Back to the tying bench again, this time with a salt water pattern. I must say, Its nice to see that salt water materials being made in smaller sizes, not just for the monster warm water fish across the pond. These FisHeadz from Deer creek in the UK , are perfect in the two smallest sizes for salt water fishing in Europe, for both bass in the south and sea trout here in the North.

I still haven’t had much time to play with these, I’v only tied half a dozen flies with them, but they are that easy to use, that I’v been relatively pleased with all of them, which is unusual ! Anyway if you are tying salt water patterns you have just got to give these a go they give the flies a real edge. But beware, one of the flies I tied wasn’t up to par, and when I came to attach the fisHeadz, it was like putting lipstick on a gorilla!  Without doubt it would still catch fish, but if you want flies tied with fisheadz to look good, the rest of the fly has to be as good as the headz.

This is an extremely quick pattern to tie, the only thing you really have to be careful with is the proportions and quantities of materials.

Hook: Mustad 60004NP-NZ # 12

Tying thread: Dyneema

Wing: Ultra hair and buck tail

Sides: Blue grizzle hackle

Head: Deer Creek Blue jay sand eel headz  coated with Bug Bond

1

Secure your salt water hook in the vice.

2

Take about 10 strands of transparent Ultra hair and tie in, about three times the length of the hook shaft. This stiffer synthetic hair will give the wing of the fly support and structure.

3.

Now cut a small bunch of straight white buck tail, you only need about 15 strands, this will give the wing a little more volume but keep it light and mobil when it swims. Remove all the underfur and shorter hairs from the bunch. I didn’t stack this hair because I wanted the very tail of the pattern to be broken up, and not too uniform. Tie this in on top of the Ultra hair.

4.

Now select two dyed blue grizzle hackles and prepare by stripping off the base of the stems and cutting both down to the correct length. Tie in one each side over the under wing.

5.

Place your Fisheadz one each side in the correct position, they are sticky backed so they will stay there. Once right just make a couple of turns of tying thread to hold them steady.

6.

Whip finish and remove the tying thread. Give the whole head a coat with Bug Bond and cure with the UV light.

7.

For the last stage I have added additional hi-viz tape eyes, just to give the head a little more three dimensional feel, if thats possible?

Heres a sand eel tied with FisHeadz.