SUMMER SUN WAShorizon. It was promisingscorcher in a long stretchhot Iuly days as my fish-

Jacobs, and I launchedour kick boats on the Little TurkeyRiver, one of Mikes favorite northeasternIowa smallmouth bass streams. Ourintention was to float and fish aboutfive miles of the stream, which by Mike'sestimate would take 10 hours if thefishing was good. With the tempera-ture predicted to reach the 100-degreemark by noon, it wasn't going to be aspectacular day, at least not by Mike'sstandards. He typically catches 50 ormore smallmouths on that stretch ofthe Little Turkey during a day's fishing,but with the unbearable .heat, the fish

The Red-FacedWobbler

Sometimes simple is better. This easy-to-tie flyspells big success for catching smallmouth bass.

stubbornly held in deep, cool water, andwe ended up taking half that many fish.That's not a bad day by my standards,but Mike was disappointed.

Because of the warmer-than-normal

water temperature, topwater offeringswere out of the question, and we fishedstreamers for most of the trip. Mike stuckwith a leech pattern, but.I tried a numberof different streamers with minimal suc-cess. However, one nondescript whitestreamer that had a couple of turns ofbright red Estaz wrapped around itslead eyes took three fish right off the

The Red-FacedWobbler is a basic pattern thatyou can tie in many colors. Fill a fly box withWobblers and enjoy some great spring andsummer bass fishing.

Tying a Red-Faced Wobbler1Wrap a substantial thread base on

the hook shank. Make about 18wraps of lead wire to the front of thethread base; be sure you leave enoughroom in front of the wire for the hackleface and thread head.

2 Tie on the marabou tail behindthe lead wire; the tail should be

slightly longer than the hook. Next, tieseveral strands of pearl green Lite Briteon the far and near sides of the tail; youmay substitute with pearl Flashabou,but it's not so subtle as Lite Brite.

3 Cut a 10-inch-long piece of Estaz ..Wrap the thread to the front of the

lead wire and tie the Estaz to the top ofthe hook. Bind the Estaz along the top ofthe lead to create a smooth underbody.

4 Wrap the Estaz forward to formthe body of the fly; stroke the

fibers back as you work. Tie off and clipthe excess Estaz.

5 Use scissors to taper the sides,top, and bottom of the body.

Curved serrated scissors work best forthis task.

6 Strip the fluffy fibers from thebase of a saddle hackle. Tie the

feather tip to the hook with the cuppedside facing the fly.

7 Make two or three wraps ofhackle in front of the body. Tie off

and clip any remaining feather.

Red-FacedWobblerHook: 4X-long streamer hooks such as the

Tiemco 9395 or Mustad 9674, size 6.Thread: Red 6/0 (140 denier).Weight: .025-inch lead wire.Tail: White marabou and pearl green Lite Brite.Body: Pearl Estaz.Hackle: Red.

Spring 2008 117

bat. Unfortunately, after the third fish,I made an errant cast that wrapped thefly around a tree branch 20 feet above thewater, and it was there to stay.

Throughout the day, our conversa-tion frequently turned to the kind ofstreamers that might produce undertough fishing conditions, but especiallyin hot weather. We agreed that the flyshould have as much minnow-imitatingaction as possible, especially a wobbling,darting motion similar to the "lipped"lures that spin fishermen use so success-fully. The next morning, on the six-hourdrive back to my home, I thought aboutour discussions concerning the pre-sumed characteristics of an exceptionallyproductive smallmouth bass streamer.I thought about my brief but produc-tive experience with the red-faced flythat ended up on that tree branch. Thechallenge, I reasoned, was to use thatcolor scheme on a pattern that wasdesigned to wobble or dart.

Designing the New FlyAs I pondered the possibilities of a newfly, I recalled that Tim Holshlag, theauthor of Smallmouth Fly Fishing, saidthat Art Shenk's White Streamer wasone of his 20 favorite patterns. Thesecret of the White Streamer, Holshlagsuggested, was the darting action causedby the spun rabbit-fur body that isfatter at the front than at the rear.Harry Murray, another noted small-mouth bass angler, touts a similar fly hecalls the Strymph. If thosetwo nationally recognizedsmallmouth anglers rec-ommended streamers thathave darting and wobblingactions, maybe I couldcome up with a fly with asimilar. action.

Upon arriving home, Iquickly sat down at mytying bench. Borrowingthe best features of bothflies, I added some touchesof my own and hopedthat my streamer would be as good asand maybe even better than the others.I damped a 4X-Iong streamer hook inthe vise, laid down a substantial threadbase, and added some lead wire forweight. I then borrowed the marabou

Evena modest-size smallmouth bass puts up aterrific fight. The Red-Faced Wobbler, with itsnatural movement, catches these feisty fishunder the toughest conditions.

tail from Art Shenk's streamer, butreplaced the Flashabou with a fewstrands of Lite Brite. Lite Brite is a prod-uct of the Spirit River company. It is afinely shredded Mylar material that's agood substitute for Flashabou in someapplications. It's available loose or in.000 hanks, and either works fine.

Applying spun rabbit fur with adubbing loop is a difficult, messy, andtedious task, so I substituted pearl Estazfor the body and trimmed it to a tapered,wedged shape. Estaz is a great bodymaterial that has very long fibers denselywoven through the cotton core, and it'seasy to trim with serrated scissors. Thetapered shape gives the streamer that all-important wobbling action of Shenk'sfly. I remembered the red-headed fly I

left hanging in the tree, and replacedthe speckled feather that Harry Murrayuses on the front of his Strymph with abright red hen hackle.

I took the finished streamer from thevise, attached it to a 3X leader with a

Uni-Knot, and cast it into my neigh-bor's swimming pool. It looked evenbetter than I had hoped; it wobbled anddarted, the marabou tail undulated, andthe Estaz body shimmered. The Red-Faced Wobbler was a success in theswimming pool, but would it be suc-cessful on a smallmouth stream?

Sweet Success!I immediately returned to my tyingbench, cranked out more Wobblers,and mailed them to Mike. A few dayslater, I received an excited late-nightphone call telling me that the Red-Faced Wobbler had saved his baconthat day. On a brief late-afternoon out-ing on his home river, the Maquokata,Mike caught several nice bass on thelittle streamer when nothing elseworked. The Red-Faced Wobbler hadearned its stripes, and since then it hasbeen one of our favorite streamers.

The Red-Faced Wobbler is as easyto fish as it is to tie. I like to fish it inrocky structure using a strip-strip-pauseretrieve along with occasional twitchesof the rod tip. My favorite smallmouthrig is a 6-weight rod matched with afloating line and a 3X leader. It's a goodidea to attach the fly to the tippet witha Duncan loop to improve the streamer'swobbling action. The Urn-Knot, alsoknown as a Duncan loop, allows thefly to move freely, unlike other knotsthat are tightly cinched against thehook eye. The Red-Faced Wobbler rides

low in the water columnand occasionally snags onrocks; when that happens,use a forceful roll cast tofree it, and you're onyour way.

There is no doubt thatpatterns such as Art Shenk'sWhite Streamer and HarryMurray's Strymph are out-standing. The Red-FacedWobbler may not be quiteas exceptional, but it'sbeen a consistently great

producer for me and my friends.

It's been a few years since Ward Beanappeared in our magazine; we guess he'sbeen busy fishing. Ward lives in CouncilBluffs, Iowa.

18 I www.flyfishingmagazines.com