#32 Shuck Raider

Arthur's notes

Shuck Raider by Arthur Greenwood

Hans Weilenmann

Received the SFP hook today and got stuck in to tying straight away - I reckoned if I thought about it too much I might take cold feet!

I tied (tried?) a Shuck Raider for my entry - I think you have an original to compare it with? I chose this pattern because:

• It is my 'signature' fly
• I wanted to see if I could do it
• I thought the materials required would be suitable for 'scaling down'

The materials used were Pearly 'Midge Metallics' Twinkle for the tail section, Pearsall's Marabou Floss silk for the centre section and Irish Hare's Ear fur for the abdomen. The Pearly was separated into single components and the central core was split with a scalpel.

I was originally concerned about the floss but in fact it came apart beautifully first time and a single strand was just the correct thickness. The Hare's Ear required the finest staple fibres from the inside of the ear, which in turn proved to be too fine for application by dubbing loop - back to the good old fashioned finger and thumb method! A little liquid wax applied to those 'tying tools' improved adhesion!

The full size Shuck Raider

Hans Weilenmann

I split Cobweb 16/0 into thin strands for the actual tying thread but had to employ a dubbing twister to render it usable.

The whole thing came together in about an hour and the main problems encountered lay in my tendency to wrap the thread over the hook point due to the very small gape of the hook itself. A further problem came when including a recent modification I have incorporated into the original - the addition of some small dark filaments at the tail, 'breathers', if you will. For the SFP version I concluded that a loop of thread at the tail could be trimmed later to represent this aspect. It's maybe not the neatest solution and I haven't got anything with large enough magnification to see if it actually worked, so I'm looking forward to your macro pic to see if it did!

Enjoyed the experience, thanks for the invite.

Tier info:

Arthur Greenwood lives and fishes for seatrout, salmon and trout in Northern Ireland. He is a fly-dressing member of APGAI, the Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors.He has been tying flies for 25 years and specialises in traditional Irish patterns.His day job as Principal of a Primary School gives him long holidays in which to indulge his passion for angling!