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- Hook: Mustad 3665A (or other long-shank streamer
hook), #8-2
- Thread: Uni-Thread 6/0, gray
- Tail: silver Flashabou, grizzly hackle fibers
- Underbody: red floss
- Body: silver Gudebrod Super G Body Tubing, copper
BB, 30-min. epoxy
- Throat: red poly yarn
- Wing: "grizzly" rabbit strip
- Eyes: silver 3-D Molded Eyes
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1) Attach the tying thread
behind the eye and cover the shank back to the bend. Tie
in a half dozen or so Flashabou strands, length about equal to
the hook shank. |
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2)
Clip a section of soft, webby fibers from a grizzly saddle
feather, hen or rooster. Align the tips and tie the bundle
in directly on top of the Flashabou so the length is slightly
longer than the hook gap. |
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3) The "underbody" represents the lateral line
and can also serve to inject some color within the body.
Tie the tag end of red floss to the shank just above the hook
point. Wind this forward to about one and a half hook-eye
widths behind the eye, then wind rearward with it to the tie-in
point. It is not necessary to try for a smooth wrap, just
cover the shank. Tie off and clip the excess. |
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4) Cut a section of the body tubing that is
about two hook-eye widths longer than the shank.
Mono-based tubing may tend to unravel, so hold the ends of these
near a flame to melt the mono filaments together (be careful not
to burn it). You'll notice the tubing expands and
contracts as you push or pull on it... this will help us achieve
the baitfish profile. Push a BB into the tubing and slip
this over the hook shank. Position the BB on top of the
shank as shown. |
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5) Secure the tubing at the bend with
several tight turns of the thread, then whip finish the thread
over this area and clip the thread. Push the BB a little
toward the bend just so it's out of the way, pull back the
tubing and reattach the tying thread just in front of the red
floss underbody (it helps to hold the tag end of the tying
thread against the tubing while you're pulling it back, so both
are held in the left hand with right-handed tiers). Let
the tubing expand to the tying thread. Work the thread
slightly into the tubing and take several tight turns to
secure. Excess tubing, if any, can be trimmed with
fingernail clippers. |
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6) Clip a short section of red poly yarn
and taper one end. To do this, make a dozen or so clips
with the scissors at various lengths, hold the yarn in a
straight line with the scissors. Tie this on top of the
tie-down area of the tubing so the bulk of it is about one-third
the body length. Clip the excess and cover exposed ends
(tubing and yarn) with the tying thread. Whip finish the
thread and clip.
Push the BB onto the front third of the shank
by pinching the tubing near the bend and working forward.
Continue to move/shape tubing to the desired profile... I like
narrow and small near the tail tapering to rounded over the BB.
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7) We're now ready for the epoxy.
Five-minute epoxy will work, but will quickly yellow, so I
prefer a longer-setting variety. 30-minute epoxies such as
Devcon 2-Ton work well and let you do up to about a dozen
bodies per batch. Mix the epoxy. Start at the bend
with a good dollop of epoxy and use the stick to stroke it
forward, working it into the tubing. Continue up to the
BB, then start from the front by placing a dollop on top of the
yarn and stroking with the stick rearward to "pull" it into
place. To keep the yarn laying correctly, always stroke
from front to back when epoxying the front third. Be sure
to epoxy over the floss as well. Run the stick down the
length of the body on both sides to remove excess epoxy, being
careful not to push it out of shape. Don't worry about a
bubble or two within the tubing (see the bubble in the photo on
the rear third)... this seems to add to the illusion of organs
with a translucent body. Place the fly on a rotary to set
for an hour or so, then let it cure overnight or for about eight
hours. |
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8) Cut a rabbit strip to about two times
the shank length. Measure against the fly as shown, the
front edge at about the middle of the head area. Use a
pencil to mark the place where the hide will intersect the shank
when it's attached to the "back" of the fly (blue line is "path"
of the hide, the mark is the yellow arrow in photo). Use a
sharp dubbing needle to poke a hole through the hide at this
mark. Remove the fly from the vise and insert the hook
point through the hole, and slide the rabbit strip up the bend. |
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9) Stroke the hair out of the way and
reinsert the hook into the vise. Swing the rabbit strip
around into position and moisten the hairs slightly to keep them
out of the way as shown at left. |
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10) Turn the fly over. Start the
tying thread behind the eye and wind to the back of the head
area. Pull the rabbit strip down and secure with four or
five tight turns of thread. If there is any excess, trim
this away and cover any exposed hide with the thread.
If you want to add cheeks (any wide, webby
feather works for this) or a topping (such as a small clump of
black rabbit fur), go ahead and tie those in now.
Build up a smooth rounded head with the
thread, whip finish, and clip. |
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11) Hold the rabbit strip wing near the
tail and pull so the hide pulls taught against the body.
Even though the eyes are self-adhesive, use a thick cement to
glue these to either side. This helps since the front edge
of the eye is in the read 1/3 of the "nose", and one-third of
the eye is above the hide on the rabbit strip (see photo)...
this usually means there is a gap under the middle of the eye,
so the thick glue fills it in and secures it. Allow some
time for the glue to dry. Mix up a
second batch of epoxy and carefully coat the body. Work
the epoxy between the eyes (on top) and around the thread.
Work it into the gaps around the lower half of the eyes, and
along the rabbit strip. Coat the entire body over the
tubing and even things out by "dragging" the epoxy where it
needs to go... keep it thin and remove excess- we're basically
just smoothing out the body and securing the rabbit strip and
eyes. When it looks even and the epoxy is in all the gaps,
pull the wing taught again and place the fly on the rotary to
set. |
Usually, due to the extra care taken for
the second coat, only about six to eight flies can be done before the
epoxy starts to set up. This is of little consequence... take your
time with the second coat to achieve the best results, even it means you
only get two flies coated. These flies are very durable and will
last a long time, so you need not carry very many and you can invest
some time into individual fly quality.
~ The End ~
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