Copper and Green Cheerleader – Peter Humphreys

Text, photo and video: Peter Humphreys – Guideline Power Team USA

The copper and green “Cheerleader” temple dog, named after the flashy pom pom’s and pretty ladies who support the American football teams in the USA.  It has been a great producer for steelhead on the mighty Muskegon river in Michigan, USA.  I‘ve always liked copper in my flies but the combination of green and copper was pioneered by close friend and expert spey guide, Kevin Feenstra.  Euro anglers may see this pattern as having way too much flash, but if you stop and think how many salmon and steelhead are taken on flashy lures and spinners such as the Blair spoon, Mepps and Toby’s, they may reconsider that adding extra flash to a lure style pattern is not a bad idea, especially in high or colored water.

I think simple is best.  I used to tie my temple dogs with a dubbed, hackled and ribbed body, three wings, two hackles.  It took me ages to tie one and to be honest, I’m no Frödin or Norling at the vice, and the end product was a disappointment compared to their works of art.  So I simplified my style of fly and did away with the body all together.  In my mind all the action is in the wing so why bother with a body especially with the larger FITS cone behind the wing to support the shoulders of the wing and create the desired tear drop profile.  The tungsten cone positioned behind the wing allows the use of spare materials which helps the fly sink fast and adds action to the materials.  The flash mixes with the hair fibers and makes it pulsate and swoon as it swims.  The addition of the FITS turbo cone is not essential but definitely adds to the movement.

The “Cheerleader” formula can be used with any color combination and I’ve done extremely well with this style fly for big steelhead in the Skeena rivers of B.C as well as the Dean river.  For the West coast fish I lean towards more traditional steelhead colors like purple, blue, orange and pink hair and match the flash accordingly.  The two wing, one hackle style is quick and easy to tie and adding the desired flash color to enhance the pattern is all simple enough, the novice tier can achieve a great fly.

Peter Humphreys.
Michigan, USA.