Fishbait's Fly Box: Vader

~By: Lance Dean | May 5th, 2024

Together we will rule the Galaxy...

It might be a bit nerdy or a bit geeky, at least it was when I was a teen, but I’m not going to lie to you, I am a Star Wars fan. I enjoy the movies, books, comics, different Disney+ Series, characters, art and the flies. Yes, you read that right, the flies. There are a number of flies that have a Star Wars twist to them. Greg Garcia’s Darth Beatis, Dave Hise’s Eggi Juan Kenobi, and Juan Ramirez’s Jedi Master Baetis are all fine patterns that could be defined as flies that are in-tune with the “Force” – Sorry couldn’t resist.

However, today I am not writing about these flies from “a galaxy far, far, away…” – Sorry I really am going to stop with the cheesy puns. Today, I am writing about a fly that came from the mind of Ivan Valdez, Owner/Guide of the Reel Life Fly Shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, called “Vader.”

Master Windu

Although I haven’t seen the pattern on the Umpqua Website recently, a few years ago (in 2022) while scouring the “Signature Tyers” pages of the Umpqua Website looking for cool fly patterns to tie, I came across a small cool looking translucent red bodied fly called Vader. While dissecting the pattern with my eyes for a few minutes, I noticed the Vader was tied by an individual named Ivan Valdez. After doing a bit of internet research on Ivan Valdez (which means looking him up on Facebook), I decided to message him to ask him about the materials list of his pattern.

After a couple weeks he responded to me, telling me that he prefers to tie his Vader pattern on a #20 TMC 200R with a grey or black tungsten bead. He told me that he uses Microfibbets for the tail and red Micro Tubing as the body with Black dubbing for a thorax. He tops the dubbing with Thin Skin and micro pearl Flashabou. For the wings he said he uses tan McFlylon.

Tying the Vader is pretty straight forward, the only real catch are the legs. It is easy to allow the legs to overtake the Vader so make sure to go easy on the McFlylon.

On the Umpqua website, when Vader was offered, Ivan had a couple other patterns showcased as well.

They were other variations of the Vader that were purple and chartreuse. The purple one is called “Master Windu” and the chartreuse one was called Master Skywalker. In case you aren’t familiar with Star Wars, every Jedi or sith carries a “Litesaber.” Litesabers are essentially laser swords where the blade is colored. On Ivan’s patterns, the color of the abdomen of his pattern correlates to the color of the litesaber blade of the Jedi or Sith he wants to represent – I think.

Master Skywalker

Don’t be afraid to mix it up when you tie these. Use different colors of body tubing, microfibbets and McFlylon to create your own versions of this cool pattern. See below for a few of the ones I did.

So what do the Vader and its sibling flies represent. According to an article found on the Umpqua Website these patterns represent a baetis insect. With the translucency of Vader I can see that. But I would be willing to bet that you could easily fish this as a midge as well. The article also states that Ivan created this pattern for his waters in New Mexico, but I am sure these will work in other locations as well. Just get the fly to where the fish can see it and hope they are hungry!

As promised below are the materials lists for the Vader, Master Windu, Master Skywalker, Young Skywalker, Yoda, Obi Wan and Darth Vader. Please enjoy the tying demo of the Vader below the materials lists.