Kings Kinky Muddler

Jonny King designed this fly and posted the below tutorial on Stripersonline. This is an awesome pattern and thought I would share it. Orvis and most the big name flyshops carry this fly. The tan and white will make an awesome finger mullet pattern for the coast this fall.

 

Here are some tips for forming the head of the Kinky Muddler out of Kinky Fiber. I'll use a generic blue-over-white baitfish with a craft fur tail for an example, but as mentioned, you can use bucktail, zonker strips, saddles, synthetics or anything you'd like. The key is to build width in the head not so much by hi or lo-tying, as in Genty's method (which works great) but to "V" tie the material as shown. Speeds up building the head lots.

Tail assembly ready for the head to be tied:

Invert the fly in the vise, and tie some white SF Flash Blend (Kinky Fiber plus Angel Hair) crossways on the shank with the fibers on the nearside of the shank laying back towards the bend, and the forward facing fibers on the far side of the shank:

Fold the forward facing fibers back on the FAR SIDE of the shank and trap with a few thread wraps, creating a "V" of fibers surrounding the bend:

Flip the fly over, wrap forward a few wraps and do the same thing on top of the shank, creating a V on top with the blue SFFB and building width into the head:

Fill the shank with V ties top and bottom until just near the eye, but then, for the last tie right at the eye, tie white on bottom and blue on top straight, no V, and attach both colors before posting back.

Use your thumbnail to spread each color 180 degrees top and bottom, force the fibers back Hollow Fleye style, and post with a final dam of thread in front. Note that I haven't worried about pre-tapering anything, the lumps inside the body (now covered up by the fibers), or the total mess the fly looks like:

Now, to start the trimming process, squeeze the head top and bottom with the thumb and forefinger, which fans out the fibers, and trim the sides to the smooth outlines of a baitfish. Then do the same thing by squeezing the fly side-to-side to fan the fibers up and down, allowing you to trim top and bottom and create a V-shaped belly and a rounded topside:

Finish shaping the head, glue on eyes (I like dome eyes for this pattern) and you're done. Note that the head is wide, and little wider on top than on bottom, like a real mullet or other thick-bodied bait: