Today we bring you a scaled down version of George Daniel's popular Spark Plug fly pattern. The larger original is a proven fish getter whether you're chasing big trout or battle-ready smallmouth bass. Locally, it's a solid producer of bull trout where they thrive in the cold waters of our North Sound rivers. I originally started playing around with a smaller version to imitate the redside shiners in Ross Lake that serve as a staple for the lake's ravenous rainbows and char. In doing so, I quickly realized that the craft fur tail and large UV polar chenille didn't translate well to a smaller pattern, so I swapped blood quill marabou for the tail and dropped the polar chenille down to medium. On its trial outing one crisp October morning in the North Cascades, the Mini Spark Plug accounted for healthy heaping of strong, acrobatic "Ross Bows" prowling the quiet shorelines of the 23 mile long impoundment.
The fly sat unused in my box through the bulk of winter and then resurfaced one sunny April morning on the lower Skagit River as pods of hungry coastal cutthroat gorged themselves on hapless chum fry migrating downstream. I had been catching few fish on the standard BH Rolled Muddlers, but was also losing a fair number of flies to the tangle of logs and limbs that lined the river bottom and provided exceptional cover for the feeding trout. The handful of Mini Spark Plugs in my box got me thinking that perhaps a jig style fly with an upward riding hook point would navigate the sunken forest a little more successfully. I switched flies, and immediately began catching cutthroat and the fly survived the woody graveyard long enough to end its days thoroughly tattered and shredded from fish teeth. I believe it is the hope and dream of any good fly pattern to spend its final days doing what it does best...catching fish until it can catch no more.
The Mini Spark Plug shines in other minnow-rich stillwaters like Pass Lake in the fall, when forage fish become a staple. Because of the heavy tungsten bead in the head, I most often fish it on a floating line and vary the retrieve according to what the fish seem to want. Sometimes fast and jerky, sometimes slow, crawling the fly along the shoreline in the late season when the water temperatures drop. I've tied the pattern in a few different colors, substituting copper ripple ice fiber for the wing, olive or chartreuse, but the version featured in the video has been the standout and is what I find myself fishing most days.