The Wild Fishing Forum

A finer early season lure will be hard to find than the Ace of Spades, it is also an effective Seatrout pattern. The sign of a good pattern is how  long it is known/ in fashion. This one has been around for so long it's hard not to call it a classic, or even a traditional.(OK, who nearly choked on their tea there?)  How many of todays five minute wonders will you be saying that about in 20 years time, or even 20 minutes!





STEP 1
              Mount the hook in the vice and wrap the thread to the tail, catching in the medium oval underneath the shank as you go.

STEP 2
             Take a length of black chenille  expose the core by stripping the chenille from it with your finger and thumb. Then tie it in on top of the shank.


STEP 3
           Wrap the chenille forward and tie of at the head.



STEP 4
            Take four hen hackles and place them together, all with dull side innermost, then offer them up to the hook and judge for length. Here I have shown the maximum length I would use. The longer the tail part the more problems you will have with it wrapping round the hook.



STEP 5
             Once you are happy with the length strip the bottom fibres away. You can do each feather individually or as I have done and I think the best way, all four at once


STEP 6
             Now holding the hackles in position transfer your grip to your other hand and strip away the top fibres at the tie in point as shown.


STEP 7
             Tie the four hackles in on top of the shank as shown.


STEP 8
            Now hold the hackles in place and stroke the fibres up, a little fly tyers glue helps here.


STEP 9
              Now wrap the rib in evenly spaced turns  through the hackles and tie off at the head.


STEP 10
              Invert the hook in the vice and tie in a bunch of guinea fowl as a false beard.


STEP 11
               Select a piece of bronze Mallard by stroking it to right angles to the stem and cutting off.


Then fold in half, dull side inner most.


STEP 12
              Offer the over-wing up and tie in so that it folds over the Matuka style wing.


Then whip finish and varnish for the completed fly.


There are quite a few variations  of the Ace of Spades, chief among them is substituting dye blue guinea fowl for the natural, when it is then called the Queen of Spades.
When tying this one I prefer a larger head as shown, but with the black I tie it with a smaller head. Don?t know that it makes a difference, but I like it.
Bronze Mallard is a delicate feather so try to handle it as little as possible. If it still falls apart on you don?t worry, once it?s wet you won?t know the difference.

I don't share your greed, the only fly I need,
Is the ace of spades, the ace of spades!

Great fly. Great song.

This is a great early season fly on Threipmuir, I can never get the hackles to stay side by side though. Mine always end up looking like a cockatoo. :?

         Greenwell

A variant with blue jay replacing the guinea fowl is also very good for wild broonies!!  :D
Lochstyle

Angus Keith (a fishng pal of my cousin Tam) from Arbroath has caught  2 x   9lb wild brown trout  on this fly,  fished on a sinking line,  in  Loch Lee. It  is certainly a good fly for wild fish. I got a nice charr on one in Loch Borralidh, only 3/4lb but that's a decent enough charr.No cages on Loch Borralidh!  :D

Tied this fly tonight on a standard shank 10, following the above procedure. The results were excellent.

Great  info again Dennis. Will tie some smaller ones, I am old they work well in small sizes.

Quote from: admin on February 27, 2007, 11:27:27 PM
Tied this fly tonight on a standard shank 10, following the above procedure. The results were excellent.

You did what I said and it worked  :shock: I'm impressed.

Quote from: admin on February 27, 2007, 11:27:27 PM
Great  info again Dennis. Will tie some smaller ones, I am old they work well in small sizes.

Thank you Fred..... erm How old?

*Just noticed I'd saved the pics as normal sized jpegs Fred, I'll have it sorted in a jiffy* *Sorted*

Quote from: scotfly on February 27, 2007, 11:46:58 PM
Thank you Fred..... erm How old?

Very old Dennis……or at least it feels that way sometimes…… :(...…usually has something to do with folk taking this bloody forum too seriously ~~~~ :shock:~~~~~ it's not all fun and games ~~~~~~~~~~ :D

Just kidding – it's great really!  8)  

I think the above may  have more to do with undiagnosed dyslexia than age missed out the T  :pat

It would be interesting to see Hamish's hare's ear version,anyone have a photo of this flee,although i get the picture :shock: :D

All the best

Chris.

Quote from: shielfisher on March 01, 2007, 05:01:10 PM
Chris,
I'll knock one up in the next few days and post a pic or two  8)

Thank's Hamish,yer a good man :D

All the best

Chris.

Quote from: shielfisher on March 01, 2007, 05:01:10 PM
Chris,
I'll knock one up in the next few days and post a pic or two  8)

Hamish,the photo won't be neccessary after all,managed to knock some of these up last night on a size eight B175 and they look fine :D although maybe a wee bit small for your liking :lol:Thank's again :D

All the best

Chris.

Thank's Hamish,will post a photo later today just to see what you think[I'm not the greatest tier mind]and you could maybe put me right on anything you think needs attention.

All the best

Chris.

Thank's Hamish,I would very much appreciate that,i could return the favour by sending you up a couple of my muddler variation's i have been working on.Might be worth a cast.

All the best

Chris.