Madonna
The Madonna is a versatile streamer with several practical variations. Tied in white, I’ve found it very effective for fall-run steelhead. A yellow variation seems to appeal more to brown trout; while, the olive variation has produced both browns and steelies for me. Adding a cone head will get it deeper into the water column, if that needs to be accomplished.
There is a great little book out, “Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout,” by Bob Linsenman and Kelly Galloup. As far as I’m concerned, this is a fantastic book if you’re interested in learning the strategies, techniques and flies for aggressive streamer fishing. The Madonna is one of the flies highlighted in that book.
Here’s the tie:
Hook: TMC 300, size 2-4
Thread: Kevlar or stout 3/0, color to match rabbit strip
Body: Gold or silver tinsel
Wing: Rabbit zonker strip
Flash: 3 or 4 strands of flashabou (gold, silver, pearl work well)
Collar: Stacked and spun deer hair, color to match rabbit zonker
Head: Spun and clipped deer hair, again matching the rabbit zonker
Warning: Since this fly involves a spun and clipped deer hair head, the tier really needs to be proficient in that tying technique before attempting this pattern. For help with spinning deer hair, go to www.youtube.com and type in the search phrase “spinning deer hair”. Plenty of videos will come up, teaching you the technique.
Note: For trimming the head, you'll need a flexible single-edge razor. Here's the one I use: Bic Single Blade Razor for Sensitive Skin
M11. The tie-in point for the tinsel is approximately one-half to five-eighths of an inch back from the eye of the hook.
M22. Wind the tinsel to the end of the shank, and continue back to the front. Tie off at the original tie-in point, and clip off the excess.
M33. Cut two pieces of rabbit zonker, so that when secured at the original tie-in point, the leather strip extends no more than about one-eighth of an inch past the bend of the hook. If you make the leather portions too long, they will foul around the bend of the hook while fishing. Tie them in essentially on top of the hook, but SLIGHTLY skewed to each side of the hook.
M44. Tie in the flashabou right on top of the tie-in point.
M55. Grab a generous clump of deer hair and stack it so that the natural tips are lined up nicely. Secure the clump to the hook IMMEDIATELY in front of the rabbit strip tie-in point (with the natural tips pointing toward the rear of the hook), and spin it to form the collar. When done, the tips of the collar should flare backwards to almost the half-way point of the hook shank.
M66. Work your thread through the butt ends of the deer hair toward the front of the hook. Pull the butt ends toward the rear of the hook and take a few turns of thread. This will hold back the butts, and make room for the next bunch of deer hair.
M77. Take another clump of deer hair and secure to the hook and spin immediately in front of the last clump. There’s no need to stack this clump, because we'll be trimming it off anyway, to form a nice clipped head.
M88. Again, work your thread forward through all that mess. Hold back the butt ends, and take a few wraps of thread to hold the butt ends out of the way. At this point, you should only have enough hook shank exposed to accept one more clump of deer hair.
M99. Cut off another (and final) clump of deer hair. Tie in and spin. Pull the butts back toward the rear of the hook, and take several wraps of the thread. Whip finish once or twice then sever your tying thread.
M1010. (Normally, I would take the fly out of the vice at this point, to complete the trimming with a flexible razor blade. But for illustration purposes, I’ve left the fly in the vice.) With a flat razor cut, shave the bottom of the fly. The bottom of the head and the collar should be shaved flat. By shaving the collar flat, the shiny body will become exposed.
M1111. Now work on the top and sides of the head. Using pressure on each end of the razor blade, bend it into a tight semi-circle. Shave the top and sides of the head into a nice conical shape. Don’t get carried away and destroy the collar. You want to keep the collar in tact, with all the nice natural tips pointing backwards.
M1212. Clean off all the debris, and the Madonna is ready.
Two last notes:
1. The single-bladed disposable Bic razor (with orange handle) is where I get my razor blade. Pry apart the white shaving head, and pop out the blade.
2. If you prefer a “mottled” appearance to your deer hair heads (like shown), grab clumps from two different shades of deer hair when tying and spinning the head.
