How often do you tie terristrial pattern on to your leader? If you do then Nick Thomas has another innovative pattern to try and if you don't then this is a good place to start.
Plastic foam is a very versatile material for tying beetles and other floating terrestrial imitations. There are several methods for using it from simple beetles made from sheet foam tied back along the hook shank and then folded forward to form a body to the much more complex foam sandwich methods used for Chernobyl Ants and hopper patterns. This one is a bit different and very simple to tie.
One day I was experimenting with some foam cord to tie up some beetles, doubling over the cord to give a more buoyant fly and produce a rounded end at the back of the fly. I found that folding the cord in half and then cinching in the ends with a couple of tight thread wraps caused the ends to pop outwards forming large eyes facing forward and outwards. Large multifaceted iridescent eyes are a key feature of many terrestrial flies that end up struggling on the water and a coat of glue and a quick dab in a small pile of glitter powder completed the illusion. The Popeye was hatched.
Popeyes can be tied using various colours of dubbing and foam to match the natural beetles and flies you may find on your waters; yellow for dungflies, black and green for bluebottles etc.
Hook: Tiemco TMC2499SP-BL sizes 10 to 14
Thread: Uni 8/0
Underbody: Hare's Ice dub
Body: Foam booby cord
Legs: Black rubber
Eyes: Glitter powder (Hobbycraft or other craft shop) over superglue
Wing: Pearl crystal flash
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Catch on the thread at the hook eye and run back to the bend in touching turns.
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Dub a fairly loose body to within 4-5mm of the eye and brush the dubbing downwards with Velcro.
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Select some of foam cord of diameter roughly equivalent to the hook gape and cut a length a bit more than twice the length of the shank. Fold the foam in half and lay on top of the shank (Diagram A).
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Take a thread wrap over the doubled foam and cinch the thread tight causing the ends of the foam to face forward and outwards. Secure with a couple of further thread wraps (Diagram B).
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Tie in some rubber legs on either side of head behind the eyes.
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Catch in 3 strands of crystal flash on the top of the head by looping the crystal flash around the thread and pulling down into the cleft behind the head. The crystal flash strands mimic wings, but their other purpose is as shiny markers to let you see the fly on the water.
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Take the thread forward under the eyes, whip finish behind the hook eye and place a drop of varnish or superglue on the whip finish.
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Paint the flat ends of the foam cord with superglue, dip in glitter powder and set aside to dry.
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Complete the eyes with a coat of varnish or UV resin over the glitter powder.
This versatile fly can be fished in a number of ways on lakes and rivers for a variety of species;
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Cast directly to rising fish.
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Cast out and left static to prospect for patrolling fish, particularly near overhanging trees.
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Cast out and twitched back at varying speeds. A slow retrieve produces ripples and waving legs suggestive of a struggling insect, a faster retrieve will cause the fly to 'pop' as the eyes displace water which may attract fish from a larger area.
Using Tiemco 2499 hooks allows me to use my Popeyes for both trout and coarse fishing. These wide gape hooks are incredibly strong and more than capable of handling double figure carp that may snaffle a Popeye tied on a size 14 fished for smaller species.
Nick Thomas lives in South Wales. He started fly fishing on Scottish hill lochs many years ago and continues to design tie and fish flies for trout, carp, bass and anything else that’s going.