Fly Tier's Bench: Max's Mess Maker

Sometimes I get in a slump and get tier’s block trying to produce subjects for this column. Picking the fly to write about is the most difficult part, as it must be something that ideally shows some new or unusual technique, is innovative and, most importantly, compelling to me. As usual, I search far and wide, perusing new patterns from all the fly manufacturers, going through my own fly boxes, and asking around in the shop, so it makes me feel particularly dumb to have overlooked Max Beauchene’s new Mess Maker pattern, which he came up with a couple of summers ago.

In the interest of full disclosure, Max works with me here at Charlie’s Fly Box and came on board about two years ago. He’s a lifelong angler, but more recently came to fly fishing with all the requisites. Youth, time, and exuberance have served him quite well in becoming not only an invaluable addition to our team, but also one hell of an angler and tier. Max loves high-country alpine fishing, local warmwater carping, and pretty much everything with fins in between. It really has been fun to watch his progression as a tier and angler over the past years. This new, original pattern of his has just been contracted with Umpqua Feather Merchants to become commercially available in 2027, but you can tie it first before everyone else is using it.

I have personally watched the thought process and extensive trial-and-error stages as this pattern came to fruition, as Max walks into my office every morning with either an updated prototype or a list of questions regarding it—sometimes both. I can say that this pattern is well thought out, compelling, and interesting to tie and fish. Aiming for sort of a generic caddis/attractor/catch-all pattern to consolidate some of his favorite conventional flies, Max started with a curved scud-style hook, specifically the Tiemco 2487, as its light wire lends itself perfectly to a dry fly that needs to sit low on the surface with the body poking through the surface film. Max chose GSP thread in a very small 30 denier to facilitate clean thread work on the wing as well as keeping the fly thin and sparse and adding overall durability.

The body itself is simple at first glance but features an unusual order of operations to create a tinsel-ribbed dubbed body that is actually a dubbing-ribbed tinsel body. Reversing the conventional method and instead wrapping the tinsel underbody first, then ribbing through it with sparsely touch-dubbed beaver fur creates a ribbed effect without the liability of the tinsel breaking and coming out prematurely.

Max selected one of my favorite materials for the underwing on the Mess Maker: polypropylene macramé yarn. Macramé yarn is super buoyant and has a crinkle to it that creates the perfect amount of surface area to keep it that way. Tied in a horizontal loop, the wing can be compacted or spread to change the profile of the fly and add additional surface area.
The thorax of the fly is where things get a bit more unusual, as the Mess Maker sports a peculiar forward-facing deer-hair wing, tied with an ample number of hollow butt ends left intact to enhance the buoyancy of the pattern.

To finish the fly off, Max wraps a rooster saddle feather around the base of both the deer hair and macramé yarn wings as a parachute-style fan, lifting them slightly above the plane of the hook shank and building yet more area. 

The resulting pattern is beautiful to look at and lots of fun to tie, and immediately makes one think of the possibility of variations. Max says he most often fishes this in size 14, but I can see it being a superb cripple mayfly pattern in an 18 or a 20, as well as a murderous Green Drake imitation in a 10 or a 12, all with the requisite color adaptations. 

Max prefers to fish the Mess Maker as a single dry on a 9-foot 4X or 5X leader, though he will soil his reputation as a purist and occasionally add a small beadhead dropper under it if conditions dictate. The density and surface area of the fly provide more than adequate floatation for reasonably sized droppers, and the fly is more than visible enough to serve as an indicator. Fast riffles, pockets, and edges are the best spots to prospect with a Mess Maker and I have found that putting the fly in a likely looking spot and just focusing on getting a good, long drag-free drift is typically enough. If things get tough out there, that forward-facing wing acts as a perfect planing surface and allows you to skate and skitter the fly insanely well.

Often, a small 2-inch twitch or hop is all it takes to close the deal and push summertime fish over the edge, and the ensuing blow-up is sure to make you whoop and holler. Any fly that can do that is worth having in your box. I am confident this is not the only pattern any of us will ever see from Max. His signature tier journey has just started, and judging by how often he stands in my office doorway asking questions, he is not done yet.

Fly Tying Recipe for Max's Mess Maker

• HOOK: #14-20 Tiemco 2487.
• THREAD: Brick Beige 30-denier Semperfli Nano Silk.
• BODY: Tan Magpie Materials Beaver Dubbing.
• RIB: Medium Opal Mirage Tinsel.
• HACKLE: Furnace rooster cape or saddle.
• WING: Grizzly Bear polypropylene macramé yarn.
• THORAX: Tan Magpie Materials Beaver Dubbing.
• FORWARD WING: Josh Varner short fine deer hair, natural.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Max's Mess Maker

1. Begin by mounting the hook in the vise and starting the thread about two eye lengths back from the hook eye. Dress the shank with thread back down around the bend and tie in a piece of medium Mirage Tinsel by its tip right at the bend of the hook with about three or four tight turns of thread. Leave the thread hanging at the bend of the hook.

2. Wrap the tinsel forward toward the hook eye in abutting turns. Once you reach about an eye length from the hook eye, wrap the tinsel back over itself toward the bend, forming an underbody with a double layer of tinsel.

3. Tie off the tinsel tightly with three more turns, clip the excess, then wrap over the stub. At this point I invert my vise so the bend of the hook is the low point. It just makes getting the dubbing onto the thread a bit easier. Apply a solid coating of dubbing wax to about two to three inches of thread. The wax should be almost visible on the thread.

4. Take a loose pinch of beaver dubbing and brush it up and down the waxed thread, allowing it to stick to the wax without physically twisting it onto the thread. The result should only be a furry strand of thread. Spin the bobbin tightly to furl the fur around the tying thread. Spinning the thread will tighten the dubbing up a bit and help adhere it to the thread, but at the same time leave it soft and shaggy.

5. Begin wrapping the dubbed thread at the bend in tightly spaced spirals. I try to keep the wraps fairly close together but with obvious spaces between them to allow the tinsel underbody to show through. Dub to just short of the hook eye.

6. Overlap the thread onto the front of the dubbed body to about four eye lengths back from the eye. At this point, tie in a horizontal loop of macramé yarn that extends just past the bend of the hook. Clip off the butt ends of the macramé yarn at an angle toward the hook eye, leaving a tapered base.

7. Tie in an appropriately sized rooster saddle feather on the far side of the hook with the concave side up, then wax and dub the thread once more as you did for the abdomen. I add a tiny drop of Super Glue to the wing base.

8. Dub the thorax with beaver fur, starting just behind the hook eye and working back up to the base of the wing. The thorax should be short and shaggy and the thread should be hanging near the rear edge of the thorax when you finish.

9. Cut, clean, and stack a bunch of short, fine deer hair and measure it to about a shank length long. Place the tie-in point just above the hanging thread.

10. Tie in the deer hair with three tight wraps, one right on top of the other, flaring it in place on top of the thorax. I hold onto the butt ends during the flare to keep it from rolling.

11. Stroke the butt ends of the deer hair as well as the macramé yarn underwing upward to create a bit of separation from the body, and make three to five turns of hackle around the base of the hair and macramé yarn.

12. Carefully preen the wing assembly as well as the wrapped hackle back away from the hook eye with your material hand, and pull the tip of the feather forward between your thumb and forefinger right above the hook eye. Catch the tip of the feather with a couple of pinch wraps, then trim the excess as closely as you can. Whip-finish the thread and clip it while you’re at it.

13. Lift the butt ends of the deer hair up tightly and reach in with the tips of your scissors to trim them into a short brush. Spread the macramé yarn wing out a bit to increase the surface area.

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Charlie Craven co-owns Charlie’s Fly Box in Arvada, Colorado. He is the author of four books, most recently Tying Streamers: Essential Flies and Techniques for the Top Patterns (Stackpole Books, 2020).