What Is an Ice Fly?
Ice flies are similar to jigs but tied with traditional fly tying techniques. The main difference between traditional flies and ice flies is the configuration of the patterns. Traditional trout and panfish flies are tied to imitate aquatic food organisms. Ice flies are not intended to match any particular food organism. Ice flies are used as visual attractors for the bait, usually meal worms, wax worms or earth worms, used in ice fishing for panfish and many species of trout.
Because ice flies are used with bait, a portion of the hook shank is left open, unlike a traditional fly. The smaller body of ice flies makes them fast, easy and economical to tie. Even the beginning fly tyer can tie these flies by learning the most basic of fly tying techniques. The fact that they are used as visual attractors makes them perfect “canvases” for colorful creativity.
Tools and Materials for Tying Ice Flies
Because ice flies are so simple to tie very few fly tying tools are needed. A working fly tying vise, scissors, hackle pliers and thread bobbin are all the tools required to tie soft bodied ice flies.
Materials to tie soft bodied ice flies likely already reside in any tyer’s collection. Long shank hooks, thread, chenille and hackle are all the materials that are needed.
The Recipe
This recipe is for a red and chartreuse version of the fly. The body and hackle colors can be altered to suit your preference. The thread tail works best in red and purple no matter the body and hackle colors.
- Tiemco 5212 or equivalent 2x long shank dry fly or nymph hook sizes 12-8
- Red, 6/0 Uni-thread
- Red, small or fine chenille or ultra-chenille
- Grizzly dry fly hackle
- Chartreuse, small or fine chenille or ultra-chenille
Other body color combinations that have worked well are red/pink, purple/pink, olive/chartreuse, black/pink and black/red. The hackle color seems to be unimportant in side by side tests but the subtle movement the hackle makes in the water is extremely important.
The Tying Steps
- Start the thread just behind the hook eye and lay a thread base on the hook shank back to 1 hook eye length in front of the hook point. Do not trim the tag end of the thread.
- Tie in a length of chenille at the back end of the thread base and wrap it forward to cover just less than half of the thread covered hook shank. Tie down the forward end of the chenille and trim away the excess.
- Tie in a prepared hackle by the butt end and make 2-3 tight wraps. Tie down the hackle stem and trim the excess.
- Tie in the next section of chenille and wrap it forward to just behind the hook eye. Be sure to leave enough room to whip-finish the head. Tie down and trim the excess chenille.
- Form a smooth head, whip-finish the fly and apply a drop of head cement.
- Trim the tag end of the tying thread to equal 1-2 lengths of the fly.
Why These Flies Catch Fish
Unlike traditional weighted jigs these soft bodied ice flies are neutral in buoyancy. Used with a simple ice fishing rig these flies can be successfully fished suspended on either tight-line or under a cork.
The neutral buoyancy of the fly and bait encourages fish to hold the fly longer allowing more time for the hook set.
The bright colors of these flies make them an excellent visual attractor. Experimentation with different colors is a good way to find the best combination for your local waters.
Tie a few samples of the soft bodied ice flies or whip up a few of the hard bodied versions and give these little gems a try. Panfish and trout like them and you just might also. Not only do they catch fish but they are extremely durable as well.
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