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Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Tying Instructions
1. Secure the TMC 5263 3XL nymph hook to the vise and attach the thread behind the eye. Lay down a thread foundation to the bend of the hook.
2. Clip a number of Marabou fibers keeping their tips even. Measure the fibers so that the tail is about 2/3 the hook shank length. Secure the fibers at the bend of the hook with a couple of tight thread wraps.
3. The first clump of hairs was a little light, so I’m adding a second clump of Marabou fibers, matching the tips.
4. Next, anchoring the tag ends of the marabou up the shank to behind the eye.
5. Trim off the excess marabou and secure with thread wraps. Wrap back to the bend of the hook.
6. Attach the end of a Sparkle Chenille, Midnight Fire to the bend of the hook. Just the threaded core of the chenille is secured with tight thread wraps.
7. Select two Chinese Saddle hackles. The hackles should be long enough to palmer to the eye and webby to fill the body of the pattern.
8. Preening the fibers back on the hackle, expose a tie-in position on the hackle to secure it at the bend of the hook.
9. Wrap the thread forward securing the tag end of the hackle to just behind the eye. Using a Rotary Vise , so I throw on a couple of half hitches to secure the thread as I rotate the vise.
10. Holding the chenille strand, the vise is rotated wrapping the chenille forward to behind the eye.
11. Secure the chenille with a couple of tight thread wraps and trim off the excess. Put another couple of half hitches around the eye ’cause we are going to rotate the hackles next.
12. Hold the two hackles with the shiny sides forward. Wrap the hackles forward about 5-6 turns.
13. The hackle should be about twice the hook gap. Secure the tag ends of the hackle just behind the eye with some tight thread wraps.
14. Trim off the tag end of the hackles.
15. Build up a small thread head behind the eye.
16. Apply a Whip Finish.
17. And, add a drop of head cement.
18. The Finished Midnight Cowboy. Jon Voight never had it so good.
| Materials
to Order Material, click the link |
|
|---|---|
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 #4-6 |
| Thread | Veevus Black 6/0 |
| Body | Speckled Chenille, Midnight Fire |
| Hackle | (2) Chinese Saddles, Black |
| Tail | Black Marabou |
The Midnight Cowboy belongs to a class of bugger patterns known as Pyramid Lake Buggers. They originated in the early 2000’s at the Reno Fly Shop when tied by Terry Barron and Andy Burk. Pyramid Lake Buggers are known for being unweighted since fast sinking shooting heads are used to keep the flies near the bottom. They also incorporate multiple hackles so that if you lose one, there is another to replace it. And, they have short tails to avoid the short strikes that commonly occur. Some are tied without any tail at all.
The Midnight Cowboy Wooly Bugger is the most popular Wooly Bugger on Pyramid Lake. It is a great fly for the front or back of your two fly rig. The blue and red fibers in the chenille really make this fly look alive in the water. The fly got it’s name from the particular Speckled chenille Midnight Fire that makes up the body.
The Bloody Mary Wooly Bugger is a close variant of the Midnight Cowboy using a red thread underbody and peacock herl or the Speckled Chenille in Red/Black.
The Deep Water Midnight Cowboy was developed over the past few years in order to be able to fish in deeper water in the fall and spring. With the explosion of large Pilot Peak Cutthroat came the need to fish in a little deeper water in fall and spring. Deep Water Wooly Buggers fished with a normal shooting head allows anglers to fish in 15-30 feet of water from a Tube or Pontoon boat. This can be deadly in October/November and May/June.
Fish these flies in either deep water with a fast sinking shooting head or with a floating line for a jigging motion right off the shelf. Size 4 with a 4.5mm Tungsten Bead
Variations
Bloody Mary Bugger
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 #6-8 |
| Thread | Veevus Red 6/0 |
| Body | Speckled Chenille, Red/Black |
| Hackle | (2) Chinese Saddles, Black |
| Tail | Black Blood Marabou |
Deep Water Midnight Cowboy,
| Hook | Tiemco 5263 #6-8 |
| Thread | Veevus Black 6/0 |
| Head | 3/16 tungsten |
| Body | Speckled Chenille, Midnight Fire |
| Hackle | (2) Chinese Saddles, Black |
| Tail | Black Marabou |