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The Gotcha is a bit like the Pheasant Tail or Wooly Bugger of Trout flies…the original is a timeless classic that still produces fish and it is the basis for many variants. The Pink Bandwing Orange Tail is an example.

A few tying notes:

• When tying in the rubberlegs for tails, stretch them slight backward as you tie in. This will help them splay naturally.
• Use the body material to help create a taper. This is done in two ways: (1) Double the tag end of the material behind the eyes, and (2) start wrapping the body material using touching wraps…as you get closer to the eyes, transition to overlapping wraps.
• If you use Finn Raccoon or Fox for the wing, be sure to align the tips of the guard hairs and under fur. This can be done by hand (do not put in a stacker) by pulling the guard hairs out of the bunch by their tips and then stacking them back into the bundle with the tips aligned. We want both types of hairs, but we want them aligned.

The recipe:

• Hook: Gama SL11-3H, sies 2-8, https://www.discountflies.com/...
• Eyes: Bead chain or weighted. Leave enough room for a prominent head between the eyes and the hook eye.
• Thread (Body): 70 Denier, Shell Pink.
• Thread (Head): SEMPERFLI Floss (2/0), Fluoro Red. https://www.discountflies.com/...
• Tail: Ruberlegs, Orange.
• Body: SEMPERFLI Flat Braid 1/16th (1.5mm). https://www.discountflies.com/...
• Wing: Finn Raccoon, Fox (https://www.discountflies.com/...), or Craft Fur (https://www.discountflies.com/...); Pink.