The golden age of offshore fly fishing was the 90s. Trey Combs, Chico Fernandez, Steve Abel, Roy Beadle, Nick Curcione and others were the Rat Pack of the offshore movement. In the mix were two married ranch managers named Bill and Kate Howe. In the past their site flashyprofileflies.com was the number 1 source for offshore flies and their ties held what seemed like hundreds of world records. The Broadbill Swords taken off Kenya by Pate and the Morroccon Fouad Sahiaoui were taken using the married couples flies.
The site seems to have vanished, and although there are a few flies floating around on the net, I’ve never managed to find a Step By Step. They are deceptively difficult to tie. The materials (flash and supreme hair), need to be stacked perfectly on top of one another, starting at the back and working forward on the shank to build up the heads profile. If you think you’ve put in too much flash, add some more.
To simplify things slightly I did this one on a 8/0 gama sl12, but usually theyre tied on tubes.
thread hides 10 wraps of lead wire used to get the fly down and help movement
starting at the back of the shank alternate flash and supreme hair, with some more flash added on the flanks
more supreme hair
more flash
to define the profile, add some darker colours to the top
“gills” made of…you guessed it, flash.
I epoxy in 4 stages, first to get the fly flat, then to add the eyes, then top and bottom edges, then final coat
finished product
there she is.
Perfect fly Pete!
Pete, we are out of the business now…. again after a brief comeback…. some things are best left to the “good old days”.
Thanks for the wonderful write up!
Nice job on the fly….
Kate and Bill Howe
Hi Kate, What an honour to have you guys comment. Im a sucker for history and you are such a big part of our sports’. Any pointers on the fly or is that a similar method to how you tied them originally? Thank you so much for reading. Pete