fly
I’ve had requests to show step by step tying sequences for a couple of flies. The first of these is the Peacock Snail. Others to follow. The Peacock Snail is a lethal fly on trout lakes around the world. It’s very simple in design, too, making it easy and fast to tie. Sizes 10-14 are all that are ever needed. I like to put them on wet fly hooks, to give them a tiny bit more weight, but mostly to have a stronger wire for the big fish often encountered when fishing the snail.
- Mount the hook in the vise, attach the thread and tie in a standard, brown, dry fly hackle at the rear of the hook. Note carefully the small section of the hackle shaft that is bare, just above the point where the feather is tied in at the rear of the hook.
Wind the hackle 3 turns. The small section of bare shaft af the base of the hackle feather allows you to start the turns without getting hackle fibers sticking out at odd angles. Tie in a piece of bright copper wire.
Tie in a half dozen or so pieces of peacock herl.
Twist the strands of herl together and wind them to the front, leaving about two head spaces in front of the body (1 head space = the length of the hook eye).
Counter-wind the copper rib--in this case I wound the herl clockwise and the rib counterclockwise.
Attach a standard brown, dry fly hackle at the front of the body, wing it four turns, and finish the fly.
Hi Gary!
Interesting fly! A friend and I were fishing a small stillwater the other day (really an old gravelpit, now stocked with bows and browns). Fishing was hard, but once we cracked the code, fishing was consistent. The order of the day was a type 6 sinking shootinghead with Wooly Buggers or small, light colored zonkers.
The water, being an old gravelpit, is not highly nutritious, but there are of course insects typical of stillwaters.
My friend accidentally hooked a rainbow in the eye and rightly chose to kill it. When we opened it, we found a small mash of digested insetcs – and snails!!!
So here are a couple of questions:
1. How do you fish this fly?
2. How can one “be sure” that trout accept this fly for a snail?
Best regards, and thanks for a great blog!
Lars
Hi Lars,
Thanks for the nice comment. Fish the snail fly any way you like, literally. I’ve caught fish in still waters fishing it every way you can imagine: casting to cruisers, on a floating line just under the surface after a big windstorm, deep and very slow, deep and fast, simply allowing it to sink, etc. For your situation, I’d fish it slow and deep behind one of your other successful imitations, tractor-trailer style.
As to knowing that the fish take it for a snail, I’ve caught many, many trout on this fly that were filled with snails. I’ve used it with great success specifically on fish that were feeding on snails, and I’ve caught fish that just took it, whether they were feeding snails or not I don’t know. It works, and it works wonders many times.
Catch a few big ones for me on the Peacock Snail.
Best, GB
Thanks a lot for the replay, Gary! I’ve already tiedup a handful and stuck in my bellyboat, ready for action. I’ll keep you updated on my success (hopefully) :-).
Lars
Hi Gary!
Thanks for the quick response. I’ve already tied a handful and stuck in the sidepocket of my belly boat. I’ll let you know how I succeed (hopefully) :-)
Best regards
Lars
GREAT FLY ONE OF OUR MEMBERS WAS FLY FISHING THE OTHER DAY AND THREW OTHER FLIES OUT BUT NOTHING WOULD HIT, SO HE HAD A SNAIL FLY HE HAD JUST TIED AND DECIDED TO TRY IT.
WELLLLLLLLL ——–
HE LANDED 4 FISH OUT OF 5 CASTS ON THIS ONE FLY. ONE OF THE TROUT WAS 19 INCH RAINBOW.
DOES IT WORK? JUST TRY IT AND HANG ON TO THE POLE AND LINE.
GOOD JOB
DALE