When buying this type of marabou, it comes loosely in a bag. There is some still floating out there that is on a patch called chickabou, which has way better selection. This stuff in the bag has a bunch of junk that you will weave through just to find a good pair to match.
Note: No joke, in a bag I bet you can’t find 6-10 good ones that are good enough to make a nice marabou tail.
Start your thread in the front and wind back to the bend. Once you have selected two and have matched them up you are ready to tie them in. I like my tail to be a little more then the whole length of the hook shank, and to be has bushy as you can make it. Wind forward like you see in the picture. I like to incorporate the excess along the shank for durability and it gives it just a little bulk on the hook shank. I stop about a third up the hook shank, where my head will be tied in with beaver hair.
Step 2.
Trim the excess. A little trick I started doing. I twist the stem of the marabou before making the cut. I wind back to about the middle of the hook shank. Tie in the polar chenille and wind back to where you meet up with the tail. Wind up to the stopping point, where the head will be tied in with beaver. Trim the excess.
Step 3.
Select about 10 strands of the rainbow flashabou and wind them around the thread, then tie them in. Now you have a total of 20 strands for your first flash wing. Notice where I make the cut, I like it hang off the back about a whole length of what the tail is.
Just showing you the correct flashabou so you don’t have to guess what color they are.
Step 4.
Select 6-8 strands of the ocean green flashabou and repeat the same step. Once you have tied them in, wind a little on top of the flash forcing it to lay down and not sticking up.
Step 5.
You thread should be a little up from where you tied down the flash. Make a dubbing loop and wind back to where you butt up with flash. Cut some beaver off the hide and put in the dubbing loop where the butt ends are barely sticking out one side of the loop. Notice in the picture. If you have any excess hanging out you can grab a pair of scissors and cut any that is not up to par. It needs to be even on one side of the loop. Spin the loop tight, but not too tight to where you don’t have any length left from the hair.
Step 5.
You thread should be a little up from where you tied down the flash. Make a dubbing loop and wind back to where you butt up with flash. Cut some beaver off the hide and put in the dubbing loop where the butt ends are barely sticking out one side of the loop. Notice in the picture. If you have any excess hanging out you can grab a pair of scissors and cut any that is not up to par. It needs to be even on one side of the loop. Spin the loop tight, but not too tight to where you don’t have any length left from the hair.
Step 6.
Wind around making each wrap side by side and palmer the hair back as you make each turn. Now if you have too much in the loop you won’t be able to wind it all in and you will have to tie down where you ended up and cut the excess. This is ok, but the goal is to measure enough in the loop to not have this problem occur. Might take a few times, but you will get it down. Whip finish and glue the thread head with gloss coat.
I tie these in several colors so the sky is the limit. The reason why these flies are so important is if they don’t hit the lead fly because of the color or size this flashy smaller one sometimes does the trick. They turn right around and this one is in front of their face. What do they do, open their mouth and hit just because. It works like a charm. Good luck and let me know how you do. It’s also a great night time fly on Taneycomo when the moon is out.
