The Leech

Most of us like to avoid leeches, regarding them as lowly creatures with habits that “just aren’t right”. But they too have an important role to play in nature, and are highly regarded medicinal aids. Watching a leech quickly transform itself from a one-inch lump to a six-inch undulating ribbon is nothing short of miraculous. I’ve watched children’s reaction to this phenomenon in Sherbrooke Village’s Nature Centre. It always amazes them, and me too.

Leeches form an important part of a trout’s diet, and many fly patterns have been devised to imitate them. Most have a long profile and are fashioned from soft, flowing materials like marabou feathers, ostrich herl, or rabbit fur. Most are dark in colour, such as claret or black. Brass bead heads can be added for weight, a tiny bit of flash, and a “head-first” swimming motion. The popular Wooly Bugger wet fly, in dark colours, fished deep and slowly, can effectively imitate a leech.

The word that best describes early spring trouting has to be  “cold”. Air is bitter cold, water just above freezing. Trout that are still not very active, lying in deep water, may fall for your leech fly.

The following is a simple, easy-to-tie and effective leech imitation.

Rabbit Leech

Hook:               Mustad 9671 or 9672, sizes 4 – 8.

Thread:           Black

Body:              Wine or dark claret chenille, yarn or dubbing
.

Wing:              Rabbit strip dyed black, about twice the hook-length, tied down at the head and                 tail positions.

Head:              Black thread finished with 2 coats of Angler’s Corner Wet Head Cement.

Brass bead is optional.

Please note that the addition of metallic beads to our flies makes them “weighted flies”, illegal for some waters, such as the St. Mary’s River, after May 25^th.

Please stay on the line ...