Yellow Chickaboo Body Marabou Patch

Yellow Ewing Chickabou Marabou Body Patch

Yellow is a classic streamer color that a lot of tyers forgot about. It’s the belly of a Mickey Finn, the body of a Yellow Sally stonefly, and the flash of a shiner turning in the sun. Brook trout, browns and smallmouth have been eating yellow flies for over a century.

Yellow Ewing Chickabou gives you clean, bright yellow fibers for soft hackles, streamer wings, hot spots and baitfish bellies. It’s warmer and softer than chartreuse and looks natural in clear water.

Brook trout, brown trout, rainbows, smallmouth, perch and panfish.

Recipe 1: Yellow Chickabou Yellow Sally Soft Hackle

• Hook: Wet-fly or 1XL nymph, #14–#16
• Bead: Small gold bead (optional)
• Thread: Yellow 8/0
• Body: Yellow floss or thread, thin, ribbed with fine gold wire
• Thorax: Pale yellow dubbing, a pinch
• Hackle: Yellow Ewing Chickabou, 1–2 turns from the tip

Tying: Use the shortest fibers from the tip of the patch. One or two turns at most. The body should be thin enough to see the hook through it.

How to fish: Yellow Sallies hatch on Montana freestones from late June through summer, often in the afternoon. Swing it through riffles on a floating line, or drop it 18 inches below a dry fly. Trout hit it hard as it rises at the end of the swing.

Recipe 2: Yellow Chickabou Mickey Finn

• Hook: 4XL streamer, #6–#10
• Thread: Black 6/0
• Body: Flat silver tinsel, ribbed with oval silver
• Wing (bottom): Yellow Ewing Chickabou, a small clump
• Wing (middle): Red chickabou, a small clump
• Wing (top): Yellow Ewing Chickabou, a slightly larger clump
• Flash: 2 strands gold Krystal Flash on top

Tying: The classic Mickey Finn is yellow-red-yellow bucktail. Chickabou turns it into a soft, breathing streamer that moves at slow speeds where bucktail stays stiff.

How to fish: In clear streams for brook trout and in rivers for smallmouth, cast across and strip it back with quick 4-inch strips. On cloudy days, swing it slowly through deep runs. The silver body flashes and the soft wing pulses.