Randy’s Belly Boat Fly – the promise of marabou

Randy’s Belly Boat Fly, Crawdad Orange

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Tying Instructions

1. Start the thread behind the eye and lay a thread base to the bend of the hook.

2. Clip 15-20 Marabou fibers from the side of a mature quill. Note that the side fibules extend to the tip of the marabou strand. Attach the fibers directly above the barb on the shank. The length of the tail should be about the same as the shank length.

3. Attach a piece of short shuck to the tail tie-in position.

4. Wrap the short shuck forward about 15 wraps to just past the midpoint of the shank. Secure the short shuck and trim.

5. Attach a piece of long shuck by the thread core just in front of the short shuck tie-off position.

6. Wrap the l;ong shuck forward about 5-6 wraps, leaving plenty of room for the marabou wing and the head. Secure the long shuck and trim.

7. Clip another 1/2″ section of marabou strands from the side of the quill. The length of the wing whould extend to the end of the tail strands. Secure the marabou to the top of the shank directly in front of the long shuck.

8. Attach 5-7 strands of copper flashabou for an overwing. The flashabou should not extend beyond the marabou wing.

9. Secure the flash, trim the butts, and create a threaded head. Whip Finish and apply some head cement..

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	Daiichi 1710 #6-10
Thread	Danville Black 6/0
Head	Danville Black 6/0
Body	Rust Midge Cactus Chenille
Thorax	Hot Orange Krystal flash Chenille
Wing	Crawdad Orange Marabou Plume
Tail	Crawdad Orange Marabou
Overwing	Copper Flashabou

Randy’s Belly Boat Fly

Randy Sievers came up with a trolling pattern, marketed by J. Fair, called Randy’s Belly Boat Fly. It is basically a Marabou leech pattern using J. Fair’s Shuck material for the body. J. Fair material is not available any longer, so I substitute colorations that are close with Midge Cactus Chenille as the Short Shuck and Krystal Flash Chenille for the Long Shuck. The pattern uses a 2XL nymph hook, Daiichi 1710, in sizes 6-10. This provides an ample hook gap without sacrificing shank length. The pattern is unweighted.

Marabou Leech Pattern

This is basically a marabou leech pattern with a nymphal body of a short shuck and a thorax of long shuck chenille. An overwing of flash provides additional reflection and attraction. It is meant to be fished as a streamer with different retrieval patterns. Randy likes to tie this pattern using a 2XL Nymph Hook in size #6. Many similar patterns, such as the Mohair Leech or Marabou Leech, use a 3XL Nymph hook in sizes 8-10. Randy gets the same shank length with a size 6 2XL but a wider gape. This extra gape can be important in getting better hook-ups. The wing of marabou tied in front of the body offers plenty of sinuous action.

Variations

Randy’s Belly Boat Fly, Leech Brown

Hook	Daiichi 1710 #6-10
Thread	Danville Black 6/0
Head	Danville Black 6/0
Body	Dark Brown Midge Cactus Chenille
Thorax	Rusty Brown Krystal Flash Chenille
Wing	Claret Marabou Plume
Tail	Claret Marabou Plume
Overwing	Copper Wing N Flash

Randy’s Belly Boat Fly, Hot Orange

Hook	Daiichi 1710 #6-10
Thread	Danville Black 6/0
Head	Danville Black 6/0
Body	Hot Orange Micro Polar Chenille
Thorax	Hot Orange Polar Flash Reflector Chenille
Wing	Hot Orange Marabou Blood Quill
Tail	Hot Orange Marabou Blood Quill
Overwing	Copper Wing N Flash

Randy’s Belly Boat Fly, Black

Hook	Daiichi 1710 #6-10
Thread	Danville Black 6/0
Head	Danville Black 6/0
Body	Black Short Shuck with Black Long Shuck with Black Marabou
Tail	Black Marabou
Overwing	Red and Black Krystalflash