Egg Sucking Leech

Rainbow Trout Brown Trout Brook Trout Steelhead Coho Salmon Chinook Salmon Arctic Grayling Leech Attractor Salmon Steelhead Alaska

The Egg Sucking Leech is a widely used streamer and attractor that combines a dark, mobile leech profile with a bright bead or chenille head representing a fish egg. Despite its name, there is little evidence that leeches routinely consume fish eggs, but the contrasting two-part pattern is highly effective for trout, grayling, steelhead, and salmon. It can be dead-drifted beneath an indicator, swung through current, or stripped like a conventional streamer, making it particularly useful in Alaska and other waters where salmonids encounter both leeches and drifting eggs. This compact source variation uses a fluorescent bead, marabou tail, and brushed dubbing body rather than the chenille-and-palmered-hackle construction of larger traditional versions; the main tying considerations are controlling the marabou, building an even taper, and leaving enough space for a clean finish behind the bead.

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Recipe

Hook · 2X-long, 2X-heavy streamer or nymph hook, sizes 6-12
Thread · brown UTC Ultra Thread, 140 denier
Tail · dark-brown marabou blood quill
Rib · silver wire
Body · chocolate-brown SLF Prism Dubbing
Bead · 1/8-inch fluorescent fire-orange bead

Tying Instructions

1

Mash the hook barb so the bead can pass over it.
2

Slide the fluorescent fire-orange bead onto the hook, small hole first, and position it directly behind the hook eye.
3

Secure the hook in the vise and start the brown thread immediately behind the bead.
4

Prepare a full dark-brown marabou blood quill by removing the matted fibers near the base. Moisten the feather to make the fibers easier to control.
5

Measure the marabou to form a tail approximately one hook length long and tie it securely on top of the shank at the start of the bend.
6

Lift the excess marabou butt ends and trim them close behind the bead.
7

Wrap the thread forward over the trimmed marabou butts, pushing them into the rear opening of the bead to help stabilize it.
8

Bind the remaining marabou fibers along the top of the shank back to the start of the bend, then advance the thread to approximately the hook point.
9

Form a slender dubbing noodle approximately three inches long with the chocolate-brown SLF Prism Dubbing.
10

Wrap the dubbing forward in touching turns, beginning at the base of the tail and building a slightly tapered body that ends against the rear of the bead.
11

Complete a four- or five-turn whip finish directly behind the bead and trim the thread.
12

Use a dubbing brush or strip of hook-and-loop material to brush out the body lightly and create a soft, leech-like profile.