The Gurgler is a simple fly designed to imitate surface bait

The Gurgler is a simple fly designed to imitate surface bait. It is neither a popper nor slider but a very effective in between type of fly. The Gurgler is surprisingly easy to tie and is a great fly to stock your boxes with due to the relative ease in which it is tied and it’s effectiveness. The fly can either be tied on a regular or long shank. For blue fishing a longer shank is suggested in which the fly is tied towards the eye of the hook so that the foam topping is in a more forward position to protect it from sharp teeth.

There are several color/material combos that you can use. For this fly I chose saddle hackle for the underbody. Another popular way to tie this fly for the salt is with Crystal Chenille. Tying in red Krystal Flash creates a red throat. I like the look of saddles over the chenille so that is what I used for this demonstration. Jacks tying instructions in his book call for the body material to be wrapped on top of the first layer of foam which has been secured along the length of the hook. The below demonstration is done by tying the foam on top of the body and then wrapped back over itself to form a two layer body.

Tied in white and pearl it would make a great floating sandeel pattern. I know just the place I want to use this fly if only the season would hurry up and get here…;-))

Materials.

Hook: 34007 or 34011 or equivalent. Size 2/0

Thread: 3/0 White

Tail: Sparse yellow bucktail. Overlay with a dozen strands of flash of your choice.

Body: Yellow Fly Foam cut ½" wide.

Underbody: Two yellow saddle hackles paired palmered forward.

Throat: Two red saddle hackles paired and palmered last ¼ length of body.

Step 1

Insert hook in vise and wrap the shank fully with white mono thread. Take a sparse pinch of yellow bucktail and tie in about midway up along the shank. Overlay with a dozen strands of pearl flash.

Step 2

Tie in two yellow saddle hackles by the tips and palmer forward to about ¾ the length of the hook.

Step 3

Tie in two red saddle hackles by the tips and palmer to right behind the eye.

Step 4

Cut a ½ wide strip of foam 2 ½ times the hook length. Slightly taper the foam the length of the body.

Step 5

Tie in foam right behind the eye by the tapered end. Half hitch a few times and tie off. Add a drop of Zap a Gap.

Step 6

Pull foam over body and tie in at end of shank. Be careful not to tie down the hackles and get them caught under the thread. The easiest way I have found to do this is to take the tag end of the thread and put it in your mouth and hold between your teeth. Pull the bobbin out away from your face and around where you want to tie the foam down. Hold the foam with your other hand and keep slightly tight without stretching it to far. Make about 5 wraps over the tag end, which you are holding in your mouth then let go and cut the tag off. Now you can either half hitch several times and tie off or do as I do and coat about 1 ½ inch of the thread from where it touches the foam with Zap a Gap. By giving the thread a slight coating of Zap a Gap we can then wind about 5 more turns of coated thread and then just snip off without half hitching. None other than Dave Whitlock showed this trick to me several years ago when I attended one of his fly tying classes. This trick works extremely well with deer hair heads.

Step 7

Pull the foam back over itself towards the eye. Use the same technique described above to secure the foam down and tie off..

Step 8

Cut the foam so that you have a proportionate amount to form the lip. You can round the corners of the lip if you please. I also add a drop of Zap a Gap on the lip just above where it is tied in. This drop works into the foam and adds support to the lip.

Step 9

The Gurgler in its finished state. Tie some up and when the bass are popping on the surface toss this guy at them and hold on.

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