Fly Tying Recipes

Tying the Quagga Mussel Fly Pattern.

By Mark Knapp

Quagga mussels are, small, invasive bi-valve mollusks that were introduced to the United States in the late 1980s, likely through ballast water from ships. Like some other invasives, this one is not all bad (in my opinion). Many biologists agree that they have cleaned up the water and lead to an increase in population and size of many species of fish where they exist. One of those species is, of course, the redear sunfish in Lake Havasu and other places. At least the last four or five world record redears or shell-crackers has been caught in Lake Havasu with the biggest to date being a 6.4 pound bruiser in May of 2021. The news of this fish lead me to an all encompassing addiction to the idea of catching the next world record red ear sunfish on a fly pattern of my own. That winter I booked a trip to Lake Havasu in the spring and started tying and developing my quagga mussel fly. After hundreds of hours of tying and fishing the fly, as well as lots of fish caught with it, this is my latest version. Many patterns worked but this one is the best so far.

One of the wild quagga mussels I copied for my fly

The Wild Mussel

Materials

Wire wrap for the quagga mussel fly

No.1 Apply the wire wrap, tungsten bead or split shot for weight.

the hackle for the quagga mussel beard.

No. 2 Black or dark brown hackle is tied in for the quagga mussel beard.

Brown, tan or gray dubbing for the meat of the quagga mussel.

No.4 A loose noodle of gray, tan or brown dubbing is wrapped to cover the weight and give bulk to the fly.

The shell feathers tie back for the quagga mussel.

No.6 The shell feather is tied back and whip finished.

No. 8 after setting the UV resin, a finger nail lamp is used to cook the resin hard.

One of the finished finished quagga mussel flies for Lake Havasu

The Fly

Hook - No. 6 Jig Hook

Weight - lead or no-lead fly wire or tungsten bead

Thread - black 6/0

Beard Hackle - black soft or stiff hackle

Shell - Wood duck, teal, widgeon or gadwall to match your mussel

Siphon - Gray, pink or tan squirmy wormy or chenille to match.

Head cement or UV resin

Materials for the Lake Havasu quagga mussel fly pattern
Flank feathers from teal wood duck mallard or gadwall for quagga shell.
I cook the flies in a finger nail UV lamp
Domed plyers I made for lead wraps in the quagga mussel fly

I made domed pliers to compact and form the wire wraps. Glue is applied.

Teal, gadwall, mallard, wood duck flank feather is tied in for the shell of the quagga mussel.

No.3 One or two flank feathers of teal, wood duck, mallard or gadwall is tied in for the shell.

a siphon of chenille or squirmy wormy is tied in for the siphon.

No.5 The dubbing is used to tie in a siphon of gray, tan, pink or brown squirmy wormy or chenille.

the quagga mussel shell tied back.

No.7 The siphon is trimmed and melted to look more natural and the shell is coated either UV resin or head cement.

Cooking the quagga mussel flies.

No.9 The quagga mussel flies are flipped and cooked on both sides.

Finished quagga mussel flies for Lake Havasu.

Finished quagga mussel flies for Lake Havasu. I fish them deep and slow.