The Jack-Daddy fly came about when I was attempting to design my own fly for fishing smallmouth bass in central Indiana. I wanted a streamer that would get down and stay down in fast water, and that mimicked small eastern banded sculpins.
The first version of the Jack-Daddy was over-complicated to tie and took way too long to tie.
As I progressed in fly tying, I kept simplifying the pattern to what it is today, and this pattern is now the fourth version of the original.
Materials:
Hook: Size 1 Partridge CS52 Sea Prince
Tail/Mohawk: Zonker strip
Eye: Lead Dumbbell
Body: Polar flash, Mallard flank, UTC wire
Fins: Whitetail body
Thread: UTC 140/ Nanosilk 3/0
Resin: Solarez olive green bone dry
Step 1
Push the leather side of a 1 1/4 length zonker strip onto the shank of the hook.
Step 2
Tie in lead dumbbell eyes 1/4 inch behind the hook eye. Run the thread back to the bend of the hook.
Step 3
Tie in Polar flash, mallard flank and UTC wire at the bend of the hook.
Step 4
Palmer the polar flash from the bend of the hook to the lead eyes. Then, carefully palmer the mallard flank through the polar flash to the lead eye. Finally, use a bodkin to pick out any trapped fibers.
Step 5
Wrap the UTC wire counter clockwise through the polar flash and mallard flank. Be careful not to catch any of the fibers. Then, pick out and trapped fibers with a bodkin.
Step 6
First, cut about half of a pencil width of the deer hair. Next, comb out the underfur and short hairs out. Stack the deer hair to even the tips. Measure hair from the hook eye to point.
Then, tie in the deer hair right behind the lead eye on the side of the hook. Repeat on the other side of the hook.
Step 7
Run your thread to the hook eye, then, if you have a rotary vise, invert your fly. If you do not have a rotary vise, take your fly out and flip it over. Then, pull the long end of the zonker to the hook eye, tie it off, clip the zonker, and finish the fly with a clean head. Here, I like to use the olive green bone dry for head cement.
Finished product
I fish the Jack-Daddy with short, darting strips, with five to ten second pauses. It usually gets smashed right after the pause.
To date, the Jack-Daddy has been effective for smallmouth, largemouth, brown trout, carp, and redfish.
For redfish, I suggest tying it on a 4/0 CS86X/J60 by Partridge of Redditch, so that it can be thrown on a weed mat/grass island and stay weedless.
I often get asked where I came up with the name “Jack-Daddy Sculpin.” The short story, is my Dad is a veteran and in a veteran’s motorcycle club. When you join the club you get a nickname.
His nickname is Jack-Daddy, so I named the fly after my Dad.
