Egg Sucking Leech

• Hook: TMC 5263 #6-8
• Thread: Uni 8/0 Black and Danville 6/0 Fl. Orange
• Weight: 0.025 leadfree wire
• Egg Head: Orange Ultra Chenille
• Tail: Purple Blood Marabou w/2 strands Royal Blue Krystalflash
• Body: Medium Purple Chenille palmered with Purple Saddle Hackle
• Collar: Purple Saddle Hackle

Notes: There's an unwritten rule among fly fishers that egg patterns are just like fishing with bait. Why eggs are any different than an insect food source is beyond my pay grade but egg patterns are frowned upon. Enter the Egg Sucking Leech. We all know that the obsequious Woolly Bugger that Russell Blessing designed in 1967 is a top ten pattern but when Will Bauer of McBauer's Fly Shop in Anchorage, AK put a chenille egg on it's nose in 1984, it became something else....an egg sucking leech. Will moved onto Belize a few years later and was one of the pioneers in fly fishing for Permit. He invented the Bauer Crab pattern. Unfortunately, Will passed away in 2015 in Redding, CA. The Fly Shop hosts a Kid's Fishing Camp Scholarship Fund in his name.

Originally used for Salmon and Steelhead, the Egg-sucking Leech pattern has found a home within the Sierra as a trout streamer. I doubt that anyone has actually seen an egg sucking leech before, including the trout, but the brightly colored wad of chenille on the nose of a Wooly Bugger is a great trigger mechanism and you can't frown on the effectiveness of this pattern.

Variations:

• Hook: TMC 5263 #6-8
• Thread: Uni 8/0 Black
• Weight: 0.025 leadfree wire
• Egg Head: Fl. Pink Ultra Chenille
• Tail: Black Blood Marabou w/2 strands Black Krystalflash
• Body: Medium Black Chenille palmered with Black Rooster Cape Hackle
• Collar: Black Rooster Cape Hackle

• Hook: TMC 5263 #6-8
• Thread: Uni 8/0 Brown
• Weight: 0.025 leadfree wire
• Egg Head: Red Ultra Chenille
• Tail: Brown Blood Marabou w/2 strands Silver Krystalflash
• Body: Medium Brown Chenille palmered with Furnace Hen Neck
• Collar: Furnace Hen Neck