The Hot Spot



Hot Spot Sakasa Kebari

I have been hoping for the colder temps to ease up a bit the last couple of weeks but that has not panned out.  Most of the local lakes and ponds have a decent sheet of ice on them.  However, there is not enough ice to support any significant amount of weight so any type of fishing is still out of the question.  So today I thought I would write a quick post about another sakasa kebari that I did well with this past year.  This one is called a Hot Spot Sakasa Kebari.  It's very simple to tie and has been very effective (mostly for bass and bluegills).  In fact, this fly helped me land my largest largemouth bass on a Tenkara rod to date.

This guy was landed after a nice little fight.  I already had a small bluegill on the hook when he came along and took both of them.  In most cases smaller bass went directly for the fly.  I think it may have worked so well because the slender black body looks like many insects found in or near the water and the "hot spot" adds a certain amount of attraction without spooking the fish with too much color. Like many other tiers, myself included, ideas for flies come from other sources.  This one is no different.  The Hot Spot Sakasa Kebari is essentially the same as the Hot Spot fly described in Mike Harding's "A Guide to North Country Flies and How to Tie Them."  The only difference being that the hackle is tied in the fashion of a sakasa kebari.  Incidentally, Mike's book is an excellent source of information and ideas for tying north country flies.  For anyone interested in any type of soft hackled fly this is a great book to have. 



The Hot Spot can be tied with various color "spots".  In the book, he also suggests an orange spot which I also tied but I think any tier could come up with some very creative flies based on this concept.



Hot Spot Sakasa Kebari (orange)



Hot Spot Sakasa Kebari

Hook: Mustad C49S

Hackle: Hungarian partridge

Body: Uni-thread 6/0 black, spot is Uni-thread 6/0 chartreuse

or use any other desirable color