The Omoe Brush
Published Dec 19th 2008
A Danish sea trout fly meant to imitate a small clamworm
The name refers to clamworms or ragworms, which are literally called brush worms in Danish, and the fact that the originator Ken Bonde Larsen tied the fly first on the island Om in Denmark.
It's originally meant to be an imitation of a small clamworm like a small Nereis, but can be considered a generic pattern more than an exact imitation of these polychaetes. The color and materials are quite simple. Taking its vantage point in the red body feathers of the Golden Pheasant, the Omoe Brush is a rich, rusty nuance of red, and as such not a complex fly. It's simple to tie, and uses only three materials in its basic form: a bit of flash, rusty brown yarn and the red body feathers.
The fly has since branched out a bit, and Ken ties a smaller variation using red-brown chenille and bead chain eyes. But apart from that he has staid very true to the fly as it was first tied.
I have tied and caught fish on versions using the yellow pheasant feathers in combination with a light tan body rather than the red ones over a dark body. This version of the fly looks much like a yellowish shrimp, but most of my Omoe Brushes have been red like Ken's original.
The alternative hackling method, which is described further down in this article came even later, and is just a way of hackling, which to some tiers are easier than winding the short-stemmed and fragile pheasant feathers.
|Type||Cold saltwater fly|
|Originator||Ken Bonde Larsen|
|Year of origin||1992|
|Hook||Saltwater streamer hook, #6-2|
|Weight||Lead free wire|
|Tail||A few straws of clear flash and a small red Golden Pheasant body feather|
|Body||Three sections of rusty brown yarn|
|Hackles||Three red Golden Pheasant body feathers|
See how to tie it in this sequence of images.
Tiling the hackle
If you struggle with the short and brittle hackle stems of the Golden Pheasant body feathers, you can consider two strategies: treat your Golden Pheasant skin with hair conditioner to soften and strengthen the feathers or use a simple "tiled" hackle technique as shown here:
Smaller version with eyes
The last version of this fly is tied on a smaller hook, has a set of bead chain eyes and has only two body sections and two hackles. This is a typical autumn fly here and can be tied down to a size 10 hook. Select chenille or yarn as well as feathers that suits the size of the final fly, which can be fairly thick bodied.