Tying a Sunburst Olive Kate Muddler with Davie McPhail

The Kate McLaren is a Scottish wet fly invented by William Robertson in the 1930's. It is a very effective wet fly when fished on the bob as part of a team of flies for traditional loch style fishing. It is also extremely effective for Rainbow Trout as well as Brownies. The difference between a traditional Kate McLaren and the variant that Davie McPhail is tying is that he adds a small, Muddler style head to the fly, using deer hair. This small change allows you to fish it nearer the surface and it also allows you to add floatant to the fly and pull it across waves.

All of the materials needed to tie this fly are available from Glasgow Angling Centre as listed below, but as always, if you need any help finding materials or substitutes then we'll be happy to help. Time to tie a Sunburst Olive Kate Muddler, with the guidance of Davie McPhail.




Materials Used:
Hook: Fulling Mill Competition Heavyweight size 10 Thread: Uni-8/0 Chartreuse Tail: Light Sunburst Marabou Rib: Gold Oval Tinsel Body: Olive Seals Fur or SLF Body Hackle: Olive Cock or Hen Throat: Ginger Cock Hackle dyed Yellow Head: Dyed Olive Roe Deer

Additional materials: Additionally, Davie made use of Varnish, which he applied to the thread after completing the fly.

Davie's preferred type of whip finish tool can be found HERE!