J. Fair’s Wiggle Tail

Materials

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Hook TMC 2487 #10
Thread Uni-thread Black 8/0
Weight 0.020 Leadfree wire
Body Olive Short Shuck
Tail Olive Marabou
Hackle Olive Grizzly Saddle Hackle
Damsel Nymph
Damsel Nymph
Jay Fair

Jay Fair

J. Fair’s Wiggle Tail

J. Fair’s Wiggle Tail was designed by Jay Fair of Eagle Lake, CA. in the early 1980’s. Jay was an innovative fly tier and dyed many of his materials with earthy tones. He passed away Dec 29th 2016. Jay had designed an earlier pattern known as the Wiggle Nymph in 1978 which had a chenille “woolly worm” body and a short 5/8 inch Marabou tail. As he was developing a mylar chenille, known as Shuck, he used that material for the body and elongated the tail to 1.5 inches. Dyed Grizzly feathers with some webbiness work best for the palmered hackle since the webbiness flows the hackle fibers back over the body.

Received National Recognition

National recognition of this pattern was published in Fly Fisher Magazine in 1983 and 1988. The fly is categorized as a swimming nymph. It is a very effective attractor for trout, bass, and crappie due to the action of the marabou tail and palmered body. It can be jigged or stripped and works best in stillwater situations. The primary colorations that Jay uses is Olive, Dark Olive, Burnt Orange, and Rust. He also uses Black for leeches and White for baitfish. The pattern makes for a very effective Damsel Nymph pattern. Use a Count and Retrieve technique with medium sized pulls and 3-4 second pauses between retrievals.

Variations

J Fair's Wiggle Tail, Rust
J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Rust

J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Rust

Hook TMC 2487 #10
Thread Uni-thread Black 8/0
Weight 0.020 Leadfree wire
Body Rust Short Shuck
Tail Claret Marabou
Hackle Pink Grizzly Saddle Hackle
J Fair's Wiggle Tail, Orange
J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Orange

J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Orange

Hook TMC 2487 #10
Thread Uni-thread Black 8/0
Weight 0.020 Leadfree wire
Body Rust Midge Cactus Chenille
Tail Crawdad Orange Marabou
Hackle Orange Grizzly Saddle Hackle
J Fair's Wiggle Tail, Brown
J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Brown

J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Brown

Hook TMC 2487 #10
Thread Uni-thread Black 8/0
Weight 0.020 Leadfree wire
Body Medium Brown Midge Cactus Chenille
Tail Brown Marabou
Hackle Brown Grizzly Saddle Hackle
J Fair's Wiggle Tail, Peacock
J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Peacock

J Fair’s Wiggle Tail, Peacock

Hook TMC 2487 #10
Thread Uni-thread Black 8/0
Weight 0.020 Leadfree wire
Body Peacock Midge Cactus Chenille
Tail Black Marabou
Hackle Brown Grizzly Saddle Hackle