Offut Lake Special-- This is really too simple:

Hook: Mustad 3399A-- you really do need the shank length and bend in these proportions. If this hook is too dull for you, use a Luhr Jensen hook file. Size 8, 10 or 12. The original was on a size 10.

Body: Fluorescent orange yarn. (This is the same color as "hunter orange" not some of the steelhead colors).

Wing: A dozen white hackle fibers extending to the beginning of the bend and canted up.

Head: Black thread (essential)

Instructions: This is a basic fly but it should have the right proportions and correct profile. Start by winding a layer of black thread on the shank. Tie in the yarn well down on the bend of the hook (between 1/3 and 1/4 around the bend). The yarn I use is thin, probably about half as thick as the common knitting yarn.

Wrap the yarn forward, leaving adequate room for a largish head. Wrap the yarn back to the top of the bend. Wrap forward again. If this doesn't provide a thick abdomen, then you might want to wrap back about a third of the shank and then forward over that.

What you're trying for in the body shape is a thickish abdomen with a tapering, curved rear portion.

Tie in the hackle fibers as a short wing and then finish with a largish (about two sizes larger than normal ) head.

That's it. Once you figure out the proportions, it takes about a minute to tie.

The creator, I believe, was a biology professor at Centralia College named Rufus Kizer who also tied commercially and was one of the most knowledgable men I knew.

So you fish this on a floating line, longish leader and let it sink. We fished it mostly around lily pads and reeds and rushes, but it also works cast to rising fish.

Keith