Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2015 - 36

Eggs
Over
Easy:

Teaching Children to Tie Egg Patterns
by Christian A. Shane

photos by the author

Scrambled Egg, Half-n-Half, Glo Bug, Estaz Egg, Sucker
Spawn, Jeff Blood's Blood Dot-These may not sound like
appetizing breakfast selections, but steelhead sure prefer
them. The fall and winter spawning season provides a
great opportunity at the fly tying vise to discuss the life
cycle of trout and steelhead as well as these egg patterns
with your beginning tier.
By now, water currents and predators have dislodged
eggs from their redds. Trout and steelhead key in on the egg
drift, possibly more than the aquatic life readily available
to them. These eggs change color as they mature with the
eyed-eggs growing each day. The fly tier strives to recreate
these living and viable eggs.
Children are fascinated with the egg stage in a trout's
life cycle. As demonstrated with Trout in the Classroom
(TIC), www.patroutintheclassroom.org, students raise
Brook Trout in tanks. They observe the entire life cycle from
egg, alevin "sac fry," swim-up fry, fry and fingerling. At 50degrees F, these Brook Trout eggs will hatch within just a few
weeks. This interdisciplinary program connects students to
coldwater resources and aquatic life as students care for and
observe Brook Trout throughout the entire school year.
Young fly tiers will appreciate replicating these
natural eggs and fish food sources with just a few simple
tying techniques.

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * January/February 2015

Materials and techniques

If possible, begin the egg tying process by purchasing
some natural colored salmon eggs or using good photos as
examples. One of my favorite childhood fishing memories
is of threading "fireball" eggs onto a hook with hopes of a
trout bite. Whether it's through buying eggs from a tackle
store, observing TIC eggs or searching for egg photos online,
fly tiers will enjoy examining eggs before tying fly patterns.
Point out the slight color differences and tones within, as
these can be recreated at the vise.
Next, set your tier up with a strong thread. Yarns and
dense egg tying materials can sometimes stress the thread
and cause breakage. In addition, your child will break the
thread while wrapping it around the hook shank. This
becomes frustrating for a beginning tier. Instead of wrapping
around the hook shank in a circle, teach them the "oval
method" of thread wrapping. If they wrap around in circles,
they are likely to nick the hook point and weaken the thread.
An oval pattern around the hook shank will alleviate the
problem. Also, review the jam knot for a quick retie onto the
hook shank if or when the thread breaks.
Purchasing premade pom poms offers a start for children
to tie egg patterns. Tiers can thread or glue them easily onto
the hook shank and create his or her own yarn balls out
of Estaz Egg, McFly Foam or Glo Bug yarn. An egg yarn
dispenser, found at the local fly shop, will create cleanly
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http://www.patroutintheclassroom.org

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2015

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