How do you catch Africa’s largest freshwater fish? If you answered “using a pink and red Peanut” then you’d be spot on. The Peanut, a huge streamer that might be mistaken for a feather duster with its deer-hair head that is shaped to look like a bell end, has all the right attributes to trigger the Faro’s monstrous Nile perch.

Here, David Taylor who guides for African Waters at Gassa Camp on Cameroon’s Faro River explains how to tie the Peanut and how it’s used. The long tail, which is tied in a bulky fashion, is blended into the deer-hair head with a thick collar. Apart from making a noise under the water, the head generates turbulence that works its way back down the fly and causes the incredibly long tail to wiggle and give off a huge amount of movement. Being fished at night, the biggest giveaway in this case is the target species’ ability to sense movement.

In this step-by-step fly tying tutorial, David takes us through how to tie the Peanut, and how to fish with it. Watch the full video below.

MATERIALS USED:

• Hook: Ahrex SA270 #6/0 or Gamakatsu SL12S #8/0.
• Thread: 3/0 nano silk.
• Tail: 6x rooster hackle and 2x grizzly hackle and red bucktail.
• Collar: White maribou and sculpting fibre.
• Head: Long deer hair.

Read all about Cameroon’s Faro river in The Mission issue 47 Fluff below. It’s free!

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