Brassie, Brassie for sure! With a bead though? Yes, no doubt with a bead, tungsten even!

The Brassie fly pattern for me is a favorite. I can tie them quickly, they help keep me disciplined with my thread wraps, and the color options are pretty much endless. Tie ’em green, gold, red, white, blue, copper, of course, and whatever color you feel mimics the water you fish the best. The Brassie is a fly that most likely is imitating different types of larvae. For this reason, I like to add a tungsten bead to help get them deep quick. I also tend to add the more modern peacock herl to this classic pattern for a leggy appeal vs the original shrink-wrap tubing or garbage bag thorax.

Step By Step Copper Bead head Brassie:

Slide the bead on the hook and fix it in the tying vise. Make just a few locking wraps to secure the tying thread to the hook behind the bead.

Select a strand of tying wire a few inches long and secure it on one side of the hook. With the tip of the wire just inside the bead, wrap over the top of it all the way down the hook shank. Make sure to keep very smooth tread wraps throughout this process so the wire can lay nicely over top.

With tight, touching wraps, bring the wire all the way up, right behind the bead, and secure it in place. Spin off the excess wire and cover the wire creating a thorax region behind the bead.

Pull one strand of peacock herl from the pack and clip the first half inch off the tip. This makes your tie-in point a little more durable. Tie in on one side of the hook ensuring the longer side of the peacock herl is facing down. (Image three above). Palmer forward a few times right up to the bead and secure it with tying thread. Whip finish and fish!

Recipe:

• Hook: Tiemco 2487 16-24
• Bead: Countersunk Tungsten Black Nickle
• Thread: 16/0 Veevus
• Body: UTC Ultra Wire Brassie – XS
• Thorax/Collar: Peacock Hearl