Tying Tutorial: The Drowned Bee

Bluegills become a target of opportunity for me at certain points of the year.  Early in the year, when the ice is gone and the water is slowly warming, bluegills are always willing to eat.  During their spawn I enjoy targeting the bigger bluegills and sunfish when they come shallow.  Again, late in the fall when the water cools back down, they are still willing to eat.  Bee flies, like the McGinty, have a solid track record in producing bent rods from bluegills.  I've often wondered how I could tie a bee-like pattern with more modern materials and maintain the durability I love from good bluegill flies.  Lots of brainstorming has led to the Drowned Bee, a 100% synthetic fly that should produce well.  The fly is lightly weighted to get it to sink, but will not drop like a rock through the water column.  The recipe is as follows.

Hook - Moonlit ML051 size 8
Thread - yellow 6/0
Bead - 1/8" brass, black
Tag - red Laser Dub
Rib - UV black Ice Dub in a skinny dubbing loop
Abdomen - yellow Ice Dub
Wings - pearl Krystal Flash
Thorax/Legs - black micro polar chenille and black UV Ice Dub

Begin by tying in the red tag.  I fold the Laser Dub over the hook by the bead and lay thread over the material towards the bend.  This helps build the underbody, fattening it up a bit.  Trim the tag short and stubby.

Make a short dubbing loop near the tag and use a material spring or similar method to keep the loop out of the way for now.

Dub a thick body of yellow Ice Dub, leaving a little more than a bead's length of space behind the bead.

I color the dubbing loop with a black Sharpie, then load the loop with a small amount of black UV Ice Dub.  Keep this loop sparse and be sure the material is inserted into the loop as near to the body of the fly as possible.

Rib the abdomen with this thin black UV Ice Dub loop, making open spirals to the space behind the bead.

Typically, the abdomen is really bushy and buggy.  You can leave it as-is if you want, I prefer to trim it cleaner with a pair of scissors.  Try to trim it narrower at the rear, fatter towards the head.

Tie in a clump of pearl Krystal Flash behind the bead, sweeping half of the clump to each side to form the wings.  Pull the flash rearwards after securing it and trim it to the length of the abdomen.  You should end up with two separated wings like this.

Tie in the black Polar Chenille, then dub a little thorax with the UV black Ice Dub.  The dubbing helps bulk up the area behind the bead.

Wrap the polar chenille forward to the bead, tie off, and whip finish.  I again hit the thread with a black Sharpie to help hide the yellow thread.  Snug the whip finish down behind the bead and trim your thread.

View from above showing the segmented bee abdomen and the separated wings.

The Drowned Bee is a fairly simple pattern that is quick to crank out.  It hits on the key elements that I love in bluegill flies: 1) It catches fish, 2) it's extremely durable, and 3) it's a quick bug to tie.