Charlie Craven recently started a video series on Youtube on the History of Streamer evolution. I highly recommend watching all three episodes, and any of the fly specific tying videos that he released between. If you haven’t already done so, I suggest subscribing to his channel if you want some of the best tying instruction you can find on a very vast array of flies. Simply put, I will go out on a limb and say that Charlie might very well be the best tier in the United states, and definitely the best teacher of the art in our country. I am a harsh critic, but I give credit where credit is due and if you want to learn the “right way” of doing things, he is your guy. He ties a clean bug too, and harps on the idea of tying pretty flies, ones you should take pride in. Attention to detail is something that I always admire, and well he epitomizes that.
In one of his recent videos, he tied a classic Mickey Finn streamer, and it brought back memories of my youth. I will forever love those classic bucktail streamers of yesteryear, and especially those “optics” that my dad always referred to as a kid. They required a little practice to become adept at the skills needed to construct them properly, but once you got the hang of it, they were rather simple in nature and highly effective. And, you acquired a new tying skill that was a foundation for more to follow. There is just something about those less complex designs that makes those flies “hit” a little differently.
Despite there being literally dozens if not hundreds of classic recipes, I have a fun one today to share that also hits a little differently. The 3-B Bucktail is short for a blended bucktail brown. This is a fly I came up with when I was a bit younger, ok several years younger. I devised it to combat my inability to properly dress the wings on classics like the Black Nosed Dace or Mickey Finn. Once I got the hang of it, I eventually moved on to those classics with a bit less trepidation. Today, I tie them a hell of a lot cleaner than I did in my teens so I spruced this guy up a bit and am sharing the recipe with you all today.
Traditional bucktails are of the variety of just one solid color of bucktail or a series of colors distinctly separated and tied in succession. I like dimension and varied colors in my flies, and the 3-B is one that fit’s the bill. But don’t immediately dismiss the concept as a workaround from sound technique, it uses the same skills needed in preparing the wing of a Mickey Finn, just with a little more forgiveness. And that forgiveness is a great way to start out with if you have never tackled tying bucktail in this manner. Once you get the hang of it, then I suggest moving on to those 2 or 3 toned patterns and keeping those colors distinctly separate from one another. In the meantime, tie some of these up as you follow along in the video and you will not only have learned something new, you will have a great little fish catcher to add to your fly box.