Kingfisher Blue Chickabou Body Marabou Patch

Kingfisher Blue Ewing Chickabou Marabou Body Patch

Kingfisher Blue is a bright, electric turquoise, named after the bird’s back. It’s a classic Atlantic salmon and steelhead color, and out in the blue water it’s the color of a flying fish or a ballyhoo’s back.

Kingfisher Blue Ewing Chickabou gives you bright blue fibers for spey collars, steelhead hot spots and offshore popper tails. A little goes a long way. Use it as an accent and watch fish track it from a distance.

Steelhead, Atlantic salmon, mahi-mahi, tuna, bonito and bluefish.

Recipe 1: Kingfisher Blue Chickabou Blue Charm Spey

• Hook: Low-water salmon hook, #4–#8
• Thread: Black 8/0
• Tag: Fine oval silver tinsel and yellow floss
• Tail: Golden pheasant crest
• Body: Black floss, ribbed with fine oval silver tinsel
• Hackle: Kingfisher Blue Ewing Chickabou, 2 turns as a collar
• Wing: Bronze mallard or brown squirrel tail, low over the body

Tying: This is the classic Blue Charm with a chickabou hackle instead of a stiff blue hackle. Two turns, stroked back, and it swims like a much bigger fly without the bulk.

How to fish: In clear summer water, swing it on a floating line with a long leader. Cast across, mend once, and let it swing slowly. Low-water patterns work best when they come across the current slowly and near the surface.

Recipe 2: Kingfisher Blue Chickabou Mahi Popper

• Hook: Saltwater 2/0–3/0, long shank
• Head: Foam popper head, 3/4 inch, painted blue and white
• Thread: White 140-denier
• Tail: Kingfisher Blue Ewing Chickabou, two plumes, plus 6 strands blue and silver flash
• Collar: White chickabou, 2 turns

Tying: Tie the tail and collar on the bare shank, then slide the popper head on and glue it. Keep the tail short enough that it doesn’t wrap the hook on a hard cast.

How to fish: Around weed lines and floating debris offshore, cast to mahi and pop it hard and fast. Don’t stop. Mahi chase noise and keep chasing as long as it’s moving. When one eats, the rest of the school follows.