Fly Tying a Madam X - Classic American Trout Pattern
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Created by Doug Swisher in the 1980s, the Madam X has quickly become one of the top American fly patterns. A very versatile dry fly, tied big enough it can be a grasshopper, a bit smaller and it's a great golden stonefly imitation, or even a yellow sally. Tie it with some bright orange or purple thread and it'll be a great attractor as well!
Hook: #6-12, 2x or 3x long
Thread: Yellow 6/0 or bigger
Tail: Tips of body hair
Body: Deer or elk hair
Wing: Tips of head hair
Head: Deer or elk, bullet style
Legs: White rubber legs
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Dave Hughes books used in this series
"Essential Trout Flies," by Dave Hughes. amzn.to/3lbCZYX
American Fly Tying Manual," by Dave Hughes. amzn.to/3niNL1q
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Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I've been uploading at least three new videos a week (usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).
Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tips or tricks that could help me or anyone else watching.
See my full series from Dave Hughes "Essential Trout Flies" here: czcams.com/play/PLKgBFFHhdX5ZK4wr5fIaPM4uCcIBDSFAA.html
I've been fishing the Madam X for several years. Best success has been when fish are taking Little Yellow Sallies on Idaho cutthroat streams.
Love it as a hopper. Works great in high elevation stillwaters in my area when grasshoppers are out. I saw the trout rising really close to the steep shoreline at grasshoppers, so cast it within a couple feet of the shore! The trout nailed it!
Cool to hear! Thanks for watching my friend. :-)
This is a great pattern for creek smallmouth. I've caught them up to 20". Very nice tie.
Use it alot here in Pa. Mostly in all black as a cricket imitation. Caught 2 big wild rainbows back to back on a small Pa class A rainbow stream decades ago. I'll never forgot it.
Very cool to hear Bryan! It's amazing how we remember some days like they were yesterday. :-)
I love that you give the history and source material. Madam X is also very realistic looking 👍
Thanks Sarge! I wish I had learned how it got the name though. 🤔
Supremely deadly fly pattern.
Thanks man I really enjoy watching your videos I'm still trying it's slow going but I'm trying watching your videos every day I do learn a lot
Marty- thanks so much for the dedication! It does mean a lot to me. :-)
I actually have 3 dvds from Doug Swisher around here somewhere. 2 of them was about casting and one was about fishing to selective trout. In it he actually says he was reluctant to publish the Madam X because of how well it worked. Awesome to see this one tied
Wow, very cool story! I'm definitely going to have a box tied up for next spring. And I'm looking forward to reading his books. I'll try to do a couple more of his patterns after I get them.
I have seen this video! I reckon I’m just going crazy lol. Great video sir!
You and me both my friend. :-)
What a great flie.thats a good one Matt Thanks again for sharing!! Love it.
Thanks Mike! I should have mentioned that it's been a good top fly in a hopper/dropper combo too.
I been tying Madame X since 1982. It's a great fly.
Awesome to hear! See Fly Rod Hiker's comment about Swisher and how he almost didn't want to share it because it was so effective.
@@SavageFlies He mentioned it in Fly Fishing Strategies for trout 3M videotapes he did back in that time frame. No hackle dry flies were his and Carl Richards innovation has to be about 1968 or 69. Joe Brooks wrote about them. Use to have a web site that sold flies and other things. It's gone now. He got to be in his 90's now. He was a Plastics Salesman and Carl was a dentist- Carl died some years back. Another fly he mentioned a lot was the Ugly Rudimus. Nobody seems to tie that one these days. But it is also a great-searching pattern. These instructional tapes back then was a big thing, not like today when instruction is so really available. Almost 40 years ago. Oh, you want the bullet head to butt up right at the hook eye. Not bad. You don't need 210 denier thread to tie these, I tied lots of them with 6/0 Danville and 3/0 mono cord. Elk is better in my opinion. There are all kinds of variations. Come to think about he was first to put rubber legs on a dry fly!
@@GeorgeSemel -George, this is amazing! I wish I had your knowledge and knew all this history when I was making the video. This is the kind of stuff you can't find online out there. I'm going to try and make blog posts about all these flies for my website (savageflies.com) but it just takes time. Thank you for sharing all this info! Cheers. -Matt
I just want to tie a bunch of those now. Thanks Matt!
Go for it Gian! They're pretty easy to tie and great fish catchers. :-)
Very impressive fly. Size and color options are going to make this a very versatile fly. You mentioned making it darker and smaller, representing a cricket. I immediately thought panfish. We’ll have to see how that works out? Great video. Awesome job buddy. Thank you
Cool design. I kinda get the feeling that some of this people back in their time were inspired by their lovers. Madame X 🤭🤭🤭. I mean I see the X pattern, but is that all that there is?
I know! But he came up with this in the 1980s, not the 1880s so I'm thinking it's just because of the legs shaped like an X. But why the MADAM?? Who knows. 🤔
Great looking fly Matt
Thanks Dave!
Tied with a tan body and brown legs this fly is deadly with the crane flies are on the wing!
That surprises me a little bit Tom. I always think of crane flies as being a lot thinner than this thing. But good to know!
You have to account for size... And you don't need a tail. Dub the body and use a sparse, very light colored deer hair for the head/wing. Splay the wing. #12 3xl dry
The madam x fishes well as a skwalla in size 10 olive a golden stone in size 8 orange. Don't know how well for a Sally cus I've never seen the hatch.
I tie this fly on a size 10 with olive tread
Also they do work well as stonefly
Nicholas- that's cool. When you tie it as a stonefly, what size and colors do you tie it?
Savage Flies I tie it in yellow and on a size 12 or 14
Awesome. I may tie one in hot pink, or a royal one as an attractor pattern too.
Savage Flies I have seen them in pink and royal color but have never tied them
The royal might work really well
@@SavageFlies I tie them on a curved hopper hook in 12, 10 and 8. I tie them in browns and yellow, hopper yellow. They're good grasshopper imitations. I even tie a knot in the back legs to resemble a hopper pattern. I like them because they don't ride high in the water. More like a drowned hopper. Once you get the hang of it they tie up pretty quick.