Duracell – reliable to stay strong

Duracell

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Tying Instructions

1. Slip a slotted bead onto the hook. Place a small drop of superglue on the shank just above the eye. Place the bead above the eye of the hook with the slot facing upwards. The superglue will help keep the bead sdiv in position.

2. Attach the thread behind the bead and build a small thread dam.

3. Wrap the thread back to the bend of the hook. Secure 8-10 CDL Spade hackle fibers to the top of the hook shank with a couple of thread wraps. Adjust the fibers so that the tail is about one shank length and secure with tight wraps.

4. Wrap the tailing fibers up the shank to an bead width behind the bead and trim off the tag end.

5. Secure the tag end of the tailing fibers with thread wraps behind the bead.

6. Place a small red wire into the slot of the bead and secure the wire to the top of the hook shank with thread wraps.

7. Secure the wire down to the base of the tail.

8. Twist some Ice Dubbing onto the thread with a tapered noodle.

9. Wrap the dubbed noodle forward to achieve a tapered body.

10. Counter wrap the red wire ribbing forward about 5-6 times with spirol wraps to behind the bead and secure with thread wraps.

10a. Prepare a CDC hackle for a dubbing loop. Place the feather into a folding block or just place one side of the fibers into a clip. Yeah…I forgot to take pics of this step so I’m showing the same steps from the Cosmic Caddis SBS tutorial. Trim off the quill stem to expose the bare fibers.

10b. Create the dubbing loop using a dubbing loop tool to keep the loop open. Remember to place a thread wrap around the tip of the loop that is under the shank to keep the loop from spreading.

10c. Place the hackle fibers into the loop and close the loops be pulling on the dubbing loop tool. Once the fibers are trapped, spin the tool to create the dubbing brush.

11. Now back to the Duracell…The spun dubbing loop has the CDC hackle fibers oriented perpendicular to the thread. Hackle Pliers are holding loop together.

12. Wrap the brush around the hook shank behind the bead, stroking the fibers back towards the rear with each wrap Secure the tag end of the brush with a couple of tight thread wraps and trim off the tag end of the loop..

13. Twist on a small amount of dubbing to the thread for a collar.

14. Wrap a small tight collar of dubbing behind the bead.

15. Whip Finish behind the bead.

16. The Finished Duracell.

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	Firestick #551 #14-16
Thread	Uni-Thread Camel 8/0
Head	Slotted Tungsten Silver Bead
Ribbing	Small Wire, Red
Body	Ice Dubbing, UV Brown
Tail	Coq De Leon, Dark Pardo
Thorax	Ice Dubbing, UV Brown
Collar Hackle	CDC Medium Slate Dun and Ice Dubbing, UV Brown

Craig McDonald

Duracell

The Duracell is a pattern created by Scottish angler Craig McDonald. This fly has been popular with competitive fishing in Europe for many years. Supposedly, the fly had a slogan attached to it, “No fly is stronger longer” and thus became known as the Duracell fly. It is favored as the point fly on a French-style nymphing rig, and conveniently fishes point up to reduce bottom hang ups. A tungsten bead head means the fly drops quickly and a natural CDC hackle wound behind the head ensures just a hint of movement in the water. The UV Brown ice dubbing with the red wire segmentation provides an enticing, realistic color presentation.

The Duracell is an excellent choice as a dropper below a dry fly or a nymph rig. The Coppertop Duracell is just a Copper slotbead rather than a Silver slotbead. However, you can change the body color to a Rusty Olive and the CDC Collar to a Woodduck Gold for a lighter effect.

Coppertop Duracell

Hook	Hanak #450BL #12-16
Thread	Uni-Thread Tan 8/0
Head	Slotted Tungsten Copper Bead
Ribbing	Small Wire, Silver
Body	Ice Dubbing, Rusty Olive
Tail	Coq De Leon, Dark Pardo
Thorax	Ice Dubbing, Rusty Olive
Collar Hackle	CDC Woodduck Gold and Ice Dubbing, Rusty Olive