Dave Scadden's Outlaw Minnow

I have been tying flies professionally since the age of 13. Many years I have filled orders in the thousands. I have always loved fly tying but my love has always been focused on the creativity, not the numbers and definitely not the money...fly tying is a labor of love. Over the years I have seen hundreds if not thousands of "hot new patterns" come and go. There are those particular patterns though that have endured the test of time and are as effective and popular as the day they were created. Being a big fly = big fish guy, there are three patterns that have always produced big fish for me. The Zonker, Woolly Bugger and the Clouser Minnow.

A number of years ago, I was impressed with the idea to combine my three favorite big fish flies into one fly. With my usual trial and error approach to life, the Outlaw Minnow was born. I have managed to keep the lid on this pattern for quite a few years but as I fish with more and more people, the "secret weapon" has been discovered and it is with some great reservation that I confirm the details of my number one go-to pattern.

The Outlaw Minnow is tied with the inverted dumbbell eyes of a Clouser Minnow to offer a weedless presentation and give head weight for a dying minnow effect in the water. The body is tied like a Woolly Bugger with either chenille or crystal chenille in a figure eight pattern around the eyes to give mass to displace water when stripped through the water. Matching marabou is tied into the tail to give action. A rabbit strip is then tied in Zonker style which extends from behind the eyes to beyond the bend of the hook. For certain bass applications I will extend the tail as long as eight inches and tie in a live rubber collar in back of the lead eyes.

This pattern has proven hugely effective and I have taken multiple species of fish from around the world on it in its varied colors and sizes. Its official name is the Scadden Outlaw Minnow. It also goes by the names of "Scadden's Jailbird" and "Dave's Desperado". It has also been called a number of names not suitable for print upon various occasions.


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