Impression Minnow

Tying Instructions:

1) Secure the thread to the shank just behind the eye and wind back to the bend to lay down a foundation. The wraps don't need to be right against each other, but close, and tight.
2) Clip a small bundle of rabbit fur from the hide or from a strip. Hold the bundle by the butt ends and carefully remove about half of the guard hairs... leave the rest. Measure against the hook and tie the bundle on top at the bend so it is about as long as the hook shank. Then spiral the thread tightly forward to lash the excess to the top of the shank. Note: Keep the tail somewhat sparse. In the photo, it looks fuller than it really is. To give you some idea, if you trim the bundle from a commercial Zonker strip the area clipped would be about a square (1/8" x 1/8"), with the sparseness of commercial rabbit strips.
3) Form a loop with the tying thread. If you're not familiar or comfortable with loops, yet, you can keep it small and make another as you build up the body. Otherwise, a loop about six inches long will give you enough to finish off the fly. Wrap the tying thread back to the bend, securing the the loop on top of the shank. Place the loop in a material clip or hang it somewhere to keep it from twisting. The arrows in the photo point to the two sides of the dubbing loop. Wind the tying thread in an open spiral forward to the hook eye. Click here for How to Form a Dubbing Loop.
4) Clip another bundle of rabbit fur about twice as thick as that used for the tail. It is helpful to straighten the hairs on the hide or strip prior to clipping to get the hairs aligned somewhat. You can just stroke the hairs with your fingers. A little bit of water nearby may be of some use here and later on (don't stick your fingers in your mouth, please!). This straightening is also a good way to get some of the excess "loose" fur out so it doesn't foul up our spinning later. If you're a frugal tier, you can save this for dubbing. Insert the hook of your dubbing whirl into the loop. (I have a nice one from my friend Troy, made of wood, a few metal washers cleverly hidden inside, and a screw-in type hook. If you don't have a whirl, you can make a simple one by screwing one of these hooks into one end of a short piece of 1/4" dowel.) Hold the loop open with a finger and insert the clipped end of the bundle near the hook. Pull up on the whirl to tighten the loop and give it one turn to close it up. The bundle of hair should be trapped in the loop lightly, so carefully let go of the bundle, maintaining tension on the whirl to keep the loop tight.
5) For the next part, I wish I had a video clip to show you, but I'll try and explain it. Basically, you want to spread the bundle out. In the photo at right, all that hair is from the same bundle inserted in step 4. Maintain tension on the loop... in the photo, I'm holding it up above the vise, but use whatever position is best for you. Gently pinch a small portion of the bundle near the top and slide it up. Pinch another small portion and slide it up to the first. Continue this until the bundle is spread out and rather sparse along a length at least equal to the hook length. If the fibers tend to stick to each other, pinch them on the clipped-end side of the loop. You can pinch, let-go, pinch again to help free up the hairs. Rocking them a little may help. There shouldn't be too much trouble if you took extra care to straighten out the hairs before you clipped the bundle and didn't handle the bundle too much prior to inserting in the loop. When the bundle is spread thin, carefully position the hairs so just a small portion (1-2 hook eye widths) of the clipped ends is on one side of the loop. This not only helps lock the hairs in the loop, but provides some lift for each successive wrap... lets the hairs stick out a little more for a bulkier look in the water. You can vary this amount to get slightly different results.
6) Now the fun part! Actually, here's where things start looking like a big mess. Bear with me, though, and follow through to the end... it'll all come together nicely. Maintain tension on the dubbing whirl and twist it. Twisting it, rather than spinning it, gives us more control and slows the process. The big reason for this is that the soft rabbit fur will still want to stick to itself as is spins tighter with the loop. Left unchecked, it will form a nice dense tangle of fur. There may be applications for this, but here we want the fibers nicely separated. As you see the hairs sticking and tangling close, take a moment to run your dubbing needle gentle through the hairs to straighten them out. Continue spinning until the loop is very tight and the hairs well locked in.
7) Stroke the fibers back and begin wrapping the looped fur forward tightly in a close open spiral. At each half turn, stroke the fibers back. A small bit of water can be used as an aid, but only use a very little bit.
8) If or when you run out of material, take one more turn with the bare loop, then unwind the tying thread to where the loop is. Take three turns around the loop to secure, then let the dubbing whirl hang to unwind. Once the loop is open again, place it in a clip or hang it over something (in the photo it's hanging over the adjustment knob on the vise) so it won't twist back up, then spiral the thread back to the hook eye. If you run out of loop, simply form another with the tying thread and continue.
9) Repeat steps four through eight until you have covered the shank. Once you get to about the half-shank area, make your wraps with the looped fur tight against the previous wraps. This makes it bulkier toward the front. Leave about two hook-eye widths between the front of the body and the hook eye. If you have three or four inches of loop left, secure it and we'll use it again later.
10) On each side, tie in about a dozen strands of Angel Hair or other flash material. Angel Hair is very fine, and lends itself well to smaller streamers like this. Flashabou and Krystal Flash will also work, but just use two to four strands per side. Let the flash material extend to about the middle of the tail, and I like mine to vary in length, so I trim some a little shorter and others a bit longer. Be sure not to over use the tying thread here. Two wraps per side is more than enough if you keep the wraps tight. Trim any excess material that may be extending forward beyond the hook eye.
11) For the throat, clip a small bundle of white rabbit. I usually use white here, except on the white-body flies, where I'll use red. Use a bundle about as thick as that used for the tail. Hold the bundle against the fly and trim the clipped ends so you have just enough to catch the thread on, and the tied-in length brings the hairs almost to the hook point. Hold the bundle on the underside of the hook, pinching it near the trimmed end. Take a couple turns of thread to catch it, then tighten up the thread to secure, holding the bundle in place. You may need to compensate for thread torque moving the bundle by holding the bundle a little toward the far side. Notice in the photo that the excess clipped portion does not reach the hook eye... this will simply be wrapped over and doesn't need clipped.
12) For the topping, you want hair that is a bit longer than that used for the body. Usually this can be found on the rabbit pelt on the rear one-third. Use a darker color, such as black, purple, or brown, to mimic the color schemes of the naturals. Here, we want a thicker bundle, so clip some of the longer hairs to make a bundle three or four times as thick as the throat bundle. The tips of the hairs should reach at least to the middle of the tail... ideally. If they fall a little short, that's fine, or you could use another type of fur like fox. In fact, you could substitute any soft fur for rabbit throughout the entire fly (see the large White & Black version below). Tie this in on top of the hook similar to how we did the throat. We won't clip the excess, but wrap the thread over it.
13) Cover the excess from the throat and topping with the tying thread, then bring the rest of the loop forward. If you ran out loop, simply make another here. Clip a sparse bundle of the darker color fur and remove about half the guard hairs... same thickness as the tail or throat. Trim this bundle to about the same length as the hook shank or shorter if you like... I like the way the longer dark collar adds some dimension to the fly. Insert this into the dubbing loop and spread the fibers out as you did for the body. You only need enough for two turns. Spin the loop tight, stroke the fibers back, and make the turns of it around. Notice in the photo how the flash material was moved when I brought the loop up... this is just me not being careful, and I do this almost every time. If you do the same thing, when you make your first turn of the looped fur, pull it back down into position and use the collar wraps to secure it. After two turns, take three tight turns with the tying thread to secure and clip the excess.
14) Take a couple more tight turns for security. Use your water... a very little bit... to stroke the fur back out of the way of the head wraps. Build up a nice rounded head with the thread and whip finish. Clip the thread and apply a coat or two of cement.
15) Wait... we're not quite done. We need to primp the fly a little so it fishes right. As it is, it probably looks less like a minnow and more like something the cat coughed up. The soft rabbit, grabby and clingy as it is, is a bit twisted throughout the body. Take your dubbing needle and run it parallel to the shank, close to it, but not right against it. Then pull the needle straight out from the fly. You'll feel the needle pull out the twisted fibers. Don't worry, any hairs that come completely out are the loose ones, the rest are locked in tight if you kept good tension on the loop. Work all the way around the fly, so you end up with all the fur sticking up and it looks more like some that fell off the dog. Essentially, you're just using the needle like a comb, combing the hairs out straight from the hook shank.
16) Now just stroke the hairs back and shape the fly (mind the point!).