ADAMS IRRESISTIBLE
The Irresistible was created in the 1930s by the famous Catskill's tyer Harry Darbee of Roscoe, New York. Harry and his wife Elsie Darbee combined the high-floating clipped deer hair body of a bass bug with hackles and wings of a trout fly. The original fly had deer hair wings, although other irresistibles have wings of hackle tips (Irresistible Adams) or calf tail (Irresistible Wulff).
The key to this style of fly is that it looks very buggy and floats forever, even in the roughest water. It is an attractor type fly, and is a great fly for our local streams such as the Tuolumne. I prefer to fish it "Hopper and Dropper" style, with a beadhead or weighted nymph fished 2 ft below it. The Irresistible is also a very effective panfish fly.
Hook |
#10-16 Tiemco 100 (or other standard dry fly hook) |
Thread |
6/0 Tan, Brown, Camel, or Black |
| Tail | Deer or Moose Hair |
| Body |
Gray Deer or Caribou Hair, spun and clipped |
| Wings |
Grizzly Hackle Tips (White Calf Tail Hair for "Wulff
Irresistible") |
Hackle |
One Brown Hackle and one Grizzly Hackle |
Head |
Thread |
TYING STEPS
1) Tie in tail at a length about ¾ of hook shank length beyond hook
bend and trim excess. Wrap fibers down firmly.
2) Choose a small bunch of deer hair (start with a match stick size bundle)
and remove fine hairs using a comb.
3) Position the bunch of hair with the butts facing forward, pinching it between
your left thumb and index finger. Make one to two loose wraps around the
bunch of deer hair and the hook shank and pull firmly on the thread to make
the hair flare out from the shank.
4) Wrap the thread forward and in front of the flared deer hair. A small
fly may only require one bunch of hair, larger flies (size 12 or larger for
example) will require 2-3 bunches. If the fly is larger wrap in another bunch
of deer hair, repeating the steps to make it flare. Repeat the process
until about half the hook shank is covered with flared (or spun) deer hair.
5) Tie off in front of last bunch of deer hair and apply cement.
6) Take the fly from the vise and using a sharp scissors with a fine point,
clip the deer hair to a shape tapered toward the tail. Take care not to
cut the tail fibers.
7) Put the fly back in the vise. Tie in Hackle Tips for wing, one at a
time (For Hair wings: Tie in a clump of hair for the wings with the tipes facing
forward. Trim the butt ends and secure hair with a few more wraps and apply
a drop of cement. Wrap in front of wing to bring it upright. Separate
the hair into two bunches for two wings and do a figure 8 around the bases to
further support and separate them.
8) Wrap thread behind the wings and tie in hackle. Often two hackles are
used for a big size fly. In the case of the Adams Irresistible, one grizzly
and one brown hackle are used. Wind the hackle forward, tie off and trim
excess.
9) Whip finish the head and cement.