Hot Chartreuse – Black Disco Legs

Hot Chartreuse – Black Silicone Disco Legs

There are two kinds of fly tiers: the ones who carry chartreuse legs and the ones who borrow them. I spent over a decade guiding Montana and running fly shops, and I can tell you the borrowers never give them back. Buy your own.

Nature’s Spirit Disco Legs in Hot Chartreuse – Black are the old standard silicone leg you already know. Bright chartreuse base, black flake running through every strand. In muddy rivers, tannic backwaters and low light, chartreuse is the color a fish finds before it finds anything else. The black flake gives it an edge so it reads as a living thing, not a glow stick.

I once watched a largemouth chase a chartreuse-legged popper across a farm pond, miss it, and come back for it twice. My fishing partner said that bass was “just dumb.” Then he asked if I had any more of those legs. He’s still dumb. I’m still out of legs.

Tie them on poppers, Clousers, crabs, bluegill bugs, rubber-leg nymphs and pike streamers. Silicone keeps its kick in cold water and doesn’t go stiff in a hot truck.

Best for: largemouth and smallmouth bass, peacock bass, pike, panfish, redfish in dirty water, snook, striped bass.

Recipe 1: Grumpy’s Chartreuse Disco Popper (bass, panfish)

• Hook: Wide-gap popper or stinger hook, size 2 (bass) or 8 (bluegill)
• Thread: Chartreuse 140 denier
• Tail: Chartreuse marabou with 4 strands of pearl flash
• Legs: Hot Chartreuse – Black Disco Legs, 3 strands per side at the tail, 2 per side through the head
• Body: Chartreuse foam or cork popper head, glued onto a thread-wrapped shank
• Eyes: 3D stick-on, yellow

Tying: Wrap the shank and coat with glue. Tie in the marabou tail and flash. Tie 3 leg strands at the bend on each side, angled back and out. Glue on the head. Pierce the head with a bodkin and pull 2 strands through each side, so they stick out like whiskers. Add eyes.

How to fish it: Cast tight to cover: lily pads, dock posts, laydowns. Let it sit until the rings disappear. That’s the hard part. Give it one sharp pop, then wait again. Strikes come on the pause because the legs keep moving after the fly stops. Floating line, 9-foot 2X to 0X leader.

Recipe 2: Disco Clouser (redfish, striped bass, smallmouth)

• Hook: Partridge Saltwater stainless or Black Nickel, size 1 to 2/0
• Thread: White 210 denier
• Eyes: Lead or brass dumbbell, sized to depth
• Belly: White bucktail
• Wing: Chartreuse bucktail over 6 strands of gold flash
• Legs: Hot Chartreuse – Black Disco Legs, 2 strands each side at the eyes

Tying: Tie the dumbbell eyes about a third back from the hook eye. Tie the white bucktail in front of the eyes and behind them, so it rides on top when inverted. Flip the hook. Tie in flash, then chartreuse bucktail. Figure-eight 2 leg strands around the eyes on each side. Trim legs to just past the bend.

How to fish it: Strip-strip-pause along grass edges and drop-offs. The fly rides hook up, so you can drag it through oyster bars and rock without fouling. On the pause, it dives nose-first and the legs flare out. That’s when redfish eat. In muddy water, slow down and keep the fly in their face longer.