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Circus Peanut
Circus Peanut
Tying Instructions
1. Attach the back hook to the vise and select a full blood marabou feather. Measure the feather from the bend of the hook to the hook eye. This will be your tail length.
2.Place the marabou at the bend of the hook and secure with a few tight wraps and spirol wrap over the tag end of the marabou to about the 3/4 position. Try to keep the material on the top of the shank as you spirol forward with your thread. Clip off the excess.
3. For accent, attach a few strands of flashabou along each side of the tail, trimming the flashabou so that it does not exceed the tail length.
4. Attach a strand of Krystal Chenille to the tail tie in position. First remove some of the flash material to expose the inner core. It is the inner core or thread of the chenille that gets locked onto the shank with thread wraps.
5.Wrap the chenille up to the 3/4 position of the hook shand and secure with thread wraps. Trim off the excess. Next, attach 3sets of barred grizzly legs to the top of the shank in front of the chenille body. Youi should have three strands draped over one each side of the shank. Place a few wraps anchoring the base of the strands to the side of the chenille body
7. Russ used schlappen as a hackle and collar on this pattern but it was tied in much larger sizes. Here, we are adapting the pattern to smaller hook sizes and I am using Polar Reflector Chenille for a collar hackle. Attach just the core strand in behind the eye of the hook.
8. Take two full turns of the Reflector Chenille for a collar and secure with thread wraps. Trim off the excess. Next, trim the legs so that they do not exceed the body length.
9. Finish the head and whip finish. Apply some head cement.
10. Place the front hook in the vise. This is a size larger than the back hook and it will have more weight. Lay a thread foundation and secure a strand of 25 lb. Monofilament to the top of the shank just in front of the bend of the hook. Secure with thread wraps and apply zap a gap to the wraps.
11. Thread a glass bead and then the back fly going under the eye of the hook.
12. Adjust the length of your connector loop so that the back hook has plenty of movement but still close to the bead. Secure the tag end of the monofilament along the side of the monofilament that was first secured. Wrap with thread and apply the Zap a Gap. Trim off the excess.
13. A tip of marabou, on honk shank in length is attached at the top of the bend of the hook. This serves as an overwing that hides the connector strand. Secure the tag end of the marabou to the top the hook shank just past the midpoint.
14. Next attach the dumbbell eyes to the top or the bottom of the hook shank about two eyelengths back behind the eye. Having the dumbell eyes on the top of the shank will turn the fly upside down and the hooks will be upright. Coat the thread wraps with Zap a Gap on the top and bottom of the dumbbell eye.
15. Attach the Krystal Chenille by the core at the tail tie in position.
16. Wrap the chenille forward leaving room for the legs to be attached behind the eye. Attach three strands of legs to the top of the shank behind the eye so that three strands drape on both sides.
17. Attach the Polar Chenille behind the eye with several thread wraps.
18. Wrap the Polar Chenille twice for a collar and secure.
19.Attach a last strand of Krystal Chenille in front of the eye and wrap figure eights over and under the dumbell eye filling the void. Secure in front of the eye with thread wraps and trim off the excess.
20. Trim the front legs so that they do not exceed the overwing.
21. The finished Circus Peanut.
| Materials
to Order Material, click the link |
|
|---|---|
| Front Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 size 6 |
| Thread | Uni-thread 6/0, Black |
| Head | Black Krystal Chenille |
| Eyes | Medium Double Pupil Lead Eyes, Red with White & Black Pupil |
| Body | Black Krystal Chenille |
| Overwing | Clumps of Black Marabou |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Clear UV Pearl Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Connector | 25 Lb. Mono, Large Black Glass Bead |
| Hackle | Black Polar Reflector Chenille |
| Rear Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 size 8 |
| Thread | Uni-thread 6/0, Black |
| Tail | Black Marabou |
| Body | Black Krystal Chenille |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Clear UV Pearl Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Hackle | Black Polar Reflector Chenille |
| Flash | Red Flashabou |
Russ Madden
Circus Peanut
The Circus Peanut was designed by Russ Madden in the year 2000 when Russ was a 19 year old, working for Kelly Galloup at his fly shop, Troutsman Fly Shop, in Traverse, Michigan. Kelly was ecstatic about the pattern as he considered it one of the finest articulated streamer patterns he has used. The pattern came west, and was used on big waters like Wyoming’s North Platte and Montana’s Bighorn River. You can adapt the pattern using smaller hooks for our Sierran streams.
Articulated Sculpin
The head of the fly was patterned after a woolly sculpin but weighted heads, using Lead Painted Eyes, became popular. The broad profile of the head will slow down the front half of the fly, allowing the back portion to catch up and show articulation. One of the features of this pattern that makes it unique is that it uses rubber legs, probably one of the first streamer patterns to incorporate rubberlegs.
The original pattern had four sets of legs, two within each body section. That’s a lot of legs! Later adaptations toned that down to two or three sets. This provided action as seen with nymphs but now utilized within a streamer. The original pattern had an Estaz body and did not use Schlappen (Chinese Saddles) palmered over the body but the Schlappen soon became popular for filling out the body. With the use of Schlappen, the body material shifted from Estaz to Crystal Chenille. Favorite colorations are Olive, Black, White, and Bright Green.
The Peanut Envy
Kelly Galloup created a variation of the Circus Peanut called the Peanut Envy. He replaced the Estaz body of the original peanut with ice dubbing, and substituted a conehead for lead eyes as the head, still giving it that diving motion that Russ’ pattern is so famous for. Kelly added a tuft of marabou behind the head of both hooks to help maintain a little deeper profile. According to Kelly, the Peanut Envy has been fishing just as good, if not better, than the original peanut. George Daniel also came up with a variation that he calls a mix of Circus Peanut and Peanut Envy. Mainly, he transitioned back to a estaz-like body with the use of Polar Reflector Chenille.
Variations
Circus Peanut, White
| Front Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 size 6 |
| Thread | Veevus 10/0, White |
| Head | White Krystal Chenille |
| Eyes | Medium Double Pupil Lead Eyes, Yellow with White & Black Pupil |
| Body | Pearl Krystal Chenille |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Clear UV Pearl Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Connector | 25 Lb. Mono, Large Red Glass Bead |
| Hackle | White Chinese Saddle Hackle |
| Rear Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 size 8 |
| Thread | Veevus 10/0, White |
| Tail | White Marabou |
| Body | Pearl Krystal Chenille |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Clear UV Pearl Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Hackle | White Chinese Saddle Hackle |
| Flash | Pearl Flashabou |
Circus Peanut, Olive
| Front Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 size 6 |
| Thread | Veevus 10/0, Olive |
| Head | Olive Krystal Chenille |
| Eyes | Medium Psuedo Eyes, Nickel with Chartreuse & Black Pupil |
| Body | Olive Krystal Chenille |
| Overwing | Clumps of Olive Marabou |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Olive Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Connector | 25 Lb. Mono, Large Red Glass Bead |
| Hackle | Olive Polar Reflector Chenille |
| Rear Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 size 8 |
| Thread | Uni-thread 6/0, Black |
| Tail | Olive Marabou |
| Body | Olive Krystal Chenille |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Olive Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Hackle | Olive Polar Reflector Chenille |
| Flash | Red Flashabou |
Peanut Envy,Olive
| Front Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 9395 size 6 |
| Thread | Veevus 10/0, Olive |
| Head | Medium Gold Tungsten Conehead |
| Collar | Chartreuse Ice Dubbing |
| Body | Chartreuse Ice Dubbing |
| Overwing | Clumps of Olive Marabou |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Clear Chartreuse Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Connector | 25 Lb. Mono, Large Red Glass Bead |
| Hackle | Olive Chinese Saddle Hackle |
| Rear Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 9395 size 8 |
| Thread | Veevus 10/0, Olive |
| Tail | Olive Marabou |
| Body | Chartreuse Ice Dubbing |
| Legs | Clumps of Black Barred Clear Chartreuse Grizzly Flutter Legs |
| Hackle | Olive Chinese Saddle Hackle |
| Flash | Gold Flashabou |
Circus Peanut/Peanut Envy, Yellow and Gold
| Front Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 9395 size 6 |
| Thread | Veevus 10/0, Olive |
| Head | Medium Copper Tungsten Conehead with 6-8 wraps 0.025 lead wire |
| Collar | Yellow Chinese Saddle Hackle |
| Body | Yellow Polar Reflector Chenille |
| Overwing | Clumps of Golden Olive Marabou |
| Legs | Clumps of Olive Black Flake Crazy Legs |
| Connector | 25 Lb. Mono, Large Red Glass Bead |
| Rear Hook | |
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 size 8 |
| Thread | Veevus 10/0, Olive |
| Tail | Golden Olive Marabou |
| Body | Yellow Polar Reflector Chenille |
| Legs | Clumps of Olive Black Flake Crazy Legs |
| Flash | Red Flashabou |