The Steeler Glo Bug---A Winner
Eric Stroup owns and operates the Spruce Creek Fly Shop in Franklinville in northern Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Eric is one of the top fly tiers and guides in the Northeast. He guides almost daily on the Little Juniata River and Spruce Creek in central Pennsylvania. He’s constantly coming up with productive new patterns, evidenced by his innovative flies produced by Spirit River. So when Eric becomes excited about a fly pattern then it must be a good one.
 About a year ago I first showed Eric a new Glo Bug pattern made with one strand of yellow and one of black Glo Bug yarn. Eric is a devoted Pittsburgh Steeler fan so when he saw the combination of colors he immediately called it the Pittsburgh Steeler Glo Bug(even though their colors are really black and gold).
That introduction to the fly occurred a year ago but Eric’s interest in that simple one-step fly has not diminished—in fact it has grown even stronger. That darned bi-colored fly has produced time after time for Eric even when no other pattern worked.
Eric and I recently completed a video on fly fishing. Because I had broken a arm earlier in the year we postponed shooting the video until one hot, mid-August afternoon—possibly the worst time of the year to catch trout. Eric tested several patterns including a hopper along the banks of Spruce Creek, but few of the patterns he or I tried caught any trout. Finally and in pure desperation he tied on a Steeler Glo Bug—in the middle of a hot August afternoon—and when nothing else worked. It didn’t take long to prove the merits of this new fly. In a couple casts he landed a heavy Spruce Creek brown trout. Meanwhile I tied on the same pattern and began casting. I too landed a trout in no time at all. That afternoon, when nothing else worked, the Steeler Glo Bug prevailed. It saved the day and the taping episode. The Steeler Bug worked. It has saved so many frustrating days for Eric and me that it’s our go-to fly when we can’t catch trout.
What is the Steeler Glo Bug? It’s a combination of black and yellow Glo Bug material. I tie the two pieces of yarn on top of a size 12 or 14 beaded and weighted caddis hook. After I tie in the two in I lift both pieces up and make a dozen wraps around the base, just like you would tying a parachute post. When you cut the material pull upward and cut the front half at a slight angle upward and the rear half of the two pieces of yarn slightly downward. Doing it this way creates a rounded Glo Bug. The result is one Glo Bug made of yellow and black. No two ties will ever have the same configuration.
Why is the combination of yellow and black important? A few decades ago two British Columbia scientists conducted an experiment with different colored salmon eggs. They fed two year old hatchery raised rainbow trout salmon eggs dyed different colors and then recorded their findings. They arrived at several important conclusions from these tests. First, trout preferred a blue egg over any other single color. Second, when offered two different colored eggs at one time trout fed more actively when yellow and black were presented at the same time.
After reading about this experiment I tied up a few of these bicolored Glo Bugs and gave a couple to Eric Stroup to test. From that very first day he cast that pattern he caught trout. The pattern worked then and it still works now.
It’s often difficult to make the Glo Bug sink quickly. To alleviate this problem totally I add a bead and six wraps of .010 lead to the body of the pattern when I tie it. I add the bead first then I make six wraps of the lead around the shank just behind the bead and shove it up and under the bead so that most of the lead is hidden. I then make a dozen or so wraps with the tying thread just behind the lead and add a drop of Super Glue.
How do I normally fish the Steeler Glo Bug? I tie it as the point fly in a tandem rig with a dry fly like the Patriot as the lead fly. Adjust the distance between the lead fly (the Patriot) and the point fly (Glo Bug) so the latter drifts on or near the bottom. With the added weight from the lead, the fly will sink quickly to the bottom. Adjust the distance between the two flies to get the proper depth for the Glo Bug. On some occasions that means that you place the two flies two to four or even five feet apart.
What fly will you go to the next time you get frustrated fly-fishing? How about tying and trying the Steeler Glo Bug? Don’t laugh at it until you give it a fair try. And, just like the Pittsburgh Steelers, it is a winner!
|