| The Articulated Leech
A staple for fishing in Alaska, we use Articulated Leeches for Salmon, Steelhead, Trout, and Bass all over the country. I've watched in amusement while a 10 inch trout in the Little Lehigh tried repeatedly to eat my articulated leech. You will undoubtedly find different methods for tying this pattern but this method has proven itself for durability and ease of tying, especially over methods that join two hook shanks together with fly line backing or monofilament. We use a special shank, the Rivers Leech Link which is available in our online store, to create the articulated body. The best hook to use with the Rivers Leech Link is the Orvis Straight Eye Streamer hook. |
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| Start the thread. Advance it to the rear of the hook. |
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| First tie in a zonker strip, then a crosscut strip. |
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| Wrap the crosscut stripto the hook eye, tie it off and cement the head. It is important not to crowd the hook eye. I like to make a couple of these at a time because you'll need to wait for the head cement to become mostly dry before proceeding to the next step and cementing this part of the fly is really not easy on the completed fly. |
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| If you're going to use a bead or cone head you'll need to bend the Leech Link to fit it on then bend it back, in this example we'll be using barbell eyes. Clip the Leech Link onto the hook and secure it in the vise like you would a normal hook. Start the thread in the middle and bind down both tabs with thread. Be careful not to cut the thread on the ends of the tabs. The flat created by the shank and tab bound together make an ideal base for barbell eyes. |
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| You'll need to rotate your vise 90 degrees to complete the fly. Tie on your barbell eyes by making a series of figure eight wraps and then wrapping around the figure eight wraps, apply head cement to the wraps. |
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| Tie in a a crosscut strip. If you prefer, you can even out the space between the tabs with some dubbing. |
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| Wrap the strip forward and tie it off behind the eyes and apply head cement. You're done! |
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