A Fly On The Wall Part 5

  This week's Front Page highlights the last pattern in John Tebbetts' "Doctor John" series of flies, the "Orange & Badger Doctor". Due to its blend of grizzly and badger hackles, this particular pattern lends itself to being tied in a TON of interesting color combinations. Although John developed this particular tie with the inner and middle wing (and matching head), in orange, and the outer wing with a white badger, my personal favorite color combo is to substitute RED for the orange and keep the black/white Badger outer wing. Another nod to the venerable Heddon Lucky 13 in the classic Red/WHite color pattern.

  Another important detail of the Doctor series is the use of the Tiemco 800s hook. When these patterns were developed in the early 1990s, the TMC 800 was one of the few hooks on the market that was manufactured to withstand the rigors of big game fly fishing. And although the 800s had some flaws, there wasn't much variety or choice in the matter. The beauty of the Tiemco is that because of the style and wire size, it tends to want to keel very well, and ride with the hook point down. This attribute makes it great for Keys-style Tarpon flies, as well as Bass, Pike, Musky and similiar applications. For freshwater use, I often add a weed guard to the mix to keep that heavy, wide hook profile from snagging on brush and weeds that are so often found in these particular types of angling.

Below is the recipe sheet for the Orange & Badger Doctor.

Next week we'll start an in-depth look at Bubba's "Grizzly" series of flies. In the meantime, I hope all of you are having a great week, and staying safe and healthy.

Andy