Due to its great underwater movement, the leech-like flies are unbeatable when we go for big fish. If well designed, these are not heavy to cast and don’t tangle, something key when we are casting at our maximum skill level.The idea for this triple articulated Mamba came some years ago at the Rio View more...Due to its great underwater movement, the leech-like flies are unbeatable when we go for big fish. If well designed, these are not heavy to cast and don’t tangle, something key when we are casting at our maximum skill level.The idea for this triple articulated Mamba came some years ago at the Rio Grande in Tierra del Fuego, looking for an enduring model that sank evenly without hitting it when casting, and that enabled to combine colors and materials. We can only change the material of the tail, or make them of a single color, or mix in the body and the wings the brilliant materials and feathers.Possibilities are diverse, for when we tie three hooks individually, the combinations become numerous. I tend to use many white models, black too and some with a mix of lively colors. The white ones (White Mamba) have served me well in the Mid Section Limay in Patagonia, the black combined ones (Black Mamba) at the Rio Grande, and the olive ones (Olive Mamba) with some orange do well in Northern Patagonia. Don’t be afraid of experimenting, even placing feather collars before the body and the fox wing, or silicon rubbers for more vibrations.
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List of materials
MaterialsHooks: salmon hooks or similar, with up turned eye. We need three of them: #3, #4 and #2 to finish the fly. The smallest one for the tail. You can change the sizes in order to change the dimension of the fly as well. I normally use Daiichi for the tail for its great quality and sharp point, and Mustad for the body, that are cheaper and are cut.Thread: 6/0 or 8/0, fluorescent orange or chartreuse according to the color of the fly.Tail: black rabbit strap and blue Arctic fox for the Blue View more...MaterialsHooks: salmon hooks or similar, with up turned eye. We need three of them: #3, #4 and #2 to finish the fly. The smallest one for the tail. You can change the sizes in order to change the dimension of the fly as well. I normally use Daiichi for the tail for its great quality and sharp point, and Mustad for the body, that are cheaper and are cut.Thread: 6/0 or 8/0, fluorescent orange or chartreuse according to the color of the fly.Tail: black rabbit strap and blue Arctic fox for the Blue Mamba.Body in each hook: black rabbit strap, cross cut. Red and blue flashabou, and blue Arctic fox.Wing: Arctic fox or similar. It must have good volume and be soft at the same time. It can be replaced by craft fur, a good synthetic for this type of wings. If it’s long, the Patagonia fox tail hair replaces Arctic fox perfectly but it is hard to dye it or find it already dyed.Multifiber to connect the hooks: 50 or 80 pounds. Go for the more rigid, it’s easier to needle them in each hook.Cheeks: today’s jungle cock gives the fly a unique touch. You can glue a medium sized holographic eye with epoxy too.
Steps
Step 1
On the smallest hook make a base of thread, cement it with cyanoacrilate, and tie the regular rabbit tail strap. Then tie a strap of rabbit (Cross cut type) to finish with this first hook.
Step 2
Wrap the rabbit strap combing the hairs to the back up to close to the eye. Add a red and a blue flashabou strip at the sides, and a blue arctic fox wing in the upper section. Tie the thread, trim and cement the head with your favorite glue.
Step 3
Needle the multifiber through the hook eye that we just finished, taking it off the vise as we put on a bigger one. Tie the set we did before as shown in the picture. Firstly, the multifiber towards the eye, then turn it backwards, which makes the knot firm and avoids it from moving or loosening.
Step 4
As in Step 2, tie a black cross cut rabbit strap shaping another body, add flashabou and the blue arctic fox wing, close and place another multifiber as done in Step 3.
Step 5
On the biggest hook tie both bodies, with the multifiber as we did before. Tie the black cross cut and shape the last body tying two arctic fox wings, covering a bit more the sides so that the fly has more volume at the front, making it move water and the rest of the fly, and therefore irresistible for big fish.
Step 6
To finish our Blue Mamba, add a jungle cock feather at each side and make a neat head with several lacquer layers. The cut the two front hooks shortly.
Step 7
Finished fly image.
