The Almighty Sex Dungeon

This weeks tying segment will be dedicated to what is quickly becoming one of my favorite big fish flies. The Sex Dungeon (originally tied by Kelly Galloup) is one of the best articulated streamer patterns. Kelly originally got the idea for this fly from a classic gear plug known as the broke-back Rapala. The sex dungeon's undulating action and movement in the water are what make this fly deadly. Based on what Kelly describes as "predator theory," this fly will instinctively get the hogs to slam it. In the short time period I've been fishing this fly, I've managed to get some of my largest fish of the season. Daniel bagged his biggest rainbow to date, a nice 22-23" thick rainbow, on an olive sex dungeon (see photo above). Although, that being said, the little guys still sometimes don't realize what they chase down and this fly will get quite a few average sized fish too. Anyway, let's get to tying!

Materials
Hook: Tiemco 5263 #2 (Front) & #4 (Rear)
Thread: Danville 210 Denier, Olive
Tail: Olive Marabou & Olive Krystal Flash
Body: Medium Olive Ice Chenille
Hackle: Barred Olive Schlappen
Legs: Barred Crazy Legs, Olive/Green Flake
Articulated Connection: Berkeley Fireline 30lb test, Small red glass bead
Head: Deer Hair, Olive
Eyes: Large Pseudo Eyes, Yellow
Special Tools: Double edged razor blade

1. Put the rear hook in the vice and tie in a tuff of marabou for the tail.


2. Tie in some strands of krystal flash on each side of the tail. Tie in the schlappen feather and ice chenille at the tie in point.


3. Wrap the chenille forward. Leave some room to tie in the legs.


4. Palmer the schlappen forward. Tie in the legs at the head of the fly.


5. Remove the rear hook and put the front hook in the vice. Loop the rear hook and bead with the Fireline and tie in. Make sure to double back the Fireline to prevent it from coming loose. Also, leave about 40% of shank up by the eye free to make the head.


6. Repeat the steps from the rear hook except for the tail, but make sure to still leave that room for the head. Tie in the the eyes under the hook shank as well.


7. With 3 wraps of thread, spin in the deer hair collar.


8. Still with the thread behind the eyes, tie in another clump of deer hair. This clump shouldn't spin and remain mostly on top of the hook shank. Advance the thread in front of the eyes and spin in one last clump of deer hair. Next, just whip finish at the hook eye.


9. With a double edged razor blade shave a rounded head with a flat underside.


10. Closer view from the front of the head.


11. The finished Sex Dungeon!


Charlie Craven (of Charlie's Fly Box) also has a variation of this fly. Not liking the gap between the hooks, Charlie ties a variation of this fly with rabbit strips to close that gap. Here's my tie of Charlie's variation in orange.


Stay fly,
T

Tying the Ska-opper (Steelhead Popper)

*First off, special thanks to everyone who checked out and viewed our video, Central Valley Bass'n on the Fly! We recently just hit 1,000 views and as of this post, we are at 1,012! This is our first video to break the 1,000 views mark and we're hoping to have many more in the future!

Next in the GSF tying segments, I'll be twisting up a Ska-opper. Developed for summer-run steelhead on the North Umpqua by Scott Howell, the Ska-opper is one of those patterns that is kind of a cross between a few flies. It's basically a little bit of a muddler, gurgler, and a bass popper. Made famous in Skagit Master 2, this fly can definitely elicit some aggressive takes from some pissed off steelhead! As a side note, when I first was going through the process of tying this pattern myself, I noticed that the commercialized versions are tied slightly differently than how Scott ties them in Skagit Master 2. That being said, I follow the pattern tied in the movie.

Materials
Hook: Tiemco 300 Size 6
Thread: Danville 210 Denier, Tan
Tail: Root Beer Krystal Flash
Tag: Gold Tinsel
Body: Polypro Yarn, Orange
Legs: Grizzly barred Medium Round, Neon Orange
Throat: Guinea, Orange
Head: Deer Hair
Overbody: 2mm Foam, Brown
Special tools: Double edged razor blade (found at any small drug store)

1. Tie in the tinsel tag. Start wrapping the tag where the hook point begins. Next, tie in the krystal flash at about the 60% mark. Clip it so it extends just a bit past the bend of the hook.


2. Cut out a v-shaped piece of foam like this.


3. At about the 25% mark, tie in the foam and continue back to the tie in point at the 60% mark. Do the same for the yarn as well.


4. Tie in the legs with figure 8 wraps. Have one just ahead of the tie in point and one at about the 30% mark.


5. Wrap the yarn forward and tie it off at the 25% mark.


6. Tie in a guinea feather and wrap it in to create the throat.


7. These next steps are the trickiest part of the fly to get right. Stack a clump of deer hair and make two wraps around the hair as if you were spinning it in, but instead of letting go and letting it spin, just hold on to the hair. From there, pull the butt ends of the hair downward, leaving the pointed tips up. Pack the hair and get ready for another clump.


8. Tie in 2 more clumps the same way.


9. Invert the vise and take one last clump and clip the tips off. Tie it in the same way as before but on the bottom of the hook shank.


10. Return the vise to the upright position and cut a small path down the middle of the fly for the foam to rest on.


11. Pull the foam over and tie off.


12. Next is the tedious part. Take the fly out of the vise and start shaving it. The easiest way to get the cleanest looking head is to use a double-edged razor blade. Bend the blade to get that nice curved head. Then just use scissors to cut the stubborn butt ends out of the way. The goal is to create the round head with a little bit of the deer hair pointing out the back of the fly like wings. Be careful also with the razor not to cut off the guinea or the legs!


13. When the hair is all cut and shaved the underside of the fly should look like this.


14. The finished Ska-opper!


For more info on this fly and how to fish it, check out Skagit Master 2!

Stay fly
T