Stingsild bucktail streamer
Although the recent tendency for tying and designing sea trout flies has gone more towards imitation patterns, some of which are extremely realistic, I am constantly drawn back to some more traditional styles of tying, that never stop producing fish. This is one of them! This extremely simple pattern is so effective on autumn sea trout that for the past few years at least a couple of dozen have to be tied for my box. During the summer months the Mickey Finn, another classic buck-tail streamer, is an outstanding pattern on bright sunny days, but falls short when fished in the autumn. I wanted a pattern that would fish as well in the dark grey autumn months, this was the result.
Stingsild Buck-tail streamer
Hook Mustad S71SS salt water streamer # 4-6 http://mustad.no/catalog/na/product.php?id=193
Thread Dyneema
Body Holographic tinsel
Throat White buck-tail https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/hair-fur/select-bucktails
Underwing Four strands of gold Gliss n Glow https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/flash/gliss-n-glow
Wing Light brown buck-tail with darker brown buck-tail over https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/hair-fur/select-bucktails
Topping Five or six strands of peacock herl
Eyes Edson brass eyes http://www.whitetailflytieing.com/
Head Black http://www.veniard.com/section154/cellire-head-cement-and-thinners
1
Insert your salt water streamer hook in the vice with the hook shaft horizontal.
2
Run your tying thread along the hook shank until you come to a place between the hook point and barb.
3
At the tail of the hook tie in a length of holographic flat tinsel. Unlike salmon and exhibition flies this tinsel body should be uneven, I want to achieve the most reflective multi faceted surface as possible. So the foundation of thread doesn’t have to be flat!
4
This is also a fishing fly so strengthen the tinsel body by coating the thread foundation with varnish before you start wrapping the tinsel.
5
Wrap the tinsel over the whole length of the body and wipe off any excess varnish that may flow on to the tinsel. tie off.
6
Turn your fly up side down and tie in a small bunch of prepared white buck-tail. This should extend about one half of the hook length beyond the hook bend.
7
Trim off the excess buck-tail and tie down the butts with a few turns of tying thread.
8
Tie in four short lengths of gold Gliss n Glow on top of the hook shank.
9
Now clean and stack a small bunch of light brown or tan buck-tail and tie in on top of the Gliss n Glow.
10
Repeat stage 9 but with a darker brown buck-tail That extends a little longer than the light brown.
11
Cut five or six lengths of peacock herl from just under the eye on a peacock tail feather. Tie these in in one bunch for the topping, again a little longer than the buck-tail wing.
12
Take two Edson brass eyes, you can substitute these with jungle cock but the effect is not the same.
13
Trim down the brass eyes with wire cutters as shown.
14
Secure the eyes one each side of the head with a few turns of tying thread. Before you continue to tie in the eyes apply a drop of varnish to hold everything in place.
15
Wrap the head with tying thread and whip finish. Coat the head with black varnish. Now wet your fingers and soak the entire wing and pull it back to give it shape.
16
Once the wing is wet and shaped let it dry, it only takes a few minutes.
17
Once dry the wing will hold its shape.
18
A batch of Stingsild soon ready for the salt!
Tying Long Flies
Blue Devil Custom
This is one of the many patterns from the legendary Rangeley fly tyer Carrie G Stevens. Most of her patterns where tied on 6 X long – 10 X long shank hooks although she did use some that where even 12 X long, these super long shank hooks is what gives these flies their unique profile and silhouette. In 1924 Carrie G Stevens caught a 6lb 13oz brook trout on a prototype streamer she had made herself. She entered her catch into the fishing competition in the well known American magazine “Field and Stream” shortly after her prototype streamer and the trophy brook trout it caught would be her spring board to international acclaim as the originator of this new style of streamer.
Hook: Mustad L87NP-BR #2 or Partridge CS15 #4
Tying thread: Dyneema
Tag: Flat silver tinsel
Body: Red silk floss
Rib: Flat silver tinsel
Throat: White buck tail with red/orange hackle or hackle fibres
Wing: Eight – ten strands of peacock herl, two red/orange hackles, two blue hackles.
Shoulder: Brown grey partridge hackle
Cheeks: Jungle Cock
1.
Secure your 10XL streamer hook in the vice with the hook shank horizontal.
2.
Attach your tying thread to the hook shank just above the point.
3.
Tie in a short length of flat silver tinsel and make 6 or 7 turns to form the tag.
4.
Tie in another longer length of flat silver tinsel at the end of the tag and run your tying thread neatly along the hook shank towards the hook eye. Now tie in a length of red floss silk just behind the eye.
5.
Wrap the floss silk in neat flat turns back towards the tag try and make these wraps as neat and flat as possible. Once at the tag reverse the floss and begin wrapping it back towards the hook eye, and tie off.
6.
Now take your flat silver tinsel for the rib and wind forward in even open turns, trying to make each turn the same distance and angle as the last. Tie off.
7.
Cut clean and stack a bunch of white buck tail for the throat. This should be about one hook gape longer than the hook. Tie in as shown.
8.
Select 8-10 straight strands of nice peacock herl, avoid strung herl, these are often bent or broken. Choose full bodied herl with nice points and good iredescent colour. Tie these in lying on top of the hook shank. Don’t worry if these flare a little you can position these later with the wing.
9.
Construct the wing by selecting all four components for both sides of the wing. Measure and strip off the un-needed fibres at the base so they are all the correct size.
10.
Typically these wings are constructed by glueing each component on top of each other. The glue or cement used should be thick enough so as not to bleed into the fibres of the feathers. The glue used here is a regular bottle of Veniard Cellire varnish that I have left the top off for a few days. This will make the varnish evaporate down to about 50% and result in a thick sticky cement that won’t bleed. Run a small amount of cement along the base of the hackle for the inner wing. Make sure that you only apply it to the area to be covered by the shoulder hackle.
11.
Now place the second wing component on top of the glued area of the first hackle.
12.
Make sure that the shoulder partridge hackles have a similar pattern.
13.
Cement the shoulder hackle onto the wing as shown.
14.
Followed by the Jungle cock cheeks.
15.
When both wings are constructed they should look balanced as with these, leave to dry for a few minutes.
16.
Prepare your throat hackle and tie in. Many use only fibres here but I find a traditional hackle better as the top half of the wound hackle makes a good buffer for holding the wing evenly positioned.
17.
Wind on the throat hackle and tie off.
18.
With wet fingers separate the hackle in two a little more on the throat part and position.
19.
Place a small piece of foam over the hackle as shown and hold this in place with a english hackle plier for a couple of minutes. This will form the hackle into the correct position and shape.
20.
Now you can trim the hackle stems on the wing sections. This should be done at a angle so you get a taper on the head of the fly.
21.
Position each wing section and tie in with as few wraps of tying thread as possible.
22.
If you are using Dyneema thread colour it black with a waterproof felt pen and finish the head with a whip finish.
23.
Give the head a few coats of glossy varnish.
Edson Tiger
The modifide Edson Tiger with the Brass Eyes.
I have had some questions about the Edson brass eyes and where they can be obtained. All the info is in this article alone with contact and purchase details.
One of the great classic American streamers, developed by the well know fly tier Bill Edson in 1929. The Edson Tiger dark & light where influenced by a streamer called “Dick´s Killer” that Edson received from fellow fly tier Dick Eastman of New Hampshire in 1928. The original patterns tied and sold by Edson where with jungle cock cheeks, but later he replaced the jungle cock with small teardrop brass plates which was apparently done, not only because of the increasing price of the already expensive jungle cock but also difficulty in obtaining a regular supply of it. But soon after the introduction of the metal cheeks they became so popular with his customers that they replaced the jungle cock on all his streamer patterns. But truth be told, the metal cheeks added a whole new dimension to how the patterns fished. With extra flash and weight in his streamers, there where few other patterns at this time that offered this. Although this pattern is almost a century old it still accounts for many a trout and has proven an excellent late season pattern for salt water sea trout fishing here in Scandinavia. A couple of years ago while tying at the Dutch fly fair, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Helm, who had for sale, the Edson Brass eyes.
Chris Helm doing his thing at the Dutch fly fair
If you contact Chris and purchase these eyes to add that extra dimension to you Tigers they do need a little work doing to them before they are ready to tie in. Using a pair of sharp wire cutters, these are not difficult to cut, they are made from brass after all, but sharp cutters make for a neater finish. You need to trim the side of the eye that is square into a point. Once this is done I use emery paper to sand the edges of the point to a fine taper, otherwise you will get a distinct mark under the tying thread where the the eye is secured.
Hook: Standard streamer # 6
Tag: Flat gold tinsel
Tail: Barred wood duck
Body: Peacock herl
Wing: Yellow buck tail
Topping: Red hackle fibers
Cheeks: Jungle cock or Edson Brass Eyes
Head: Yellow varnish
Secure your streamer hook in the vice. Attach your tying thread and run this along the hook shank. Tie in a length of flat gold tinsel for the tag, this should be just three or four turns.
Once you have tied off your tag and removed the surplus you can tie in three or four long strands of peacock herl at the base of the tag.
Select a wood duck flank feather with good barring and cut out a slip, line up all the bars if uneven and fold in half. This will give barring on each side of the tail. Tie off.
Run the tying thread back to the tail and twist together the peacock herl and tying thread to strengthen it and wind on to form the body. Tie off the peacock herl.
Select and clean a small bunch of yellow buck tailf or the wing. Stack the hair in a hair stacker. This should be no longer than the tail end.
The topping is a small bunch of red hackle fibers tied in on top of the wing as shown. It should be approximately one-third of the total wing length.
Now tie in the jungle cock cheeks, one each side. Make sure that both jungle cock eye´s are equal in size and well balanced. Whip finish.
All that is left to be done now to finish your EdsonnTiger is varnish the head yellow.
The Eyes are available along with a good
Stingsild bucktail streamer
In the autumn in Northern Europe after the long hot summer when the coastal waters begin to cool down again, its at this time of year you dont want to be without a stickleback imitation!
Although the recent tendency for tying and designing sea trout flies has gone more towards imitation patterns, some of which are extremely realistic, I am constantly drawn back to some more traditional styles of tying, that never stop producing fish. This is one of them! This extremely simple pattern is so effective on autumn sea trout that for the past few years at least a couple of dozen have to be tied for my box. During the summer months the Mickey Finn, another classic buck-tail streamer, is an outstanding pattern on bright sunny days, but falls short when fished in the autumn. I wanted a pattern that would fish as well in the dark grey autumn months, this was the result.
Stingsild Buck-tail streamer
Hook Mustad S71SS salt water streamer # 4-6 http://mustad.no/catalog/na/product.php?id=193
Thread Dyneema http://www.funkyflytying.co.uk/shop/products/veevus-gsp-thread-dyneema-/1266/
Body Holographic tinsel
Throat White buck-tail https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/hair-fur/select-bucktails
Underwing Four strands of gold Gliss n Glow https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/flash/gliss-n-glow
Wing Light brown buck-tail with darker brown buck-tail over https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/hair-fur/select-bucktails
Topping Five or six strands of peacock herl
Eyes Edson brass eyes http://www.whitetailflytieing.com/
Head Black http://www.veniard.com/section154/cellire-head-cement-and-thinners
1
Insert your salt water streamer hook in the vice with the hook shaft horizontal.
2
Run your tying thread along the hook shank until you come to a place between the hook point and barb.
3
At the tail of the hook tie in a length of holographic flat tinsel. Unlike salmon and exhibition flies this tinsel body should be uneven, I want to achieve the most reflective multi faceted surface as possible. So the foundation of thread doesn’t have to be flat!
4
This is also a fishing fly so strengthen the tinsel body by coating the thread foundation with varnish before you start wrapping the tinsel.
5
Wrap the tinsel over the whole length of the body and wipe off any excess varnish that may flow on to the tinsel. tie off.
6
Turn your fly up side down and tie in a small bunch of prepared white buck-tail. This should extend about one half of the hook length beyond the hook bend.
7
Trim off the excess buck-tail and tie down the butts with a few turns of tying thread.
8
Tie in four short lengths of gold Gliss n Glow on top of the hook shank.
9
Now clean and stack a small bunch of light brown or tan buck-tail and tie in on top of the Gliss n Glow.
10
Repeat stage 9 but with a darker brown buck-tail That extends a little longer than the light brown.
11
Cut five or six lengths of peacock herl from just under the eye on a peacock tail feather. Tie these in in one bunch for the topping, again a little longer than the buck-tail wing.
12
Take two Edson brass eyes, you can substitute these with jungle cock but the effect is not the same.
13
Trim down the brass eyes with wire cutters as shown.
14
Secure the eyes one each side of the head with a few turns of tying thread. Before you continue to tie in the eyes apply a drop of varnish to hold everything in place.
15
Wrap the head with tying thread and whip finish. Coat the head with black varnish. Now wet your fingers and soak the entire wing and pull it back to give it shape.
16
Once the wing is wet and shaped let it dry, it only takes a few minutes.
17
Once dry the wing will hold its shape.
18
A batch of Stingsild soon ready for the salt!
Cottus Gobio
Hook: Mustad R 74 # 2
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Siberian squirrel tail hair
Body : Squirrel tron dark hares ear dubbing
Rib: Fine copper wire
Wing: Pine squirrel zonker strip
Collar: Natural red fox body hair spun in dubbing loop
Gill covers: 2 Ring neck pheasant “church window” feathers coated with Bug Bond
Head: Natural kangaroo body hair spun in dubbing loop and clipped to shape
Eyes : Epoxy eyes
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognized the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet a realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc, the combination possibilities are endless. Another advantage with the zonker, unlike buck tail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by attaching the eyes with super glue and coating them with Bug Bond or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead, and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
1
Secure your Mustad R 74 # 2 hook horizontal in the vice.
- 3
Cut a good bunch of Siberian squirrel tail with clear markings. Stack the hair and tie in for the tail. The tail should be approximately the same length as the hook shank. If you would like to add weight to your fly, this is the time to do it.
4
Now tie in a length of medium copper wire, at the tail base for the rib.
5
Dubb your tying thread with dark hares ear Antron dubbing and start making the body of the minnow.
6
Once you have wound the dubbing forward in a tapered body, about one cm from the hook eye, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush. This will give more body and movement to the finished streamer.
7
Cut a zonker strip from a pine squirrel hide. Make sure that the strip is tapered to a point at the tail of the strip.
8
Again try and choose a squirrel strip that has nice markings and a good taper.
9
Place the zonker strip up on top of the body of the fly so that it´s the same length as the tail. Now wind on the copper wire rib.
10
Take care not to trap the fibers of the squirrel as you go. There should be no more that six turns of copper wire between the tail base and the end of the body.
11
Once you have reached the end of the body tie off the copper wire and the zonker strip. Remove the excess and tie down.
12
Now place a strip of natural red fox body hair still on the hide in a paper clip or the Marc Petitjean magic tool as used here.
13
Make a dubbing loop an spin the fox hair into a dubbing brush.
14
Wind on the fox dubbing brush making sure that you comb the hair back and up with each turn, this will form the over wing of the streamer. If you have some fox hair that has accumulated on the underside of the throat trim this away, this same depth as the body.
15
Now select two ring neck pheasant church window feathers, the same size. Coat these with Bug Bond.
16
Now tie these in, concave out, as shown. One each side to form the fins. These also give a wobbler effect on the streamer when fished.
17
Make another dubbing loop. Here I have used natural kangaroo body hair. If you dont have kangaroo you can use another coarse natural hair.
18
Now wind on the dubbing brush forward tight into the rear of the hook eye. Again taking care not to trap and tie down the hair as you go.
19
Whip finish. Before you begin to trim and form your streamer head, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush to open the hair and give more volume. Trim the head to shape.
20
Select two epoxy fly eyes, these should be a little larger than the natural for the size of the streamer. This will give a slightly more efficient attractor factor.
21
The finished streamer.
Edson Tiger
The modifide Edson Tiger with the Brass Eyes.
One of the great classic American streamers, developed by the well know fly tier Bill Edson in 1929. The Edson Tiger dark & light where influenced by a streamer called “Dick´s Killer” that Edson received from fellow fly tier Dick Eastman of New Hampshire in 1928. The original patterns tied and sold by Edson where with jungle cock cheeks, but later he replaced the jungle cock with small teardrop brass plates which was apparently done, not only because of the increasing price of the already expensive jungle cock but also difficulty in obtaining a regular supply of it. But soon after the introduction of the metal cheeks they became so popular with his customers that they replaced the jungle cock on all his streamer patterns. But truth be told, the metal cheeks added a whole new dimension to how the patterns fished. With extra flash and weight in his streamers, there where few other patterns at this time that offered this. Although this pattern is almost a century old it still accounts for many a trout and has proven an excellent late season pattern for salt water sea trout fishing here in Scandinavia. A couple of years ago while tying at the Dutch fly fair, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Helm, who had for sale, the Edson Brass eyes.
Chris Helm doing his thing at the Dutch fly fair
If you contact Chris and purchase these eyes to add that extra dimension to you Tigers they do need a little work doing to them before they are ready to tie in. Using a pair of sharp wire cutters, these are not difficult to cut, they are made from brass after all, but sharp cutters make for a neater finish. You need to trim the side of the eye that is square into a point. Once this is done I use emery paper to sand the edges of the point to a fine taper, otherwise you will get a distinct mark under the tying thread where the the eye is secured.
Hook: Standard streamer # 6
Tag: Flat gold tinsel
Tail: Barred wood duck
Body: Peacock herl
Wing: Yellow buck tail
Topping: Red hackle fibers
Cheeks: Jungle cock or Edson Brass Eyes
Head: Yellow varnish
Secure your streamer hook in the vice. Attach your tying thread and run this along the hook shank. Tie in a length of flat gold tinsel for the tag, this should be just three or four turns.
Once you have tied off your tag and removed the surplus you can tie in three or four long strands of peacock herl at the base of the tag.
Select a wood duck flank feather with good barring and cut out a slip, line up all the bars if uneven and fold in half. This will give barring on each side of the tail. Tie off.
Run the tying thread back to the tail and twist together the peacock herl and tying thread to strengthen it and wind on to form the body. Tie off the peacock herl.
Select and clean a small bunch of yellow buck tailf or the wing. Stack the hair in a hair stacker. This should be no longer than the tail end.
The topping is a small bunch of red hackle fibers tied in on top of the wing as shown. It should be approximately one-third of the total wing length.
Now tie in the jungle cock cheeks, one each side. Make sure that both jungle cock eye´s are equal in size and well balanced. Whip finish.
All that is left to be done now to finish your EdsonnTiger is varnish the head yellow.
The Eyes are available along with a good
E-Z Sand Eel
A great pattern for salt water sea trout and Sea Bass.
I am currently working with salt water patterns for Northern Europe so I will be publishing a good selection of modern patterns for sea trout and bass in the coming week.
Hook Mustad S70SNP-DT Big Game Light # 4-6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=191
Thread Dyneema
Body E-Z body tube http://www.e-zbody.com/
Tail 15 strands of Flashabou
Eyes Fleye Foils http://www.theflypeople.com/
Head Bug Bond http://www.veniard.com/section188/
The original pattern this is based on is form the vice of my late, old friend Jack Gartside. This is not only an extremely effective pattern but also requires the minimum materials and once you have mastered the technique is very quick to tie.
Like the most effective coast wobblers that represent Tobis this pattern is a darter, and has next to no movement in the materials, but like a fleeing sand eel it “darts” in a short fast “zig zag” movement. Another “problem” for many fly fishermen is that the hook on this pattern is mounted at the head of the fly, leaving a good length of body for the sea trout, sea bass to bite at without being hooked. This can be the case with smaller fish but larger fish tend to take this pattern contant. Also a interesting little experiment that I have undertaken a few times is, if you are cleaning a fish that you see has been feeding on sand eels just have a look at which way the head of the sand eel is facing in the stomach of the fish, nearly always, has the sand eel been swallowed head first! The attach point for pradatory fish is the eyes and these new Fleye foils from Bob Popovics make very realistic sand eel and bait fish patterns.
Sand eels shoal in very large numbers, but are seldom seen during the day in the shallows as they lie buried in the sand, away from predators. They first appear during the evening, when they come out to feed through the night. But despite there nocturnal habits sand eel patterns can be fished around the clock the whole year.
You can also try other colour combinations, but keep in mind the general rule of the lightest colour on the stomach and the darkest colour on the back.
Secure your salt water hook in the vice. I like to use a Mustad C70SNP Big game light for this patter beacause of its wide gape and short shank.
Take a length of medium E-Z Body tubing about 6-7-cm long. Measure the the tubing along the hook shank, so that you know where to insert the hook eye into the tube.
Make a opening in the tube where you are going to thread it onto the hook shank.
Thread the tube onto your hook as shown.
Slide the tube back and attach your tying thread behind the hook eye.
Thread a long loop of mono through the E-Z body tube towards the tail.
Thread the bunch of Flashabou through the mono loop and pull this through the tube and out at the hook eye.
Tie down the Flashabou just behind the hook eye.
Tie in the end of the tube and make a neat tight head.
Select your chosen Fleye Foil product. I have used small 25 mm. sand eel foils.
Remove the Fleye Foils from there card and stick them in place, one each side of the eel head and tie down using the small attachment on the foils.
Once you have whip finished and removed your tying thread, turn your fly in the vice so you can tie down the tail at the base of the E-Z body tube. Once secure give it a small drop of Bug Bond just to hold it in place. Remove tying thread and reset hook the correct way in the vice.
The sand eel should now look like this. You can trim the Flashabou tail down to your required size and shape.
You can now colour your sand eel if wished with water proof felt markers.
Carefully coat the foils and head of the eel with Bug Bond and cure with the UV light as you go.
If you want a more three dimentional effect make small colour ajustments with felt pens after every coat of Bug Bond. This builds up layers and gives more depth.
If you ‘open’ the tail of Flashabou and place a tiny drop of Bug Bond at the base and cure! the tail will remain flaired and open.
One of the great things about E-Z body tube is that it remains flexible.
Fleye Foils. Orders and info at: http://www.theflypeople.com/
Bug Bond. Orders and info at: http://www.veniard.com/section188/
E-Z Body Orders and info at: http://www.e-zbody.com/
Fly tying course # 21 The virtual Minnow
This is a great method of making perfect strong minnow bodies, that make a good baitfish attractor in both reflected and back light situations.
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognised the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. This melt glue body technique gives the zonker a new life. If viewed by a fish in reflected light the shine and flashing of the maylar mixed with the animation of the pulsating fur strip, makes it a first class bait fish attractor pattern. But when viewed by a fish in a back-lit situation ( in silhouette ) this pattern really comes to life, with the light penetrating through the transparent melt glue / maylar body and fur guard hairs.
Hook: Mustad S74S SS Salt water R74 freshwater # 6
Under body: Melt glue
Over Body: Mylar tubeing
Thread: Dyneema
Wing/tail: Fur zonker strip
Eyes: Prizma tape eyes.
The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc. Along with the vast array of tubing materials available the combination possibilities are endless.
I was first shown this melt glue body technique in 1993 by the innovative Danish fly tyer Dennis Jensen who developed it for salt water sea trout fishing in Denmark. He used a home made mould constructed from plastic padding. He would insert the hook in the mould and then inject melt glue into it and wait a few seconds for it to dry before removing it. The result was a perfect and identical minnow body every time. Dennis also made very clever subtle body colour changes to his flies by wrapping the hook shank first with tying thread in fluorescent orange, green or blue. Orange when he was imitating sticklebacks, green for other small fish and eels and blue when fishing in deep water.
This technique shown here requires no mould. It does take a little practice to master and a few minutes longer, but still produces the same effect.
Another advantage with the zonker, unlike bucktail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes and Mylar tubing are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by coating the eyes and Mylar body with varnish or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
Plug inn your melt glue gun as it takes a few minutes to reach temperature.
Meanwhile secure your hook in the vice, making sure that the hook shaft is in a relatively horizontal position.
When your melt glue gun is warm, run a small amount of clear melt glue along the top of the hook shank as shown. You may find that when you try to remove the melt glue gun you get a long strand of glue that stretches from the hook to the gun. This can be avioded or resolved by wrapping the strand quickly around the hook shank behind the eye of the hook. This pattern as described sinks slowly but well when fished, but if you would require a faster sinking pattern you can attach one or two lead strips along the hook shank before you apply the melt glue body.
When the glue is dry ( use 10 second melt glue) carefully apply a little more to form the under body and belly of the minnow. If your glue is too runny you can shape the body with a wet finger and thumb. This also quickens the drying process.
Continue forming your body to the required shape and size.
If you are not satisfied with your minnow body shape, warm up the glue with a lighter (taking care not too burn it) and re model again with wet finger and thumb. When the glue has dried you can even shape it first with by trimming the glue body with scissors and then take off the sharp cut edges by warming it again with the lighter.
Attach your tying thread right behind the melt glue body at the base of the tail.
Cut a 5-6 cm length of the Mylar tubing and remove the string core. Mylar tubing comes in a variety of materials, sizes, diameters, weaves and colours. Not all Mylar tubing works for this particular pattern, so its advisable to experiment a little before hand. The originator Dennis Jensen used a clear mother of pearl Mylar wich gives a wonderful transparent effect to the body. This can also be achieved to a degree by eliminating the Mylar tube all together and just using the raw melt glue as the finished body (see illustration 17). Now thread the sleeve over the melt glue minnow body.
Tie this in, fraying 1cm if wished, to give a little more flash at the tail base.
Select a strip of zonker fur (I have used red fox for this pattern) and prepare the tail end by cutting it to a even point. Taking care not to cut or damage the fur.
Part the fur with the help of a dubbing needle and moist fingers at the desired position and then tie it in over the foundation wrappings used to secure the Mylar sleeve as shown. I use a simple materials clip to hold the fur strip in place. Finish off with 2 or 3 half hitches and remove the tying thread. Apply a drop of cement to the tail whippings, taking care not to get any on the fur strip.
Place the zonker strip back over the tail of the fly, and secure in a material clip if needed, this will keep the fibres out of your way and make the next step easier. To attach your tying thread, make a couple of loose turns around the maylar sleeve so as to catch it just in the right position for the head. Now before you tighten these pull the access maylar through the tying thread so as to tighten the sleeve around the body, and then pull up on your bobbin holder so as to tighten the tying thread and secure the Mylar tube in place.
Once you have trimmed off the access maylar use your lighter again to burn off the rest. This is the advantage of using Nylon tying thread, it has a much higher burning point than plastic, so this should remain intact.
Pull the zonker strip over the body and while holding it tight separate the fur at the required position and tie in, but only with a couple of tight turns, tight in too the melt glue body.
Carefully trim off the zonker strip and burn the head once again with the lighter. If done correctly you will see the remaining head of tanned hide, shrink and disappear under the tying thread,( giving a small neat finished head) whip finish.
If you have used Dyneema thread you can now colour the head red with a waterproof flet pen.
Glue on your chosen colour and size of Prisma tape eye and then varnish both tail and head whippings.
The colour combinations for this pattern are endless…
Fly tying course # 12 The Matuka streamer
This is one of my own patterns for sea trout fishing, The Matuka Tobis. All types of hackle can be used for the wings, so experiment.
The Matuka style streamer originated from New Zealand and unlike traditional feather wing streamers where the wing is allowed to flow freely, the wing on the Matuka is attached to the body with the rib. The dimensions of this pattern can be played with and adjusted to your own taste. You can use larger hackles and make the tail longer or use hen hackles and make the pattern higher in the wing, you can combine hackles to create a different colour effect, for example, tie in two large blue hackles as the center of the wing and then two smaller green hackles one each side. The body doesn’t have to be tinsel, but can be made from chenille or any kind of dubbing. So use your imagination and create some tasty Matuka’s.
1
Secure your streamer hook in the vice with the hook shank horizontal.
2
Run your tying thread all the way back to the hook bend.
3
Tie in a good length of fine copper wire. It handy to keep this length long so its easier to handle.
4
If you are tying a tinsel body, its important to keep the under body of tying thread nice and smooth. This can be done by rubbing a small piece of closed cell foam up and down the hook shank to smooth out the tying thread.
5
Cut a good length of flat tinsel with the cut end at an angle as shown.
6
Tie this in on the underside of the hook shank where the throat hackle will be placed later. If you are using two sided tinsel as here, the side you dont want as the body (silver) should be tied in facing you as shown.
7
The tinsel is now ready to wrap.
8
Wrap the tinsel in tight even turns all the way back to the hook bend, make sure that you cover all the underbody and no tying thread is left showing. Now wrap the tinsel back towards the hook eye and tie off as neatly as possible.
9
Select two hackles of your choice. These should be the same size.
10
Place the hackles back to back and measure the wing against the hook shank to the correct length.
11
Strip off the two matching sides as shown of the hackles to the correct length. This should be done as precisely as possible.
12
Check they are correct and adjust them if necessary.
13
Before you tie them in you can flatten the hackle stems with a pair of flat nose tweezers just in front of the hackle fibers. This will help stop them slipping on the hook shank and remain in the correct position.
14
Tie the hackles in at the front of the hook.
15
Now, using a dubbing needle from the rear you can open the fibers of the wing in the correct place for each wrap of ribbing. Make the turns of rib evenly spaced and tight.
16
Once the whole body is ribbed tie off the tinsel.
17
Trim off the excess hackle stem ond tinsel. Prepare a hen hackle as shown for the throat.
18
Tie in the hackle at the base of the wing and wind your tying thread forward behind the hook eye.
19
Wrap your hen hackle taking care to brush back the fibers with each turn. Tie off.
20
For this next little trick you will need a small piece of card, I use a backing card that once had braid on it. Fold the card in two and cut a hole in the center, large enough to go over the hook eye.
21
Whip finish.
Wet your fingers with a little saliva and stroke the hen hackle back from the sides into the required position.
22 Once your happy with the position of the hackle, place the card as shown over the hook eye and clamp into position. Let this stay like this for a couple of minutes.
23
Once you remove the card the hackle will be nicely positioned and remain that way.
24
Varnish the head.
Clouser deep Minnow (Variant)
Clouser Deep Minnow (variant)
Bob Clouser is a well known fly tyer from Middletown USA. He designed the Clouser minnow with the goal of making a pattern that would represent a fleeing bait fish, with a jig motion. The key to achieving this is locating the eyes in the right position on the hook shank. When you retrieve the fly it rises and when you pause if falls or dives. It never stops moving. I am calling this a Variant because I dont believe it to be 100% the original Clouser deep minnow, but I may be wrong! Anyway its a great sea trout and bass pattern that should be tied and tried.
Hook: Mustad S71SNP-DT # 6 http://mustad.no/catalog/na/product.php?id=193
Thread Dyneema
Eyes Bidoz sea eyes (original has red with black centre) http://bidoz.com/shop/en/eyes/57-sea-eyes.htm l
Belly White buck tail
Flash Spirit River Crystal Splash
Back Brown buck tail
1
Secure your hook in the vice with the hook shank horizontal.
2
Run tying thread about 1/3 along the length of the hook shank.
3
The eyes I use are bidoz sea eyes, they have a small rebate that fits nicely around the hook shank.
4
Tie in the eyes about 1/3 along the hook shank and secure with a figure of eight wrap and a drop of super glue to stop them twisting.
5
Cut , clean and stack a length of white buck tail. The belly and wing should be approximately two to two and a half times the length of the hook.
6
Once your buck tail is ready tie it on as follows. Trim the ends straight and place the buck tail diagonally at the side of the hook shank between the hook eye and eyes. Make two loose turns around the buck tail and then tighten.
7
Tie down the butts as shown.
8
Lift the buck tail and wind the tying thread back behind the eyes.
9
Now wrap the tying thread over the buck tail back about level with the hook point and then forward again. Making sure that the buck tail remains on top of the hook shank.
10
Rotate your vice so the Clouser is up side down. Wind your thread forward taking care not to cross over the buck tail on top of the eyes.
11
Take about 8 strands of Crystal Splash or flash and tie in so that the longest side extends just a little further than the buck tail belly.
12
Take the remaining crystal splash and fold it back, this should be shorter and extend only a little further than the hook bend.
13
Tie down the crystal splash.
14
Prepare another bunch of buck tail slightly more than the first and measure it up to the belly.
15
Once you have tied in your buck tail back using the same method as the belly, rotate your vice the correct way again just to see that the fly is balanced.
16
Spin the vice round again and tie in three strands of peacock herl as the topping and whip finish.
17
Stick some red and black prisma tape eyes in the small eye holes.
18
Place a small drop of Bug Bond on top of the tape eyes and cure with the UV light.
19
Coat the eyes once more with Bug Bond and the head, cure with the UV light.
20
The finished Clouser deep minnow variant. You should try this pattern in the some other great combination colours, Blue & white, Olive & white and Chartreuse and white.
Cottus Gobio
Hook: Mustad R 74 # 2
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Siberian squirrel tail hair
Body : Squirrel tron dark hares ear dubbing
Rib: Fine copper wire
Wing: Pine squirrel zonker strip
Collar: Natural red fox body hair spun in dubbing loop
Gill covers: 2 Ring neck pheasant “church window” feathers coated with Bug Bond
Head: Natural kangaroo body hair spun in dubbing loop and clipped to shape
Eyes : Epoxy eyes
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognized the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet a realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc, the combination possibilities are endless. Another advantage with the zonker, unlike buck tail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by attaching the eyes with super glue and coating them with Bug Bond or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead, and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
1
Secure your Mustad R 74 # 2 hook horizontal in the vice.
- 3
Cut a good bunch of Siberian squirrel tail with clear markings. Stack the hair and tie in for the tail. The tail should be approximately the same length as the hook shank. If you would like to add weight to your fly, this is the time to do it.
4
Now tie in a length of medium copper wire, at the tail base for the rib.
5
Dubb your tying thread with dark hares ear Antron dubbing and start making the body of the minnow.
6
Once you have wound the dubbing forward in a tapered body, about one cm from the hook eye, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush. This will give more body and movement to the finished streamer.
7
Cut a zonker strip from a pine squirrel hide. Make sure that the strip is tapered to a point at the tail of the strip.
8
Again try and choose a squirrel strip that has nice markings and a good taper.
9
Place the zonker strip up on top of the body of the fly so that it´s the same length as the tail. Now wind on the copper wire rib.
10
Take care not to trap the fibers of the squirrel as you go. There should be no more that six turns of copper wire between the tail base and the end of the body.
11
Once you have reached the end of the body tie off the copper wire and the zonker strip. Remove the excess and tie down.
12
Now place a strip of natural red fox body hair still on the hide in a paper clip or the Marc Petitjean magic tool as used here.
13
Make a dubbing loop an spin the fox hair into a dubbing brush.
14
Wind on the fox dubbing brush making sure that you comb the hair back and up with each turn, this will form the over wing of the streamer. If you have some fox hair that has accumulated on the underside of the throat trim this away, this same depth as the body.
15
Now select two ring neck pheasant church window feathers, the same size. Coat these with Bug Bond.
16
Now tie these in, concave out, as shown. One each side to form the fins. These also give a wobbler effect on the streamer when fished.
17
Make another dubbing loop. Here I have used natural kangaroo body hair. If you dont have kangaroo you can use another coarse natural hair.
18
Now wind on the dubbing brush forward tight into the rear of the hook eye. Again taking care not to trap and tie down the hair as you go.
19
Whip finish. Before you begin to trim and form your streamer head, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush to open the hair and give more volume. Trim the head to shape.
20
Select two epoxy fly eyes, these should be a little larger than the natural for the size of the streamer. This will give a slightly more efficient attractor factor.
21
The finished streamer.
Stingsild bucktail streamer
In Northern Europe the sea trout are now returning to the cooling coastal waters after a long hot summer, and at this time of year you dont want to be without a stickleback imitation!
Although the recent tendency for tying and designing sea trout flies has gone more towards imitation patterns, some of which are extremely realistic, I am constantly drawn back to some more traditional styles of tying, that never stop producing fish. This is one of them! This extremely simple pattern is so effective on autumn sea trout that for the past few years at least a couple of dozen have to be tied for my box. During the summer months the Mickey Finn, another classic buck-tail streamer, is an outstanding pattern on bright sunny days, but falls short when fished in the autumn. I wanted a pattern that would fish as well in the dark grey autumn months, this was the result.
Stingsild Buck-tail streamer
Hook Mustad S71SS salt water streamer # 4-6 http://mustad.no/catalog/na/product.php?id=193
Thread Dyneema
Body Holographic tinsel
Throat White buck-tail https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/hair-fur/select-bucktails
Underwing Four strands of gold Gliss n Glow https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/flash/gliss-n-glow
Wing Light brown buck-tail with darker brown buck-tail over https://www.spiritriver.com/materials/hair-fur/select-bucktails
Topping Five or six strands of peacock herl
Eyes Edson brass eyes http://www.whitetailflytieing.com/
Head Black http://www.veniard.com/section154/cellire-head-cement-and-thinners
1
Insert your salt water streamer hook in the vice with the hook shaft horizontal.
2
Run your tying thread along the hook shank until you come to a place between the hook point and barb.
3
At the tail of the hook tie in a length of holographic flat tinsel. Unlike salmon and exhibition flies this tinsel body should be uneven, I want to achieve the most reflective multi faceted surface as possible. So the foundation of thread doesn’t have to be flat!
4
This is also a fishing fly so strengthen the tinsel body by coating the thread foundation with varnish before you start wrapping the tinsel.
5
Wrap the tinsel over the whole length of the body and wipe off any excess varnish that may flow on to the tinsel. tie off.
6
Turn your fly up side down and tie in a small bunch of prepared white buck-tail. This should extend about one half of the hook length beyond the hook bend.
7
Trim off the excess buck-tail and tie down the butts with a few turns of tying thread.
8
Tie in four short lengths of gold Gliss n Glow on top of the hook shank.
9
Now clean and stack a small bunch of light brown or tan buck-tail and tie in on top of the Gliss n Glow.
10
Repeat stage 9 but with a darker brown buck-tail That extends a little longer than the light brown.
11
Cut five or six lengths of peacock herl from just under the eye on a peacock tail feather. Tie these in in one bunch for the topping, again a little longer than the buck-tail wing.
12
Take two Edson brass eyes, you can substitute these with jungle cock but the effect is not the same.
13
Trim down the brass eyes with wire cutters as shown.
14
Secure the eyes one each side of the head with a few turns of tying thread. Before you continue to tie in the eyes apply a drop of varnish to hold everything in place.
15
Wrap the head with tying thread and whip finish. Coat the head with black varnish. Now wet your fingers and soak the entire wing and pull it back to give it shape.
16
Once the wing is wet and shaped let it dry, it only takes a few minutes.
17
Once dry the wing will hold its shape.
18
A batch of Stingsild soon ready for the salt!
Edson Tiger
The modifide Edson Tiger with the Brass Eyes.
One of the great classic American streamers, developed by the well know fly tier Bill Edson in 1929. The Edson Tiger dark & light where influenced by a streamer called “Dick´s Killer” that Edson received from fellow fly tier Dick Eastman of New Hampshire in 1928. The original patterns tied and sold by Edson where with jungle cock cheeks, but later he replaced the jungle cock with small teardrop brass plates which was apparently done, not only because of the increasing price of the already expensive jungle cock but also difficulty in obtaining a regular supply of it. But soon after the introduction of the metal cheeks they became so popular with his customers that they replaced the jungle cock on all his streamer patterns. But truth be told, the metal cheeks added a whole new dimension to how the patterns fished. With extra flash and weight in his streamers, there where few other patterns at this time that offered this. Although this pattern is almost a century old it still accounts for many a trout and has proven an excellent late season pattern for salt water sea trout fishing here in Scandinavia. A couple of years ago while tying at the Dutch fly fair, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Helm, who had for sale, the Edson Brass eyes.
Chris Helm doing his thing at the Dutch fly fair
If you contact Chris and purchase these eyes to add that extra dimension to you Tigers they do need a little work doing to them before they are ready to tie in. Using a pair of sharp wire cutters, these are not difficult to cut, they are made from brass after all, but sharp cutters make for a neater finish. You need to trim the side of the eye that is square into a point. Once this is done I use emery paper to sand the edges of the point to a fine taper, otherwise you will get a distinct mark under the tying thread where the the eye is secured.
Hook: Standard streamer # 6
Tag: Flat gold tinsel
Tail: Barred wood duck
Body: Peacock herl
Wing: Yellow buck tail
Topping: Red hackle fibers
Cheeks: Jungle cock or Edson Brass Eyes
Head: Yellow varnish
Secure your streamer hook in the vice. Attach your tying thread and run this along the hook shank. Tie in a length of flat gold tinsel for the tag, this should be just three or four turns.
Once you have tied off your tag and removed the surplus you can tie in three or four long strands of peacock herl at the base of the tag.
Select a wood duck flank feather with good barring and cut out a slip, line up all the bars if uneven and fold in half. This will give barring on each side of the tail. Tie off.
Run the tying thread back to the tail and twist together the peacock herl and tying thread to strengthen it and wind on to form the body. Tie off the peacock herl.
Select and clean a small bunch of yellow buck tailf or the wing. Stack the hair in a hair stacker. This should be no longer than the tail end.
The topping is a small bunch of red hackle fibers tied in on top of the wing as shown. It should be approximately one-third of the total wing length.
Now tie in the jungle cock cheeks, one each side. Make sure that both jungle cock eye´s are equal in size and well balanced. Whip finish.
All that is left to be done now to finish your EdsonnTiger is varnish the head yellow.
The Eyes are available along with a good
Fly tying course # 12 The Matuka streamer
This is one of my own patterns for sea trout fishing, The Matuka Tobis. All types of hackle can be used for the wings, so experiment.
The Matuka style streamer originated from New Zealand and unlike traditional feather wing streamers where the wing is allowed to flow freely, the wing on the Matuka is attached to the body with the rib. The dimensions of this pattern can be played with and adjusted to your own taste. You can use larger hackles and make the tail longer or use hen hackles and make the pattern higher in the wing, you can combine hackles to create a different colour effect, for example, tie in two large blue hackles as the center of the wing and then two smaller green hackles one each side. The body doesn’t have to be tinsel, but can be made from chenille or any kind of dubbing. So use your imagination and create some tasty Matuka’s.
1
Secure your streamer hook in the vice with the hook shank horizontal.
2
Run your tying thread all the way back to the hook bend.
3
Tie in a good length of fine copper wire. It handy to keep this length long so its easier to handle.
4
If you are tying a tinsel body, its important to keep the under body of tying thread nice and smooth. This can be done by rubbing a small piece of closed cell foam up and down the hook shank to smooth out the tying thread.
5
Cut a good length of flat tinsel with the cut end at an angle as shown.
6
Tie this in on the underside of the hook shank where the throat hackle will be placed later. If you are using two sided tinsel as here, the side you dont want as the body (silver) should be tied in facing you as shown.
7
The tinsel is now ready to wrap.
8
Wrap the tinsel in tight even turns all the way back to the hook bend, make sure that you cover all the underbody and no tying thread is left showing. Now wrap the tinsel back towards the hook eye and tie off as neatly as possible.
9
Select two hackles of your choice. These should be the same size.
10
Place the hackles back to back and measure the wing against the hook shank to the correct length.
11
Strip off the two matching sides as shown of the hackles to the correct length. This should be done as precisely as possible.
12
Check they are correct and adjust them if necessary.
13
Before you tie them in you can flatten the hackle stems with a pair of flat nose tweezers just in front of the hackle fibers. This will help stop them slipping on the hook shank and remain in the correct position.
14
Tie the hackles in at the front of the hook.
15
Now, using a dubbing needle from the rear you can open the fibers of the wing in the correct place for each wrap of ribbing. Make the turns of rib evenly spaced and tight.
16
Once the whole body is ribbed tie off the tinsel.
17
Trim off the excess hackle stem ond tinsel. Prepare a hen hackle as shown for the throat.
18
Tie in the hackle at the base of the wing and wind your tying thread forward behind the hook eye.
19
Wrap your hen hackle taking care to brush back the fibers with each turn. Tie off.
20
For this next little trick you will need a small piece of card, I use a backing card that once had braid on it. Fold the card in two and cut a hole in the center, large enough to go over the hook eye.
21
Whip finish.
Wet your fingers with a little saliva and stroke the hen hackle back from the sides into the required position.
22 Once your happy with the position of the hackle, place the card as shown over the hook eye and clamp into position. Let this stay like this for a couple of minutes.
23
Once you remove the card the hackle will be nicely positioned and remain that way.
24
Varnish the head.
E-Z Sand Eel
A great pattern for salt water sea trout and Sea Bass.
Hook Mustad S70SNP-DT Big Game Light # 4-6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=191
Thread Dyneema
Body E-Z body tube http://www.e-zbody.com/
Tail 15 strands of Flashabou
Eyes Fleye Foils http://www.theflypeople.com/
Head Bug Bondhttp://www.veniard.com/section188/
The original pattern this is based on is form the vice of my late, old friend Jack Gartside. This is not only an extremely effective pattern but also requires the minimum materials and once you have mastered the technique is very quick to tie.
Like the most effective coast wobblers that represent Tobis this pattern is a darter, and has next to no movement in the materials, but like a fleeing sand eel it “darts” in a short fast “zig zag” movement. Another “problem” for many fly fishermen is that the hook on this pattern is mounted at the head of the fly, leaving a good length of body for the sea trout, sea bass to bite at without being hooked. This can be the case with smaller fish but larger fish tend to take this pattern contant. Also a interesting little experiment that I have undertaken a few times is, if you are cleaning a fish that you see has been feeding on sand eels just have a look at which way the head of the sand eel is facing in the stomach of the fish, nearly always, has the sand eel been swallowed head first! The attach point for pradatory fish is the eyes and these new Fleye foils from Bob Popovics make very realistic sand eel and bait fish patterns.
Sand eels shoal in very large numbers, but are seldom seen during the day in the shallows as they lie buried in the sand, away from predators. They first appear during the evening, when they come out to feed through the night. But despite there nocturnal habits sand eel patterns can be fished around the clock the whole year.
You can also try other colour combinations, but keep in mind the general rule of the lightest colour on the stomach and the darkest colour on the back.
Secure your salt water hook in the vice. I like to use a Mustad C70SNP Big game light for this patter beacause of its wide gape and short shank.
Take a length of medium E-Z Body tubing about 6-7-cm long. Measure the the tubing along the hook shank, so that you know where to insert the hook eye into the tube.
Make a opening in the tube where you are going to thread it onto the hook shank.
Thread the tube onto your hook as shown.
Slide the tube back and attach your tying thread behind the hook eye.
Thread a long loop of mono through the E-Z body tube towards the tail.
Thread the bunch of Flashabou through the mono loop and pull this through the tube and out at the hook eye.
Tie down the Flashabou just behind the hook eye.
Tie in the end of the tube and make a neat tight head.
Select your chosen Fleye Foil product. I have used small 25 mm. sand eel foils.
Remove the Fleye Foils from there card and stick them in place, one each side of the eel head and tie down using the small attachment on the foils.
Once you have whip finished and removed your tying thread, turn your fly in the vice so you can tie down the tail at the base of the E-Z body tube. Once secure give it a small drop of Bug Bond just to hold it in place. Remove tying thread and reset hook the correct way in the vice.
The sand eel should now look like this. You can trim the Flashabou tail down to your required size and shape.
You can now colour your sand eel if wished with water proof felt markers.
Carefully coat the foils and head of the eel with Bug Bond and cure with the UV light as you go.
If you want a more three dimentional effect make small colour ajustments with felt pens after every coat of Bug Bond. This builds up layers and gives more depth.
If you ‘open’ the tail of Flashabou and place a tiny drop of Bug Bond at the base and cure! the tail will remain flaired and open.
One of the great things about E-Z body tube is that it remains flexible.
Fleye Foils. Orders and info at: http://www.theflypeople.com/
Bug Bond. Orders and info at: http://www.veniard.com/section188/
E-Z Body Orders and info at: http://www.e-zbody.com/
The Virtual Minnow: A zonker with a twist…
This is a great method of making perfect strong minnow bodies, that make a good baitfish attractor in both reflected and back light situations.
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognised the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. This melt glue body technique gives the zonker a new life. If viewed by a fish in reflected light the shine and flashing of the maylar mixed with the animation of the pulsating fur strip, makes it a first class bait fish attractor pattern. But when viewed by a fish in a back-lit situation ( in silhouette ) this pattern really comes to life, with the light penetrating through the transparent melt glue / maylar body and fur guard hairs.
Hook: Mustad S74S SS Salt water R74 freshwater # 6
Under body: Melt glue
Over Body: Mylar tubeing
Thread: Dyneema
Wing/tail: Fur zonker strip
Eyes: Prizma tape eyes.
The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc. Along with the vast array of tubing materials available the combination possibilities are endless.
I was first shown this melt glue body technique in 1993 by the innovative Danish fly tyer Dennis Jensen who developed it for salt water sea trout fishing in Denmark. He used a home made mould constructed from plastic padding. He would insert the hook in the mould and then inject melt glue into it and wait a few seconds for it to dry before removing it. The result was a perfect and identical minnow body every time. Dennis also made very clever subtle body colour changes to his flies by wrapping the hook shank first with tying thread in fluorescent orange, green or blue. Orange when he was imitating sticklebacks, green for other small fish and eels and blue when fishing in deep water.
This technique shown here requires no mould. It does take a little practice to master and a few minutes longer, but still produces the same effect.
Another advantage with the zonker, unlike bucktail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes and Mylar tubing are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by coating the eyes and Mylar body with varnish or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
Plug inn your melt glue gun as it takes a few minutes to reach temperature.
Meanwhile secure your hook in the vice, making sure that the hook shaft is in a relatively horizontal position.
When your melt glue gun is warm, run a small amount of clear melt glue along the top of the hook shank as shown. You may find that when you try to remove the melt glue gun you get a long strand of glue that stretches from the hook to the gun. This can be avioded or resolved by wrapping the strand quickly around the hook shank behind the eye of the hook. This pattern as described sinks slowly but well when fished, but if you would require a faster sinking pattern you can attach one or two lead strips along the hook shank before you apply the melt glue body.
When the glue is dry ( use 10 second melt glue) carefully apply a little more to form the under body and belly of the minnow. If your glue is too runny you can shape the body with a wet finger and thumb. This also quickens the drying process.
Continue forming your body to the required shape and size.
If you are not satisfied with your minnow body shape, warm up the glue with a lighter (taking care not too burn it) and re model again with wet finger and thumb. When the glue has dried you can even shape it first with by trimming the glue body with scissors and then take off the sharp cut edges by warming it again with the lighter.
Attach your tying thread right behind the melt glue body at the base of the tail.
Cut a 5-6 cm length of the Mylar tubing and remove the string core. Mylar tubing comes in a variety of materials, sizes, diameters, weaves and colours. Not all Mylar tubing works for this particular pattern, so its advisable to experiment a little before hand. The originator Dennis Jensen used a clear mother of pearl Mylar wich gives a wonderful transparent effect to the body. This can also be achieved to a degree by eliminating the Mylar tube all together and just using the raw melt glue as the finished body (see illustration 17). Now thread the sleeve over the melt glue minnow body.
Tie this in, fraying 1cm if wished, to give a little more flash at the tail base.
Select a strip of zonker fur (I have used red fox for this pattern) and prepare the tail end by cutting it to a even point. Taking care not to cut or damage the fur.
Part the fur with the help of a dubbing needle and moist fingers at the desired position and then tie it in over the foundation wrappings used to secure the Mylar sleeve as shown. I use a simple materials clip to hold the fur strip in place. Finish off with 2 or 3 half hitches and remove the tying thread. Apply a drop of cement to the tail whippings, taking care not to get any on the fur strip.
Place the zonker strip back over the tail of the fly, and secure in a material clip if needed, this will keep the fibres out of your way and make the next step easier. To attach your tying thread, make a couple of loose turns around the maylar sleeve so as to catch it just in the right position for the head. Now before you tighten these pull the access maylar through the tying thread so as to tighten the sleeve around the body, and then pull up on your bobbin holder so as to tighten the tying thread and secure the Mylar tube in place.
Once you have trimmed off the access maylar use your lighter again to burn off the rest. This is the advantage of using Nylon tying thread, it has a much higher burning point than plastic, so this should remain intact.
Pull the zonker strip over the body and while holding it tight separate the fur at the required position and tie in, but only with a couple of tight turns, tight in too the melt glue body.
Carefully trim off the zonker strip and burn the head once again with the lighter. If done correctly you will see the remaining head of tanned hide, shrink and disappear under the tying thread,( giving a small neat finished head) whip finish.
If you have used Dyneema thread you can now colour the head red with a waterproof flet pen.
Glue on your chosen colour and size of Prisma tape eye and then varnish both tail and head whippings.
The colour combinations for this pattern are endless…
FisHeadz Mackerel
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 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog
Tying thread: Dyneema http://www.virtual-nymph.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1&Itemid=26
Wing: Ultra hair and buck tail
Sides: Blue grizzle hackle
Head: Deer Creek Blue jay sand eel headz http://www.deercreek.co.uk/FISHEADZ-tm.html coated with Bug Bond http://www.veniard.com/section188/
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.
Sea trout Flat wing
Firstly may I wish you all a happy new year!
The seasonal festivities family birthdays and goodbye ceremonies are now over and I have more time to get back to what is most important. Thats right, fishing and fly tying! So please accept my apologies for being vacant the last couple of weeks, but now I am back in the saddle with the first sea trout fly of the year. Please enjoy and much more will come soon.
Yours,
The Feather Bender.
This sea trout flat wing variant is a sure winner and an attractor of larger fish.
The original flat wing pattern was developed by the late Bill Peabody a well known fly tyer and fisherman from Rhode Island in the US. The original pattern was developed for stripped bass but was also found to be just as successful on many other salt water species. Recently a number of flat wing patterns have been developed for salt water sea trout and sea bass fishing in Northern Europe and have proved to be extremely effective.
One of the great things about tying these modern flat wing patterns is that the design lends itself extremely well to individual interpretation in size, colour and material use. But remember that the key word for tying flat wings is sparse, if you over dress these flies you defeat the whole point with them. Try and use materials that are light but create volume, but always consider the movement of the material in the water when fished and don´t forget its reflective and flash qualities. Some fly tiers also make use of a tandem hook on larger patterns, attached by mean´s of a wire or mono extension with the tail hook, up side down. But I find that this in most cases completely changes the action of the fly.
Hook Mustad S71SNP-ZS # 8-2 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/product.php?id=193
Tying thread Dyneema
Tail Two flat wing saddle hackles and Flashabou
Body Mother of pearl Body Braid coated with Bug Bond
Under wing White buck tail and five strands of Crystal flash
Over wing Yellow Olive and blue buck tail mixed
Topping Five strands of fine peacock herl
Throat White buck tail
Cheeks Jungle cock
1. Secure your salt water hook in the vice and attach your tying thread at the rear.
2. Tie in two medium long saddle hackles flat on top of the hook shank as shown along with a few strands of flashabou or similar.
3. Cut a length of MOP Bills body braid at the base of the flat wing tail.
4. Wrap the body braid over the whole hook shank taking care to leave enough space for the wing and head.
5. tie in a bunch of white buck tail and a few strands of crystal hair for the wing.
6. Mix a small bunch of buck tail in your chosen colours and even in a hair stacker.
7. Tie in this bunch on top of the white under wing.
8. Tie in another smaller bunch of white buck tail for the throat of the fly.
9. Top off the wing with four or five strands of peacock herl.
11. Using a dubbing needle or similar make the peacock herl curve in the right way.
12. Select two jungle cock eyes and tie in one each side of the wing base.
13. Whip finish. Colour the head of the fly with a waterproof felt pen and varnish.
Once the flat wing has become wet you will understand how the wing and tail fall naturally into place to form a fantastic mobile bait fish imitation.
Cottus Gobio
Hook: Mustad R 74 # 2
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Siberian squirrel tail hair
Body : Squirrel tron dark hares ear dubbing
Rib: Fine copper wire
Wing: Pine squirrel zonker strip
Collar: Natural red fox body hair spun in dubbing loop
Gill covers: 2 Ring neck pheasant “church window” feathers coated with Bug Bond
Head: Natural kangaroo body hair spun in dubbing loop and clipped to shape
Eyes : Epoxy eyes
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognized the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet a realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc, the combination possibilities are endless. Another advantage with the zonker, unlike buck tail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by attaching the eyes with super glue and coating them with Bug Bond or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead, and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
1
Secure your Mustad R 74 # 2 hook horizontal in the vice.
- 3
Cut a good bunch of Siberian squirrel tail with clear markings. Stack the hair and tie in for the tail. The tail should be approximately the same length as the hook shank. If you would like to add weight to your fly, this is the time to do it.
4
Now tie in a length of medium copper wire, at the tail base for the rib.
5
Dubb your tying thread with dark hares ear Antron dubbing and start making the body of the minnow.
6
Once you have wound the dubbing forward in a tapered body, about one cm from the hook eye, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush. This will give more body and movement to the finished streamer.
7
Cut a zonker strip from a pine squirrel hide. Make sure that the strip is tapered to a point at the tail of the strip.
8
Again try and choose a squirrel strip that has nice markings and a good taper.
9
Place the zonker strip up on top of the body of the fly so that it´s the same length as the tail. Now wind on the copper wire rib.
10
Take care not to trap the fibers of the squirrel as you go. There should be no more that six turns of copper wire between the tail base and the end of the body.
11
Once you have reached the end of the body tie off the copper wire and the zonker strip. Remove the excess and tie down.
12
Now place a strip of natural red fox body hair still on the hide in a paper clip or the Marc Petitjean magic tool as used here.
13
Make a dubbing loop an spin the fox hair into a dubbing brush.
14
Wind on the fox dubbing brush making sure that you comb the hair back and up with each turn, this will form the over wing of the streamer. If you have some fox hair that has accumulated on the underside of the throat trim this away, this same depth as the body.
15
Now select two ring neck pheasant church window feathers, the same size. Coat these with Bug Bond.
16
Now tie these in, concave out, as shown. One each side to form the fins. These also give a wobbler effect on the streamer when fished.
17
Make another dubbing loop. Here I have used natural kangaroo body hair. If you dont have kangaroo you can use another coarse natural hair.
18
Now wind on the dubbing brush forward tight into the rear of the hook eye. Again taking care not to trap and tie down the hair as you go.
19
Whip finish. Before you begin to trim and form your streamer head, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush to open the hair and give more volume. Trim the head to shape.
20
Select two epoxy fly eyes, these should be a little larger than the natural for the size of the streamer. This will give a slightly more efficient attractor factor.
21
The finished streamer.
Make a fast Buck.
Buck-tail’s are not only great patterns to tie and fish but are making a huge comeback.
Here are a few of the most recent I have tied, I will follow-up this post soon with an in depth article about tying these beautiful flies and the use of Buck-tail.
Fly Tying with a gun.
A melt glue pistol can be purchased for the price of a pint!
Tying with melt glue does require a little more practice and patience than most regular materials. But the results can be rewarding!
Virtual Minnow. realistic bait fish patterns are quick and easy to achieve with melt glue.
Melt glue is a material that one has to get used to using. Once its mastered, it can be put to use not only in developing new patterns but also as a substitute in existing ones. Melt glue guns come in various sizes from hobby to industrial, I find the hobby size not only the cheapest but also the easiest to employ. Another advantage with the hobby gun is the amount of different glue that is available.
Glue sticks are available in many colours and types,
Although I do use coloured glue, in most patterns I use the transparent or “regular” glue that can also be coloured with waterproof felt markers. The regular glue is also much easier to handle and shape than the coloured. In most cases, It has a lower melting temperature and a shorter drying time than the glues with added colour and glitter.
Molding bait fish bodies takes a little practice but the results are perfect every time.
Ant bodies take only a few seconds!
After tying with melt glue for over a decade and a half, nowadays Iuse my gun most to apply the glue, for patterns where a large amount of glue is required. Otherwise I melt the glue direct from the “glue stick” with a lighter, or I first cut the required amount of glue from the stick with scissors, hold one end of the glue fragment with needle nose tweezers and warm the other end with the lighter and apply it to the hook. I then continue to melt and form the glue with the lighter on the hook. The clear glue can also be coloured by applying a foundation of coloured tying thread over the hook shank before you apply the glue.
Transparent caddis pupa with olive melt glue.
Grayling Heroe trout egg is a combo of melt glue and Bug Bond.
The fly for Autumn Pike…
Pike Steamer, a sure attractor for autumn pike
“Steaming is term given to a style of mugging where an unsuspecting victim is chosen, followed and attacked suddenly at great speed without warning”.
The art of camouflage, surprise and speed are the pikes most powerful weapons for securing a meal. Of course some meals are obtained easier than others, but generally speaking the freshwater crocodile wont say no to a free meal. Like the muggers victims the pikes are chosen for much the same reasons, easy pickings! weak and old, or both, unable to move fast or get away, once attacked and of course the bounty.
The idea behind this pattern is to work on all the pikes predatory instincts, and make the victim (the fly) as attractive and irresistible as possible. I do this through fly design and presentation. When designing predatory patterns there are several things to consider and a few key elements that all patterns should have. If you want a general pattern that you could use just about anywhere for anything, then you should choose to imitate a natural food that is widely available – like small bait fish. Then you have to consider the four most important attractor factors:
Movement… colour… eyes… and sound.
The movement in this pattern is achieved through a combination of materials. Both the marabou and Icelandic sheep hair are extremely mobile in water, but their effect is enhanced by the weight of the Epoxy head. Predators find this swimming action, irresistible.
The eyes, which are always an attack point, are oversized for additional predator impact.
If you keep all these factors in mind when designing predatory patterns you won’t go wrong.
During a three week fly fishing tip to the Amazon, home of more fresh water predatory fish than anywhere else on the planet, I developed a technique using surface splashing to stimulate feeding and awareness of my streamer, which works just as well for our own pike. Maybe you’d like to add this technique to your own armoury of tactics.
It requires though a specific leader set-up to work at it’s best, especially when fishing large flies. And it’s simplicity in itself – take around 1.5m of 30lb mono, and connect the fly to the mono with a Rapala knot. This will give a better swimming action on the stiff mono. (By the way, I have never encountered a leader shy pike, and seldom use a wire trace.)
This short, stiff leader will not only give bigger flies better turn-over when casting, but also better control and precision in presentation, and (touch wood), I have never had a break-off. The following technique is only possible with such a leader.
Firstly, find a likely spot on the water, where there’s maybe a pike lying in wait, or resting after a hunt. Before casting, make sure that your streamer is well-soaked and all air removed. This will not only make it sink quicker but also make it more aerodynamic and so easier to cast. Then with a short, hard and direct cast, shoot your streamer into the water as hard as you can – then repeat this three or four times in the same area of water. Splash that fly and heavy leader as loud as you like, it will surely attract the immediate attention of any pike within spitting distance.
Make one last cast and this time let your streamer sink… and then retrieve as normal. If there’s a pike in the vicinity it will come to the fly, the rest, as they say, is up to you…
Hook: Mustad S71SNP-ZS # 3/0-5/0
Thread: Dyneema
Wing: Icelandic sheep hair
Flash: Holographic tinsel
Over wing: Light Brite
Collar: Spun rabbit
Cheeks: 2 Grizzle hackles
Wing topping: Five strands of long natural peacock herl
Hackle: Spun Marabou Yellow
Eyes: Large mobile eyes coated with resin
1
Place hook in vice as shown and attach tying thread at the rear of the hook shank.
Tie in a long length of fine tapered Icelandic sheep hair or synthetic sub. If you choose a synthetic substitute make sure that its not so stiff it doesn’t pulsate in the water, and that its not so soft it lacks body.
2
Now taking the wing material in your left hand, back comb the sheep hair. This means run the comb the opposite way you would normally, like girls did the the early eighties to get more body for bigger hair. This will accumulate the shorter hair fibers at the base of the tail and create the illusion of more body volume, with out adding extra weight to the pattern.
3
Tie-in on top of the wing approximately 10 long strands of holographic tinsel, or another chosen flash material of your choice. Place a few drops of glue or varnish on the whippings to make the fly stronger and more durable.
4
On top of the wing tie in a bunch of pearl light brite to add a little more volume and attractor flash to the wing and body.
5
Cut a short length of cross-cut rabbit strip and place the rabbit strip in a dubbing loop and spin to make a nice dense dubbing brush.
NB. If spinning a thick-dense rabbit fur, with under wool, you will need an extremely strong tying thread to make the dubbing loop. If you use a standard thread it will most likely break before the loop is spun enough to hold the fur securely. It also helps to use a heavier dubbing spinner rather than a lighter one.
6
Wind in the spun rabbit hair making sure you comb back the fibers with each turn when winding inn to form the collar as shown.
7
Select 2 broad grizzle hackles and colour on both sides of the hackle with a waterproof felt pen.
8
Tie in the grizzle hackles one each side of the collar.
9
For the wing topping tie in 5 long strands of peacock herl. The strongest herl is found just below the peacock eye on the tail feather. If you are having problems getting the herl to curve over the wing correctly, run them one at a time, carefully over the blunt side of a pair of scissors, between your finger and thumb, just like you would with a ribbon when wrapping a gift.
10
Make another dubbing brush as in steps 5 & 6 but this time with long fine tapered marabou.
11
Wind the dubbing brush on to make the front hackle. Finish off with a couple of whip finishes.
12
Glue on 2 large mobile dolls eyes. Make sure that these are evenly balanced on the hook shank. Or if you wish to give your steamer a injured affect, glue on the eyes unevenly or even, two different eyes, one much larger than the other, and the fly will fish off center.
13
Give the eyes and head a coat of Bug Bond or Epoxy resin, making sure that you coat both eyes in a “glass ball” of resin.
14
Once the Bug Bon is applied you give it a quick blast with the UV light to cure. Or if you have used Epoxy place it on a rotary dryer if you have one until set.
15
Your finished and fish ready Pike steamer.
