I lie in bed with my cat curled up my arms, purring. The sun has risen again, the light streaming through the window into the little space I call home. Home — I think back to my youth and fondly recall the memories of the creek I once called my home water. It ran behind a barbed wire fence and seemed wild and vast, an endless playground my mother tried unsuccessfully to prevent my little venturing soul from enjoying. I can still hear her voice calling out to me: “ Stay away from there!” She knew I wasn’t listening.
I can imagine myself awkwardly climbing over the fence, flinging my body up and over, landing perfectly on the other side — the “wilds,” separated from concrete streets and manicured lawns. I spent hours there. One of my favorite things to do was to wade in soaked shoes (sorry, Mom), a flashlight in hand, in search of nasty, frightening, blood-sucking leeches, “vampire worms,” my preferred bait for fishing.
I still fish leeches, but now, instead of slippery, squirmy rings of blood-engorged flesh, they are artificial flies made of soft hair and undulating marabou on a hook. I’ve fished many different fly patterns that imitate the vampire worms of my youth. The pattern called the Hale Bopp Leech, named for the bright comet discovered by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp that did a spectacular fly-by of the Earth in the late 1990s, is a favorite. The fly, which does look kind of like a comet, was designed by Derek Ferguson and Mark Knock. It’s simple to make and perfect for fledgling tyers. Here’s how to tie it.
I will tie a black version here, though olive and brown versions work well, too. Begin by sliding a 1/8-inch black nickel tungsten bead onto a size 8 Daiichi 1260 hook and placing the hook in your vise. Attach 6/0 black thread a little behind the eye. Select about ten black marabou plumes (the sparser, the better) and lash the stem ends down behind the eye so the tapered tip ends face back. Wrap back over the stems to the bend. The marabou should extend beyond the bend between one and a half to two hook-shank lengths. Take a length of black Jay Fair’s mohair yarn, and tie it in at the end of the shank, and advance the thread to the eye. Now wrap the yarn forward to the eye and cut away any excess, whip finish, cement the thread, and you’re done.
The Hale Bopp leech is irresistible to fish. Tie it beaded or not, or with a hot-spot of color behind the bead. Fish it shallow on an intermediate line, deep on a sink tip, or suspended under an indicator. You can hunt in your local pond or creek at night with a flashlight if you want to see how a real vampire leech behaves. Just don’t tell your mom, and for goodness sakes, don’t wear your best Sunday shoes in the water.
— Andrew Guibord