The Stella is a topwater pattern tied by Richard Wale, designed with the intention of catching leervis (garrick) on topwater at his local vlei in Cape Town. The Stella was also used famously by Richard in Pongola where he fished for tigerfish (as seen in Topwater Tiger Kings in issue 38). In the fly tying tutorial below, Richard shows us how to tie this fly for tigerfish and garrick.
The Stella is a baitfish imitation, employing a long bucktail/shiner tail, a sculpting fibre body and a foam cap on the head. The shape of the foam cap gives the Stella its unique swimming/popping motion upon retrieval, often encouraging aggressive takes from leeries.
FULL STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO:
Materials used to tie the Stella – most of which can be found at your local fly fishing store:
- Thread: Red thread, 140 denier
- Hook: Mustad stinger deer hair 2xl hooks.
- Tail: Olive buck tail, White buck tai, Fishient Shiner flash blend, Wapsi Flashabou
- Body: Fishient sculpting fibre
- Head: 2mm foam sheet + googgly-eyes.
See how effective this fly can be for topwater tigerfish action in The Mission issue 38’s Topwater Tiger Kings below.
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