[Kansas Fly Fisher]

I'm trying to find the pattern recipe and/or piture of the dead chicken which I've been told is also called the big ugly. I've searched the forum and found several references to it but no recipe. Can anyone help out a poor sole?

Thanks . . . John

[Danoinark]

John
Steve Smith and I were using those at Roaring River on Friday. I loved fishing it. These were size 8 or 10.
I know he can probably post it. But It uses (I think I have this right) a couple of stand of peacock herl for the body, some golden badger hackle for the tail, and he overhackles gold badger the length of the hook shank. These were tied with black thread. I have a chewed up one at home and I could take a picture of it this evening and send it to you. I also thought (that's not good for me ) that it was in that first swap.
Dano

[lilley]

The dead chicken fly I've seen is exactly like a griffin's gnat except tied on a bigger hook. The big ugly uses black foam tied on the shank then big, webby hackle palmered over it. They really are 2 different flies.

[Steve Smith]

Dan; I’d appreciate a photo. My camera doesn’t do well on a small fly. The Big Ugly [A.K.A Dead Chicken] was my early attempt to tie my first dry fly. I didn’t have a clue how to “size” hackle or to palmer it. The result was an over hackled; really ugly fly that caught trout well on Roaring River and Taneycomo. My friends thus dubbed it the “Big Ugly” accordingly and I couldn’t tie enough of them. The materials include a dry fly hook sized to the hackle, peacock herl, and gold badger hackle. Gold badger hackle usually has a black center and gold edges. Silver badger works well too, but gold is better. Size your hackle a little bigger than the hook gap, and tie onto the back of the hook with the dull or inside curve of the hackle towards you. This will cause the hackle to orient itself straight up or slightly towards the eye when you palmer forward. Be sure to catch a few barbells of the hackle feather when you tie it in, as this will create a short badger tail. Next tie in two strands of peacock herl. Carefully twist the herl with the black tying thread as you wrap the herl body [making a rope of herl] and tie off leaving enough room for a head. Then palmer the hackle forward in very close wraps, create a small thread head and cement. I tie these up to size 8 and my friends generally like them as big as I can tie. Fish it just like you would a Crackleback. Float it over the feeding lane, and then jerk under to strip back.

[Danoinark]

Steve...I messed up. I edited your post instead of hiting reply. Can you post the recipe information again....*sigh*. Phil is going to fire me.

WHEW..nevermind I got it back

Dano

[Danoinark]

Steve, I will get you and John a photo out tonight.
Dan

[Terry Beeson]

Danoinark, on Nov 13 2006, 11:06 AM, said:

Steve...I messed up. I edited your post instead of hiting reply. Can you post the recipe information again....*sigh*. Phil is going to fire me.

Just use the insanity plea.... I'll vouch for ya....

[Danoinark]

Terry,
I'd probably plead guilty anyway ..

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Thanks Steve and Dan. I'm going to try and tie some up tomorrow. There was suppose to be one in the first swap but the tyer had to bow out at the last minute.

John

[Danoinark]

John
I looked through my first swap flys a bit ago and noticed it wasn't in there.
Dan

[Steve Smith]

I contributed a Golden Crackleback in the first swap.

[Steve Smith]

Here's a picture of one after it's been battered several times by fish. I haven't figured out how to post a picture so here is the link

[Terry Beeson]

Wow... that is one big ugly dead chicken....

So... basically, this is a Griffith's Gnat with oversized badger hackle?

[Steve Smith]

That's it. It was a pretty nice tie, but Dano kept feeding it rainbows in Roaring River. I'll see if I can get a pic before Dano got hold of it.

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Thanks for the help guys. Now it's time to time so up.

[Jeremy Hunt]

Hey Kansas,

Just want to let you know how I tie them and maybe this will help you a little when you are learning how to tie this fly. I've been playing with this fly a little and found a few things that might help you along the way. As you now and I know there are always things that might make you think about how to do this or that to make the fly look like the original pattern you are trying to copy.

What I have found to be a few key things to make this fly do right and look right is make sure you find a hook that has a wide hook gap. The reason being is the hackle will be longer than the gap and might hurt you on hook sets. I have found that the sproat bend style hook seems to be the best one as far as keeping fish on without getting off as much. The hook is the new line of mustad signature hook in a size 6 or 8. The style number is the R50 Dry/Wet standard hook. It's also a really strong hook just in case you have that big one on.

The next thing I have found to really make this fly ride right is the hackle. I have played with Keogh, Metz and some other cheap grizzly hackle types and they seem to not tie it the way it should look. The best hackle is the Whiting brand. They're two types you can buy and I have found the cheaper stuff is better. They retail for around nine dollars. I have heard people tying them in all kinds of ways, also tying in two or three hackles. I tie in two hackles and tie them on the side of the hook shank after I tied in my foam. When I tie in the hackle I want the hackles to kick out when I tie them to the bend. I wind one hackle in one direction and the other one the opposite. This makes the fly more durable and it really rides high on the water. Another thing you might want to do is make sure you tie in the ends of the foam in a taper look on both ends. This will make the hackle wrap smooth without grabbing or slipping around the foam. One thing before I forget is the foam is called Darice Foamies 2mm thick. It is 9"x 12" sheets and don't cost that much. I forget what I paid so I will leave it at that. Hope this helps you out. Here is a picture how I tie it.

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[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Thanks Jeremy. I've already tied some like Steve suggested and they look good. I'll now try some your way, they look equally as good. Thanks for the info.

John