String Leeches

A History of The String Leech

Trey Combs in his classic book, Steelhead Fly Fishing, chronicles the history of the String Leech steelhead fly as follows:  "Mike Montaigne brought the first String Leech to the Dean and passed it on to Terry Roelofs; Bob Hull's String Leech (pictured above) was the product of that development."

Quoted from Page 453-454 "Steelhead Fly Fishing" by Trey Combs, 1991:
     "What ever happened to jungle cock?" Lani Waller looked amused as the two of us studied Bob Hull's six-inch-long snakelike fly.
     "This still has the animal attached!" I said.  The "body" was a length of extra stout shoemaker's thread, the "string", with one end clinch-knotted to a 1/0 hook.  A loop six inches away was the "eye".  Just behind the loop, a strip of rabbit was secured with tying thread.  To accomplish this, Bob had driven a nail into the wall opposite his vise, and had run a rubber band to the hook.  This put the string body under tension. A bunch of blue Flashabou secured under the strip pf rabbit finished the fly.  A couple of split shot pinched on the string just behind the head, or lead barbells tied down at the head would help drown the beast.
     Bob Hull and I were sharing a cabin located behind Bob Clay's hose in the Kispiox Valley.  Both Bob's were fly-fishing guides on vacation, Hull a guide at Stewart's on the Dean, Clay an independent guide on the Kispiox and Skeena rivers.  When Lani flew in from the Babine, our party was complete.
     "You can make it do tricks."  Bob Hull stroked it a few time.  Lani and I watched as the fly curled up a bit and rolled over.
     "When the river is low and clear, do you go to smaller flies?"  I tried not to sound too eager.
     "Larger flies!" he said.  "This big!" He held his hands ten inches apart.
     Bob sat on his bed and searched his fishing log.  "let's see, I was fishing with Keith Douglas.  Okay. 'Hooked two at King's Crown, five at Rainbow Ranch, each caught one at Island; hooked seven at Gang Bang, Beached five.'" 
     Bob Clay told us he had once watched a snake try to cross the Kispiox.  A steelhead rose to it, and the snake disappeared in a huge swirl.
     My Weatleys only went to 2/0, row after row of the pitiful little thing.  "Murphy's Law," I said, "the fly they are taking is the only one you don't have."
     Bob Hull was first to tie this String Leech.  He got the idea for the fly from clients on the Dean.  Their rabbit leeches were like those on the North Umpqua, where a hook clippat the bend is connected to a trailing hook with heavy Dacron line.  This was a no-frills giant version of the Black Leech, a.k.a. "Bimbo" and "Road Kill".  The hook he used had a turned down eye; I would have secured it with a double turle knot instead of a clinch.  Either way, the fly has a raw Outback flavor to it.
    For the next several days we fly-fished the Kispiox and the Skeena and found fresh steelhead.  As usual, Lani liked his Boss, and we both raised fish on dries.  Bob stayed with his String Leech: he couldn't keep the steelhead away.  When he beached a twenty-pound hen steelhead, Lani and I swichted to sink-tip lines.  "Lines from hell", said Clay, happy with his full-floater and Purple Bomber.  We began dickering with Bob Hull.
     "I'll give you four of my new improved Wakers", began Lani.
     "I really need one of these flies for my book", I said.