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Brasshawk Carp Fly Step-by-Step:
We’re back to work on our Carp box this week with a great drag & drop offering from Danny Scarborough of Houstonflyfishing.com. An avid tyer and angler, Danny offers a variety of guided trips throughout the Houston and DFW areas.
His Brasshawk pattern, featured here, came about when a fellow angler commented on an attractor nymph pattern that Danny had been tying to fish on the Guadalupe River. He took the comment (“make that ride hook point up and carp will slurp that up” per Danny’s recollection) to heart and soon found himself dropping a crawfish orange prototype in front of a local carp. The fish charged, and Danny was off to the races.
A few tweaks followed as Fox Squirrel gave way to Rabbit and hook sizes were adjusted, but the pattern as shown has remained largely unchanged for the past eight years. Most importantly, as Danny will attest, the pattern is “still slaying.”
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Brasshawk Carp Fly Step-by-Step Tying Instructions:
(Mobile Viewers: Click images to enlarge)
Tips and Tricks
- Hook Selection – Of note, Danny utilizes Tiemco TMC 2457 hooks (#8) when tying this pattern. These should be more readily available than the Gamakatsu C14s hooks used in the SBS. As always, be aware there are numerous hook models that will suffice. The model listed is generally just what I have at my disposal.
- Wire Sizing – In the SBS above, I utilized Brassie-sized Ultra Wire for the abdomen. Danny, however, recommends Medium wire as it requires “less wraps” and “stays clean.” In my case, the substitution was necessitate by a lack of Medium gauge wire at my local fly shop. If available, however, I’d highly recommend following Danny’s lead.
- Green is for Grass Carp – While Danny is a big fan of the Crawfish Orange color when fishing for common carp, he favors a green & black version when targeting grass carp. These fish have notoriously small strike zones (think dinner plate accuracy), but will respond aggressively to the right fly “plopped” within that strike zone. And, at least on the concrete bayous of southeast Texas, a green & black Brasshawk is just the fly for the job.
Proof of Concept
It’ll be a few more weeks before I have the opportunity to test these flies out on my local carp. In the interim, however, Danny has been kind enough to share a few shots of the countless carp landed on this pattern over the years.
I’ll be sure to add my own at the links listed below his photo. Be sure to check back to see how I do.
In the meantime, hop over to Danny’s site and check out the other great patterns he has available.
Tight Lines!
-Chris
Species Caught on the Brasshawk Carp Fly to Date:
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