The Mud Shwimp.

upside down view

  This fly pattern is called the Mud Shwimp. I notice the spelling error and thought it would be cool to spell it that way. The majority of carp fly pattern out there are tied with the head stand style, which I think is really good to avoid snags and the fouling of the fly when fish. This fly pattern was made with softer materials like hen feathers, soft hackle and will move much better in the water column, giving life to the fly. This fly pattern is not only good for carp, but it's good for bass, bluegills and other fresh water game fish species as well. I will list all the material needed for this fly pattern and some tying notes on how to tie this fly. I'll try to explain the tying steps in order from beginning to end. I think this pattern is consider to be a medium difficulty fly, because of the the extra steps tying in the tail, body and palmering of soft hackle. Start off by inserting a hook of your choice in the vise, I used a size 6 vmc red octopus hook. Start the fl.orange thread behind the hook eye and tie in a red dumbbell eyes with some figure 8 wraps 2 to 3 mm behind the hook eye and continue thread in touching turns to just past hook bend. Tie in some soft hackle fibres for the tail and palmer a soft hen hackle feather around the tail and tie in a piece of .8 mm clear stretch cord about 5 to 6 inch long for the body, wind the thread back up behind the dumbbell eyes in touching turns. Start ribbing the body in touching turns with the clear stretch to 2/3 of hook shank and tie off. Palmer a orange badger hackle at the clear stretch tie off point and tie in 2 bunch of golden pheasant tippet (5 to 8 fibres) on each side for legs and palmer a soft hen hackle to cover the tippet tie off point. Palmer another orange badger hackle to just behind dumbbell eyes and do 2 figure 8 wraps with the badger hackle around the eyes and tie off. Add head cement and the fly is complete.!

head stand view

List of material.

• Hook- VMC octopus size 6 triple barb
• Tail- soft hen hackle
• Body- fl.orange thread & .8 mm clear stretch
• Legs- golden pheasant tippet, badger & hen hackle 
• Eyes- red dumbbell eye