The Mop Fly. Yeah, this fly could be viewed as blasphemous by dry fly purists, but I’m here to tell you that it is fly style that I don’t see going anywhere any time soon. Mop flies can be as simple or as complicated as you would like. I could argue that it might be better to keep these flies relatively simple than to go super complicated. This step by step tying instruction is to show a simple “go-to” version.
Ingredients:
Hook: TMC2487 BL Size10
Body: BC Fishing Supplies Mop Chenille Body
Dubbing: Any dubbing of choice
Thread: Veevus 8/0 black
Bead: 4.0mm Slotted bead
Step 1:
Get your bead on the hook and lay down a thread base. In this instance I am using a 4.0mm slotted (the slot is optional) bead. I wanted this particular fly to get down and get down quickly.
Step 2:
Determine how long you want your mop body to be. This fly is going to have the mop body extend about one full hook length beyond the curve of the hook. An important point of reference if you are fishing these flies for smaller mouthed fish I would recommend trimming the mop shorter. I’ve trimmed these mop bodies down to a little nub for some community pond bluegill.
Step 3:
Now to attach the mop body to the hook itself. At this point I would recommend running some head cement or super glue on the top of the hook. this will help the mop not rotate on the hook and foul while being fished. The mop material is readily compressed – so you can either strip a little off to get to the core or just use tight wraps to tie it down. In addition to the cement/glue previously used I would highly I recommend a drop or two of glue to increase durability.
Step 4:
Add a dubbing collar. There are a couple ways to do this. A simple way to do this is to take a small pinch of dubbing,align the fibers, loosely spread it around the hook then take two or three tight wraps of thread to secure. I did that two times with this fly to give the collar a little more thickness. From there a quick whip finish behind the bead and your fly is complete!
As I mentioned this fly can be tied up in many other styles. Play around with this very versatile material. It doesn’t hurt to be creative. Fish eat these flies. My personal thoughts are to use the more earth toned colors of mop body for carp, trout I’ve seen the greatest success with the cream/tan colored ones, and for bluegill/sunfish I have had a blast fishing the chartreuse ones. I’ll be honest – I’d put money down on being able to catch fish with every color of mop body out there! I just haven’t done it… yet.
Can’t wait to see what you end up catching on the Mop Fly. Feel free to adapt it to fit your personal tastes. If you want to go crazy and elegant – by all means, do it, post it on Twitter or Instagram and tag me (@spenceronthefly) and/or Fishwest (@fishwest).
Here are two other mop fly versions that I recently tied up and caught fish on.
