Complex Twist Bow River Bugger

The Complex Twist Bow River Bugger is a mouthful to say, and it is also a mouthful of meat for a predatory fish.  If there has been one pattern I have really fallen in love with tying, this is it.  The color combos are just about endless.  You can combine different colors of marabou, schlappen, and flash with different powder painted heads and produce some really cool results.  You can make this fly as simple or as truly elaborate as you want when it comes to color combos and schemes.  Once you get the techniques down, this fly doesn't take all that long to tie, either.  The recipe I use is as follows:

Hook - size 1 4XL streamer hook
Threads - 6/0 for everything but the deer hair, 200den GSP for the deer hair head
Weight - .030 lead and a medium Pocket Cone (powder painted)
Tail - wrapped marabou and some Flashabou
Body - Complex Twist of 2 schlappen feathers and Polar Chenille
Hot Spot/Gills - brightly colored schlappen
Legs - rubber legs 3 per side
Collar - deer body hair

There are a few things in the recipe I follow that are worth detailing a little.  Powder painting is incredibly easy and adds a little more detail to your fly.  Can you get away with a standard nickel or black nickel Pocket Cone?  Sure, but it's a fast extra step that takes a few seconds to do and adds some detail to your pattern.  There are lots of color options for powder paint, also.  I have been sticking with ProTec paint, and it has worked great for me.  Wrapping the marabou in the tail produces a tail that is a bit longer than "standard," but by wrapping it you lose the squared-end look of tying in a plume of marabou.  For the tutorial below, I shrouded the darker marabou over the lighter color, but you can also tie them in together and wrap together, doing more of a blend for the tail.  I am also convinced that wrapped marabou moves better in the water than a standard plume just tied onto a shank.  The hot spot/gill schlappen wraps for this pattern are also a detail touch I have recently started adding to this fly.  Depending on the color pattern I am tying, I typically use pink, orange, or red for this step.  This hot spotting is something I have been doing with most of my streamer patterns lately and the results have been great.

Here's the video tutorial link for the fly:

And here are some photos of other color combos of this pattern I have tied.  Give this one a shot, and I think you'll enjoy tying and fishing this one as much as I do!