Kelly Galloup’s Sex Dungeon (yes, that’s really what it’s called) is one of the most popular articulated streamer patterns out there. For the sake of keeping things somewhat family-friendly, we’re just gonna call it the Dungeon.

At first glance, this fly looks like a complicated mess of feathers, fur, and hooks. But here’s the good news: it’s basically two Wooly Buggers connected together with a deer hair head. And if you can tie a Wooly Bugger, you’re already most of the way there!

In this tutorial, we’ll break down the Dungeon into a few simple steps and show you that this big, nasty streamer is a whole lot easier to tie than it looks.

Dungeon Materials

Dungeon Tying Steps

If you can tie a Wooly Bugger and mess around with some deer hair, you can tie up Galloup’s Dungeon fly pattern. It looks like a complex articulated pattern, but in reality it’s just a couple buggers!

Back Hook: Add Tail

We’ll start off with a marabou tail. Since this is a larger pattern, I like to go with 2 feathers here. Nearly every baitfish out there is light on the bottom and darker on top, so we’ll match that coloration here.

For this example, I went with brown over yellow to mimic some muddier looking baitfish. Olive over white, chartreuse over white, or a single color- anything you like will look great. Just make sure if you’re using a two-toned coloration, the lighter color goes on bottom.

Back Hook: Add Hackle + Chenille

We’ll continue our back hook with some hackle and chenille. Tie in that hackle first and set it aside, then add your chenille along the shank of the hook.

Wrap that hackle feather evenly along the shank. For this back hook, be sure to use shorter fibers than what you plan to use on the front hook. This will help with the natural taper we want to create.

In this example, I use a saddle hackle and dubbing for the body.

This is basically a Wooly Bugger! One that’s finished up, set it aside.

Front Hook: Add Dumbbell Eyes

Now it’s time to start our front hook. This should be one size larger than the back hook.

First up, let’s tie in some dumbbell eyes. Set those with a little space behind the hook eye and give it a bunch of X-wraps and helicopter wraps so it is secure. A drop of glue goes a long way for durability here as well.

Front Hook: Add Attachment Wire + Beads + Back Hook

Tie in some articulation wire (or thick mono) and slide in a couple of beads. Then take the Wooly Bugger we tied earlier and slide it through. Thread the wire back through the beads and tie it down securely back onto the hook shank.

We’ve now created our articulation and are set up to finish the Dungeon!

Front Hook: Add Tail

Now we’re basically gonna tie up another bugger up until those dumbbell eyes.

So first, take another pair of marabou tails and tie those in. For the lighter bottom colored feather, I like to flip the vise so the material is easier to work with.

Front Hook: Add Hackle + Chenille

Continuing the Dungeon, we need our hackle and chenille- essentially the same as the back hook. You can use the similar materials- just make sure those hackle fibers are longer than the back hook so our Dungeon has a natural taper to it.

Or, you can use long flashy fibers like Polar Chenille. In this example, I went with the Polar Chenille since I think it looks good and matches the fly well. Plus, it’s a little bit faster to tie.

Add Deer Hair Collar

Now the deer hair comes in! For this Dungeon, we want to match the colorway of our tail and body. We’ve got 2 different colors here, so we’ll match that with our deer hair.

Start with either the top color or bottom color and lay that deer hair down so it measures a little longer than half the hook. Tie the deer hair in so it stays on the side you like, grabbing hold of it so it doesn’t spin around the hook.

Do this with both the top and the bottom colors and advance your thread forward.

Add More Deer Hair

Continue adding deer hair to the top and bottom. Do your best to keep the lighter color on the bottom and the top color on the top. I’ve found that really pinching this stuff down as you tie it in with really strong wraps goes a long way.

And it’s totally fine if your Dungeon has a few strands that find their way to the wrong side. You can spend some time trimming these out, but we don’t need to be deer hair experts here. Just do your best to keep everything on the appropriate side.

Shape Head

Now we have a whole mess of deer hair that we gotta shape. We’re looking for a rounded profile to this Dungeon head. To get there, take your time as you cut!

I like to curve the razor blade and make small cuts. We can always take off more, but we can’t add it back!

I keep trimming until I get the rounded head we’re looking for. This can take some time, but it’s well worth it. This head will give the Dungeon a nice profile and help it swim correctly.

As you’re trimming, look at the fly from a bunch of different angles to make sure you’re cutting it cleanly and evenly.

Once you get the profile you like, put the razor down! You could spend all day getting this exactly “right” and we can drive ourselves nuts with focusing on the minute details. As long as that head is round and looks fishy, we’ve got our Dungeon!