~By: Lance Dean | May 6th, 2024
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| Sparkplug |
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f you have ever fished Pyramid Lake in Nevada, then you know that there is usually wind and not just a little wind. Pyramid Lake is known to have many high wind days, in fact, many Pyramid Lake Fly Fisherman say the windier the better. Wind generally means a front is moving in and it makes the fish more active. The problem with the wind is that with the wind comes choppy water and at Pyramid Lake that is usually means whitecaps. A bit of chop is great because it gives your fly a bit of action while it sits under an indicator. The problem with too much chop, is that chop can lift your fly out of the zone. The zone is the place where fish can see your fly. Yes, with every wave, the indicator that is connected to your fly via some sort of leader or tippet does go up and a down with the wave, but if you have too much “up” in the waves, your fly may not have enough time to sink back into the zone before a wave forces it up out of the zone again. This is due to drag created by the water as your fly moves within it. Your indicator will drift with the waves while your fly fights the drag of the water and won’t be able to follow your indicator. Even on calm days water drag effects our flies, hence the count down that should be down before retrieving flies. That countdown allows the fly to fight the drag and get where you want it to go, however when there is chop on the water you fly may never get down deep enough to sit in a fish’s view.
This is a problem with fast water as well, there may not be chop, but there is fast moving water which has a very similar effect. The flies never get down to where fish see them because the flow of the water is keeping them higher in the water column then we typically want them. There are a couple solutions to this problem the one I am writing about today is using heavy flies - one fly in particular.
Jan Nemec came up with the Spark Plug to combat the whitecap problem at Pyramid Lake. The Spark Plug is an extremely weighted patten that does an excellent job staying in the zone on those really choppy days. From what I have gathered Jan’s original pattern uses a size 8 Orvis 8A03 (Heavy Wire Curved Nymph Hook on the Orvis website) as a chassis. The weight of the Spark Plug comes from three parts - a 5/32” tungsten bead, multiple wraps of .025 Lead Wire and medium Ultra Wire wrapped all the way up the hook shank.
Jan’s pattern also sports a small tail of Angel Hair and an ice dub thorax that is covered by a wingcase created with large Mirage Opal Tinsel.
I tied mine a bit different, I used a TMC 2302 for the hook. The TMC 2302 is a lighter wired hook but has the same profile and was easier for me to get a hold of. I recently discovered the Upmqua XT250 is a 2X heavy and 2XL hook which match the specs of the Orvis 8A02 and is easier for me to procure so I will be using the Umpqua version from here on out.
I also used Ice Dub for the tail rather than Angel Hair simply for the fact that the Ice Dub looks a bit more unruly that Angel Hair in my opinion and I like it.
Tying a Spark Plug is very similar to tying a Copper John without the legs and with a different tail. Once the Bead and Lead are on the hook tie in the tail and then tie in and wrap the copper wire from the bend of the hook to just behind the bead with touching wraps. The abdomen is tapered with thread before wrapping the wire up the shank. Tie in the tinsel wingcase, create the thorax and then pull the tinsel of the top before whip-finishing the fly.
This is just one pattern that can be used to combat choppy water conditions and it is just one of a few different solutions. The point is that if you do it right you can be one of the last people blown of the water thanks the Jan Nemec’s Spark Plug. Just be sure to do it in a safe manner. So go ahead and purchase the materials needed to tie this heavy bug, tie a few up and get ready to catch some fish.
Please enjoy the tying demonstration below and remember to “Like” Fishbait’s Fly Box on Facebook, “SUBSCRIBE” to my YouTube Channel and most importantly have a great day!
FLY TYING DEMO: