The Seaducer

Originally tied as a tarpon fly and then popularized as a redfish fly by Chico Fernandez, the Seaducer is a favorite of mine for bass. The Seaducer is tied with a tail of 3-6 pairs of hackle feathers, and then heavily palmered with two or more colors. I've added a small epoxy head and eyes. When tied unweighted, the fly can be thrown into very shallow water without spooking fish as it land very softly. Because the heavy hackle almost suspends it in the water, it can be worked very slowly. Even at a slow retrieve rate, it has lots of action. It can also be tied with various amounts of weight.

I also like to throw an unweighted seaducer on a sink-tip line or a full sinker. This allows you to fish different spots in the water column. On a full-sink line, I can let the line sink to the bottom and then on a slow retrieve,  it will suspend just off the bottom. With a sink-tip line, I can fish at numerous different depths by varying the speed and action of the retrieve. In fact, when using a floating or slow sinking tip, I have often had bass take the fly on the surface before it got wet and pulled under by the strip.

The original recipe called for white and red in the tail, and then palmering 2/3 the hook shank with white, followed by red at the head. I tie it that way, but also in olive/chartreuse/white (as shown) and in olive/black. Note the palmering is quite over-sized.