I designed this fly to better imitate the translucency and size of a real egg than the conventional Glo Bug most steelhead fisherman use. I tie egg yarn loosely to the hook shank in a vague egg shape--similar to the technique for tying sucker-spawn patterns. When this fly is wet, it looks like the real thing. The "dot" is a small piece of different-colored yarn in the center of the egg that represents the yolk. Tying with this simple and fast technique allows me to create small (#16-18), realistic egg patterns that sink quickly and don't have an obstructed hook gap.

The most common nymphing technique is to tie one or two flies 12 to 18 inches apart below a strike indicator set along the leader. Pinch one or two pieces of split-shot halfway between the two flies, or 10 or 12 inches above a single fly. When fishing with a buoyant indicator, cast and mend your line to make the indicator travel the same speed as the current, much like the dead-drift of a dry fly. Hopefully, if the indicator is floating naturally with the current, so are the flies below it. However, in many cases, currents move at different speeds throughout the water column, making it tricky to avoid drag.

To help solve this problem, I use a tight-line nymphing technique when fishing the Blood Dot. Because water at the stream bottom moves slower than the water at the surface, a strike indicator drifting at the surface often pulls your flies downstream much too rapidly. I don't use weight only to get to the bottom; I use weight to slow down the fly. I'll typically make short casts quartering upstream and keep the line relatively tight between the rod tip and the weight. My line is never tight enough to move the flies, it is only tight enough to hold the fly line off the water, so it doesn't catch the surface current and create drag. Surface currents still pull at the leader, but the effect is countered by the drag of the weight on the bottom and the small diameter of the tippet. I watch my line and feel the contours of the bottom as the weight crawls along.

To replicate this technique, you'll need to experiment with how much weight you use. One BB split-shot is a good starting point. Keep adding split-shot until you can feel the weight tap along the bottom.

--Jeff Blood

Step 1. Attach thread to the center of the hook shank. Tie a piece of egg yarn by the tip above the hook point. Create a small loop and secure, keeping all thread wraps as close together as possible. This first loop should be small, about 1/4 the size of the hook gap.

Step 2. Create a second loop 1/2 or 2/3 the width of the hook gap with the fibers fanned out. The loops of yarn give the impression of an egg shape.

Step 3. After binding the second loop, tie in a few strands of Apricot Supreme Glo Bug egg yarn on top of the thread wraps that secure the second loop but don't trim them. These strands will form a yolk about the diameter of a pencil lead.

Step 4. Create another loop with the egg-colored yarn about the same size as the previous loop. Secure with thread and cut the tag so it is the size of the first loop. Whip finish in front of the trimmed yarn. Pull the yolk fibers straight up and trim them just shorter than the two neighboring loops.