Learn how to tie a Devil's Daughter Streamer Fly including step-by-step instructions, a video tutorial, pictures, and much more. Improve your fly tying skills here.



Trident Fly Fishing is a full-service fly shop. We spend a lot of time testing gear and writing reviews to give you all of the tools to make your next trip a success.  We are not a blog or a review site. 100% of our funding comes from your gear purchases, so if this blog post helps you on your next fly fishing adventure, please support us by buying your gear from us.


The Devil's Daughter, tied by Drew Chicone, is a Tarpon Fly that's ideal for low light conditions or other situations where Tarpon are finicky or picky. This pattern moves a lot of water and is great at triggering an instinctual strike by a wary Tarpon. Streamers can be difficult to tie but this one only uses a few materials and can also be used as a Bass Fly and a fly for other species. Follow along as Jared ties a must-have streamer for Tarpon anglers, Bass fishermen, and more.


Materials:

Buy Material Kit


Step One:



Start your thread and tie in the Black Peacock Herl for the tail of the fly. Take a measurement so the peacock herls extend 2 - 2.5 times the length of the hook shank and tie them in on the bend of the hook. Snip the excess peacock after tying in the herls.


Step Two:



Grab 6-10 Natural Peacock Herls, measure them so they extend the same length as the tail, and tie them in with a loose wrap before spreading them around the hook shank. After you spread them around the hook shank, secure them in place with a few more thread wraps and trim or pluck the excess herls.


Step Three:



Create the collar of the fly by wrapping the Black Deer Body Hair on top of the hook shank. Choose a chunk of deer hair that's just larger than the diameter of a pencil, strip out the butts, loosely stack it, and take a measurement so it extends just past the hook bend or 1/3 of the length of the tail. Trim the deer hair and tie it in on top of the hook shank. After tying it in, trim out some of the bulk above your tie in point with scissors.


Step Four:



Add Peacock Herls to your collar for aesthetics. Tie the herls in, make sure they're spread evenly throughout the collar, and secure them in place with tight thread wraps. Trim or pluck the excess herls.


Step Five:



Mix Peacock Herl with Dyed Deer Body Hair to spin the head of the fly. Choose about a 1-inch selection of deer hair that's about the diameter of a pencil and 8 or 9 Peacock Herls and cut them in half to match the length of the deer hair. Mix the deer hair and herls and tie them in at a 45-degree angle on the hook shank just in front of the collar. Catch the hair with 2-3 loose wraps then apply thread tension to roll the hair/herl mix around the hook. You may need to use your hands to help the hair and herls around the hook shank. Advance your thread to just in front of the deer hair.


Step Six:



Repeat step 5. Add another spun hair/herl mix to the hook shank to give the head more fullness. Again, after spinning the mix, advance your thread to just in front of the head of the fly.


Step Seven:



Finally, choose a smaller collection and repeat step 5 one more time. This will help improve the thickness of the head and help it to extend forward to the eye of the hook. Be careful not to crowd the eye too much when spinning your third hair/herl mix. After this step, whip finish and clip your thread.


Step Eight:



After finishing your thread, invert the hook and trim the head with your razor blade. The first cut should be a straight cut on the underside of the fly. Trim a little bit at a time and go slowly so you don't trim too much hair off at once.


Step Nine:



Next, trim the top of the fly. Bend your razor blade to give the head of the fly some dimension and hold the collar of the fly with your other hand so you don't accidentally trim the collar of the fly. Again, go slowly.


Step Ten:



Continue trimming the sides of the fly to create a baitfish profile. Be careful not to trim too much or to trim the collar of the fly. Use your razor blade to take out the majority of the bulk of the fly. After you've done all you can with the razor blade, switch to scissors for fine-tuning.


Step Eleven:



Use your scissors to clean up any errant fibers or loose ends. Shape the head of the fly so it's shovel-headed to push water and create a baitfish-like profile in the water.


Step Twelve:



And that's the Devil's Daughter! This is a great fly for Tarpon, Bass, Stripers, and more and works well in low light conditions. You can also add eyes to the fly if you want to give it a more life-like appearance but be careful gluing the eyes on the deer hair - it can be tricky.


Questions? 


Give us a call here at the shop at (888) 413-5211 or email us anytime at [email protected].