Much of fly fishing is about solving problems — problems such as figuring out exactly what the fish are eating, where they are eating, and how to imitate that food source. If you fish for trout, there are plenty of ways to solve those problems. Look at any magazine or book about fly fishing, and you’ll see many different ways to fish a mayfly hatch or match specific chironomids. But if you fish for bass, America’s most popular game fish, your options usually are limited to two to three styles of flies, regardless of the problem to be solved.
However, as anyone who has ever fly fished for bass alongside serious conventional-tackle anglers knows, there’s a whole lot more to chasing the green ditch pickles than just tossing a frog popper or a Clouser during springtime. To chase bass successfully on the fly year-round, it helps a whole lot actually to “match the hatch” and have a variety of flies and techniques ready to go for each situation. Being able to adjust your techniques for minor changes in conditions can pay off massively, and like most fishing, fly fishing for bass can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it. For me, figuring out different ways to chase bass and how to catch them in different circumstances year-round is why I do what I do.
As part of my obsession with chasing bucketmouths, I’ve gone down various rabbit holes some would consider to be . . . “dirty.” Euro nymphing worm and crayfish patterns along the lake bottom? Check. Fishing 8-to-12-inch rainbow trout imitations off main lake points? Check. Tying ugly crankbait-style flies with rattles and foam to fish with sinking lines? Check. But one conventional-tackle bass lure I tried and failed for years to imitate accurately for the fly rod was the umbrella or Alabama rig.
Down the Rabbit Hole
A conventional Alabama rig is a big mess of wires, blades, and swimbaits made to imitate a school of forage fish. It can be an insanely productive way to fish, because these rigs often involve multiple hooked baits, and anglers can catch more than one fish per cast when the bite is on. Imitating this style of fishing with a fly presents a few challenges, though. Sure, you could create a tandem rig of multiple streamers attached as droppers, but it wouldn’t have the same “school” profile that the Alabama rig presents. To create that school action properly, the fly needs to have an umbrellalike profile, which allows the angler to present the fly with the teasers moving enticingly up front and a juicier/bigger fly in the back, which leads the fish either to eat the whole school or just to grab the easiest and biggest meal in the school — the back fly.
When I first started trying this concept years ago, I would tie the teasers onto a long tube, similar to those used for salmon and steelhead flies. This would let me change out the back fly as needed and kept the whole system relatively light. It was a solid start to experimenting with this style of fly, but the problem was that the teasers would spin around the leader, and even when I would keel the whole system using a heavier teaser, I didn’t love the action.
The more I fished different versions of this fly, the more I simplified it. I found I didn’t need to change out the back fly as often as I’d thought, and I switched from tubes to a long metal shank for the main structural element. For those looking to have an option to switch out the back fly in case the hook dulls, buy the Firehole Sticks Shank AS1, which is a shank designed with a rigid structure to allow for changing out the connections. I haven’t used these yet, but they seem like a viable solution for those wanting the customizability of changing the back fly.
I also wanted to have only one hook, because I am fly fishing, and I am not a big fan of fishing multiple hooks on flies, although California regulations allow up to three hooks. For anglers looking to catch multiple fish on one cast, it’s simple enough to tie two of these flies together in a dropper rig. But this complicates an already complicated fly. I prefer to keep it light, keep it simple, and keep it to one hook. It also helps me sleep at night knowing I haven’t created a Frankenstein monster that takes out entire families of fish at a time.
Initially, I used coated wire to make the teasers, since an Alabama rig uses wire for its main structural element and the teasers. But because I use only one hook for this pattern, I replaced the wire with heavy monofilament, which I straighten out before tying the teasers. (Thus, as you will see below in the tying instructions, I call these monofilament sections “straights.”)
Using monofilament as the arms for the teasers has a few advantages. It’s easy to manhandle back into shape if it gets deformed, either by a fish or during storage, and it’s light and clear, making the fly surprisingly subtle. I typically use 40pound-test mono for the teasers, because I find that is the sweet spot between maintaining the profile and still allowing the teasers to move without having much bulk or weight in them. When tying largerprofile teasers and a larger fly as a whole, I step up to 60-pound-test, because it maintains the profile when using heavier teaser flies.
One of the main responses I get from people when they see this fly is, “Whoa, that is a bird’s nest waiting to happen,” to which my reply usually is, “I teach casting classes, if you need help.” The number one reason I’ve seen flies foul or tangle on themselves is due to an error in the cast. If your casting motions are not smooth, your fly is going to twirl and flip in the air and inevitably will tangle. Take some time to hone your casting technique, and 99 percent of your fouling issues will disappear. In that sense, this fly could actually make you a better angler.
The material you choose for both the teasers and the main f ly makes a huge difference in the fly’s subsurface action, and like the Game Changer fly, this is more of a platform than a specific fly pattern. The materials and options for customization are practically limitless. I’ve had great luck fishing a bucktail version, where the buoyant nature of bucktail makes it irresistible on a strip-pause retrieve. A Mylar body makes for a flashy fly in murky water to imitate schools of shad and works great on a fast retrieve. Another favorite combination is using mallard feathers to give it a lifelike action and a fantastic mottled look, which works well in lakes that lack shad or where you need a more “natural” tan look to the flies. In essence, the color combinations and profile options are endless.
Successful flies need names, of course, so I’m calling this pattern the Sweet Home Alabama, reflecting the conventionalgear rig on which it was inspired. And like the song it’s named after, this fly is just pure fun!
Fishing Techniques
A light f ly has a lot of advantages over the conventional-gear Alabama rig. When presenting the Sweet Home Alabama, the landing is much more delicate, obviously, which allows the angler to present the fly tight to structure, whereas with a heavier rig, you’d want to overshoot your target to avoid spooking the fish with the splash of the rig. You can present a whole school of baitfish imitations tight to where the fish are holding. Another huge advantage of the lighter fly is the fact that it sinks much more slowly than a weighted swimbait rig. When fished on an intermediate line, the fly has an enticingly slow sink rate through the water column, which is a deadly part of the retrieve, especially in cold water. I’ve had some great days fishing after cold fronts for both largemouth and spotted bass, just casting a long line off main lake points, then getting tight to the line and letting it sink slowly through the water. It pays to keep an eye on the line, because you’ll sometimes see a barely noticeable slack forming just off the rod tip, meaning a fish has taken the fly and kept moving toward you. That’s when your job is simple — set the hook!
Another technique that works wonders with this fly is letting it sink to the bottom, then ripping it back as fast as possible. This can be especially effective early in the summer in areas where grass is starting to form on the bottom of shallow edges and flats. Since the fly consists of heavy mono arms that form an umbrella around the hook, the fly is inherently almost weedless. I wouldn’t say you should toss it into flooded, thick forest-style cover, but the arms holding the teasers act as weed guards for light cover and vegetation. I’ve dragged it over small branches and sunken brush, and it has kept on living to see another cast, often finding a fish on the way. I’ve learned that during tough days of fishing, when the bass aren’t responding to much of anything, ripping the fly quickly through grass or brush will often incite a reaction bite from fish that weren’t otherwise playing along.
The easiest and probably the most all-around productive way to fish this style of fly year-round is simply to strip it in with pauses between strips. Once you’ve made your cast, keep the rod tip pointed straight at the fly and strip with irregular timing — baitfish don’t swim or flee like metronomes. This allows the arms of the fly to come in tight when stripped, then bounce back out when stopped, creating a very enticing “school swim” motion. Adjust the speed based on water temperature, weather patterns, and lighting and hold on tight, because the takes can be quite exciting. This also works exceedingly well when fish are busting schools of baitfish, such as in the spring or fall. I’ve had fantastic days on Lake Nacimiento on the Central Coast chasing spotted and white bass with this style of fly. Fish fight each other over who gets to eat this small school of fish.
When tied correctly, this style of fly is easy to cast on a 6-weight to 8-weight fly rod with a standard bass-style weight-forward line. I can easily cast a Mylar or bucktail Sweet Home Alabama fly, tied on a 55-millimeter shank with a size 2 hook, with the entire length of a 6-weight line. Not that you need to throw it that far, but it proves the castability of a fly like this. A larger-profile fly, such as when the hook is bumped up to 2/0, benefits from a 7-weight or 8-weight rod, but regardless, the fly is light and easy to cast.
As I said, I view this fly as more of a platform, rather than a specific pattern, and fly tyers can use any combination of materials and sizes to match different bait-fish and situations. This is a fly that has often produced hits when nothing else was working.
So have fun with the Sweet Home Alabama, be creative, and if you’re worried about the “purity” of fishing something like this, remember that it has just one hook. I most often tie it barbless, which means the f ly is less aggressive than a nymph rig with two or three hooks under an indicator. It casts like a dream and swims like nothing I’ve seen.
This is exactly why I fly fish, to solve problems, evolve, match the hatch, and have fun casting. Personally, I think this fly is a lot more fun to cast than a bobber rig, and the takes are something else again. The instructions for tying the Sweet Home Alabama that follow are for the Mylar version, but you can tie the fly in a similar manner using feathers or bucktail, if you prefer natural materials rather than synthetics. The beauty is in the customizability of the fly, so make it however best solves the angling problems you encounter.
Tying the Sweet Home Alabama
Materials
Veevus GSP 100 denier thread
40-pound-test monofilament (I use Berkley Big Game mono, which is inexpensive in large quantities.)
Four 15-millimeter shanks
Mylar tubing in a color of your choice
One streamer hook (I use a KONA UMS, size 1, for this example.)
White bucktail
One 55-millimeter shank
Lead or nontoxic wire, for weight
6-millimeter eyes (I use Spawn Fly Fishing eyes for this example, but you can use any eyes you’d like.)
UV resin (I use medium viscosity.)
Superglue (optional)
First: Making the Mono Straights
Making mono straights involves making mono straight, not curved the way it comes off a spool. I use an empty pen body with one or both ends cut off end cut so it’s hollow and straight all the way through (see the image below). You could also use a straw or any empty tube wide enough to accommodate strips of mono threaded through.
Cut three-to-four-inch strips of 40-pound-test monofilament (but no longer than the 55 millimeter shank). While you’re cutting the mono, get a pot of water boiling on the stove and also fill a big bowl with water and ice. Once you’ve cut up the mono, fill the empty pen canister and make sure the ends are all lined up evenly in the tube. When the water is boiling, drop the tube into the pot and let the container sit there for 30 seconds to a minute. The mono will become much more pliable, and it will take on the straight shape of the tube. Using tongs or chopsticks, pick up the tube and immediately transfer it to the bowl of ice water, which will set the mono. If you’re familiar with the cooking technique called blanching, this is the fly-tying equivalent. Once the mono is set, your straights are ready to be used for tying the fly.
Second: Tying the Teasers
Take four 15-millimeter shanks and mount the ends of the mono straights onto them. To do this, first, use a lighter gently to make the mono soft on one end, then use your pliers to squeeze gently on the same end of the mono (see 1 on the opposite page). Pressing grooves into the mono makes for easier attachment to the shank and a more durable connection.
Just be sure to go very gently — you want only slight grooves in the monofilament.
Mount a 15-millimeter shank in the vise, wrap a thread base along the entire shank, then tie in the grooved portion of the mono straight (see 2) and whip finish. Cut an inch-long piece of Mylar tubing. Fray the rear of the tube and slide it down the mono and the shank until about a third of the tubing sticks out in front of the eye, then use the thread to tighten it down behind the eye (see 3). Push the front Mylar extension back over the shank, fray it, then tie it down behind the eye, creating a bullet-style head, and whip finish. This will leave two layers of Mylar tubing, one long in the back and a shorter, flared section at the front. These layers both aid in the action and help push water. Finish off the head with a little bit of UV resin (see 4).
Repeat this for two more of the teasers. For the last, do everything the same, but add a few wraps of lead wire over where the mono is tied in before adding the other materials (see 5). This will be the bottom teaser.
Third: Tying the Main Fly
Mount a size 1 streamer hook in the vise, then wrap the entire shank with thread (see 6). Select a sparse clump of bucktail (I prefer the hairs from the middle of the tail, as they tend to give a good profile and buoyancy), then tie the bucktail on top of the shank at the bend. The length of bucktail should be about the same as the length of the shank. Then build an even underbody with thread (see 7), whip finish, and cut the thread.
Cut an inch-and-a-half-long section of Mylar tubing, or one slightly longer than the length of the hook shank. Push that section over the underbody (see 8), then tie it down at the eye (see 9). You want just enough Mylar to stick off the back to give a frayed f lash look. Whip finish and cut the thread.
Using UV resin, coat the body of the fly, covering its entire length, but excluding the frayed section. Add 6-millimeter eyes to the front on each side, then cure the resin (see 10). In a series of three to four coatings, build up the shape you are looking for. Cure it, and you’ve got your main fly (see 11).
Fourth: Putting It All Together
Put the connecting end of a 55-millimeter shank through the eye of the main fly. Mount the shank in the vise and use your thread to close the gap, whip finish, and seal with UV resin (see 12). Set aside after the resin is cured. You will be attaching teasers to this shank and also tying a head at the front of it.
On a flat surface, align each teaser with the shank and the fly. You want the teasers to end so that the hooked fly sits farthest back. Mark that distance on each monofilament straight, leaving enough room to build the head at the front of the shank (see 13). Then one by one, place the straight where you marked it into the vise and clamp down, making a small flat indentation in the mono (see 14).
Mount the shank in the vise again and wrap the thread to the eye, then build a bit of a thread dam a short distance behind the eye, which will help splay out the teasers (see 15). Leave enough room in front of the thread dam to form a head. Tie in the slightly weighted teaser on the bottom, ahead of the thread dam (see 16; note the shank is upside down), then tie in the top teaser and each side teaser. I like to put a little superglue on the thread before tying in the teasers, just for additional security, but I’ve never had one of them come loose.
Once all the teasers are tied in, put a blob of UV resin behind each strand of mono, on top of the thread dam created earlier (see 17). A little goes a long way; you’re just trying to give the teasers extra support to splay them out in that umbrella shape. I like to go between each strand of mono, creating a kind of “webbed toes” look. That’s all it takes to make the mono hold that umbrella shape. I still have flies that have seen many fish and different tackle boxes, and the mono still maintains the correct shape when I fish them.
For the head of the fly on the shank, tie a sparse clump of bucktail around the shank — you just want to add a bit of a profile (see 18). If a little extra color and bulk is desired, tie in flash chenille and wrap it forward to the eye, being careful not to overcrowd the eye of the shank. Tie down, whip finish, and cut the thread.
Cut a half-inch piece of Mylar tubing and slide it over the bucktail (see 19) or chenille. A little bit at the end should fray over the teaser straights and bucktail. Remount the thread and tie down the other end of the Mylar at the eye of the shank, clip off any straggling pieces of Mylar, whip finish, and cut off the thread.
Using UV resin, put eyes on each side of the head as you did on the hooked fly, cure it, then build up a head using one or two layers of resin to give it a shape — less is more (see 20).
And there you have it, a completed Sweet Home Alabama, a fly designed to imitate a school of fish, a fly easily castable on a 6-weight, and a fly with great action. You can’t go wrong with that.
1. Crimp mono for teaser with pliers.
