The Bubble Egg is the most effective yarn egg you can tie. I tie it as small as a #12 KoreaSun 7050 for Spawning Whitefish and as large as a #6 Wide Gap 2457 for King Salmon. This #6 105 type Egg Hook is about right for most Great Lake tributary situations. Like its predecessor the Nuke Egg, this tie uses less Glo-Bug Yarn and so is more translucent to show off the inner bright nucleus. The parallel fibers in its outer "skin" reflect light more like the skin on and egg.
Tying this pattern good enough to catch fish isn't hard. Getting it close to perfect will require applying basic principles of fly tying with some precision, getting the right amount of material in the right place, pointing the right direction, tied down with good tension.
- Hook Short shank Egg or Scud type
- Thread 140 denier for most sizes, a blending color like White
- or a fluorescent hot spot color like Fire Orange or Chartreuse
- Body Yarn Part of a Glo-Bug Yarn strand, adjust to the right translucence
- Nucleus Chopped Egg Yarn Dubbing, fibers 3/16 inch, UV colors
Mount the hook high in the vise for good finger access to the back tie down point. We will work from front to back and end with the whip finish at the back tie down point.
Using a 4 inch piece of Glo-Bug Yarn of your main color, split it down to the amount that will make a translucent egg where a little bit of the inside nucleus color will show through. 45% of a strand here. Evenly spread these fibers so they lie between left thumb and finger, about 3/4 inch facing forward.
Slowly wrap the thread over the fibers and playing with thread tension and allowing fibers to slip from the left hand so the fibers are evenly distributed around the hook under one turn of thread. Any way you get to this result is all good. Some people jam these fiber down over the hook so the hook lies in the center, then tighten the thread around them.
Bind the yarn down with about 1/8 inch of tight wraps. Leave the thread hanging near the front to be ready to dub inside color in place. Trim off rear excess very close.
Apply a small amount of dubbing forward where it will support the forward fibers against water pressure pushing back as the egg is drawn through the water.
Use scissor points (no cutting) to split forward yarn. One center horizontal split right at the hook eye. The lower half of the yarn is split strait down through the center so it will pass back past the hanging thread and the hook bend.
Pull the yarn back and stroke the fibers to try to reunite the yarn where it was split.
Use the left hand to slightly push the yarn forward into the round ball shape. Wrap 2 very loose, wide turns around the yarn where it will pull down into a round ball. Play with it till it looks good. Pinch the yarn tightly while slowly drawing the thread tight around the back tie down point. The thread will roll the yarn around the hook and make the fibers spiral back to the back tie down. Resist this by using left thumb and finger, pinch the yarn tightly and twist the yarn a bit the opposite way to keep the fibers straight. Three tight turns, if its not god, loosen and repeat. When its good get those 3 turns very tight and then whip finish.
Whip finish at rear tie down point. Trim tailing yarn close.
