Some variations on an end-of-days classic just in time for Delayed Harvest trout season!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
UNI Products Fly Tiers Corner
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COLD WATER
October 2025
By Steve Hudson
Ahh, fall! The air is cooler, the forests are more lovely, and the rivers (well, some of them) are full of delayed-harvest trout!
Delayed harvest, that hallowed season of catch-and-release fishing which soothes the mind and delights the soul, gets us fly fishers through the long, cold months of winter. And I love it. Those DH fish are enthusiastic and willing – especially if you offer them a nicely tied egg imitation like the Y2K.
The Y2K, one of the best-known egg imitations of all time, took us all by storm when tyer David Knowles introduced it in (you guessed it) 1999, right before the “Y2K Bug” was supposed to destroy civilization as we know it.
Those were memorable times. Prognosticators far and wide detailed endless theories (each more vivid than the last) on just how civilization was going to come to its end when the calendar flipped from 1999 to 2000 and all the world’s computers went wonky and everything came just basically blew up. It would pretty much be the end for us impetuous humans, some said, sometimes saying it with a surprising amount of glee.
Some people just needed to fish more, I suppose.
In any case, those end-of-days scenarios were never very pretty. Most involved blinding explosions and rampaging flames in shades of orange and yellow – just like the colors seen in a typical Y2K fly today. Fly tyers are fond of noting that chromatic coincidence, and it does give one pause to think. But the facts are that orange and yellow are just good colors for an egg imitation, and the dread annihilation never came to be so we can sleep through the night after all.
Fly fishing endured, in other words. The Y2K endured too. And now, as we stand on the precipice of that wonderful time of year that brings us Delayed Harvest trout fishing once again, the Y2K remains a darned good fly to have around.
Y2K Redux. Photo by Steve Hudson.
In addition to that orange and yellow yarn, the typical Y2K has a gold or silver beadhead too. Yes, I know eggs don’t have heads, and it’s certainly possible to tie the fly without one. But a bead adds weight, helping this relatively water-resistant pattern to sink. It adds a little visual flash, too, and trout – especially recently stocked delayed-harvest trout – respond well to the sparkle.
Are there things a tyer might do to enhance this already great pattern? Some do come to mind, and I’d like to share them here.
The most obvious thing is to vary the colors of the yarn. I’ve played with various color schemes a good bit over the years, and some that have done well for me are orange/cream, yellow/cream, and red/white. Solid, single-color versions work well too – especially an off-white version.
Another simple variation is to play with the color of the bead. Gold or silver beads are ubiquitous on this fly, but there’s no rule that says you can’t try something else. How about a pink bead? Pink-painted brass and tungsten beads are widely available, and one of them may make the fly just different enough to pique the interest of fish who have become wary of Y2Ks boasting more traditional color schemes.
And what about black? A black bead does a dandy job of suggesting an eye spot on an egg imitation. I’ve tried Y2Ks with black beads on and off for years, and they do seem to work. Would a gold- or silver-beaded version have worked too? Only the fish know for sure.
Here’s another beady variation to try. Instead of a metal bead, try a large glass craft bead. Such beads are available in just about every color you can imagine. Visit your local big-box craft store and check out the bead department. Look for beads that will slip over the barb of your hook, or better yet, go barbless and that problem will go away. Also be sure that the hole in the bead is not so large that it allows the bead to slip over the eye and be lost. In any case, and even for a given package of beads, be aware that glass bead manufacturing is an inexact science. You may find that some beads fit the hook while others don’t.
One more bead thought. Last time, we looked at glow-in-the-dark beads for tying various self-illuminating nymphs. You can get glow-in-the-dark beads in Y2K-friendly sizes; try one of them and see what happens.
Speaking of glowing things, why not replace one or both of the standard yarns with some sort of glow-in-the-dark yarn? With just a little searching, you can find such yarn in the craft world, or, with Halloween approaching, you can pick up a pack of glow-in-the-dark spiderweb material and tie your Y2Ks with that. It does work and is definitely fish-approved, particularly when you’re fishing a deep run on a low-light day or near sunset.
And while we’re talking about color: When fishing for delayed=harvest fish, you’ll often find it valuable to present multiple colors on a given fly. Different colors can serve as triggers on different days. One easy way to add yet another color to the Y2K is to add a dubbed collar. I like some shade of electric red right at the back of the bead. It’s easy to add to your flies, and it definitely doesn’t hurt.
I could go on and on about Y2K variations, and I hope I’ve given you some ideas to play with at your vise as delayed-harvest season approaches.
But I want to leave you with one final possibility. Instead of trimming the Y2K body yarn so it’s short, why not leave it long – or really, really long – and turn the fly into a sort of end-of-the-world streamer? That’s actually not so far-fetched as it seems, for the orange-and-yellow color scheme is very close to the incredibly popular “fire tiger” palette so favored by lure enthusiasts. You can even add body barring with a black or olive permanent marker.
So as we move into delayed-harvest season, I hope you’ll play with your Y2Ks and celebrate the continuation of civilization and flyfishing as we know them. Who knows? You just might stumble upon the ultimate Y2K variation.
If you do, send me a couple. I’ll let you know how they do.
