Thread White, red and black Semperfli Nano Silk 3/0, 6/0 and 12/0
Materials
Stick-on or dumbbell eyes (1 pair)
Super Hair White craft fur (Several sections)
Flashabou, pearlescent Green, olive, orange and pearl flashabou pearlescent (A dozen strands each)
Big Fish Fiber Yellow, green and black big fish fiber (Several sections)
Synthetic fibres Lime green and olive synthetic fibres (Several sections)
Sparkle Minnow Brush Silver metal tape (One section)
Polar Fiber Streamer Brush White craft fur (One section)
Icelandic Streamer Hair White and black icelandic sheep fur (Several sections)
Ice Dub Green soft wire (Two dubbing loops)
Polar fibre Red buzzer wrap (Small clump (gills))
Peacock herl Natural peacock herl (A dozen strands)
Grizzly saddle hackle, dyed Olive schlappen or saddle hackle (2)
Five-minute epoxy Clear uv resin (Head and collar)
How to tie it
Sharpen the point, barb and everything in between on a 10/0 Mustad before you tie a single wrap. On a hook this size going after marlin and tuna, a file is not optional.
Set the eyes about a quarter of the way back from the hook eye with Nano Silk 3/0 and figure-eight wraps, cement them, then start 6/0 behind them. Building the fly around a fixed eye position is what keeps the finished baitfish proportional.
Build the tail wing in layers from the bottom up: white Super Hair split and tied under the hook, green pearlescent Flashabou, more folded Super Hair, then Super Hair on top, yellow Big Fish Fiber, lime synthetic, more green flash and green Big Fish Fiber. Each layer slightly longer or shorter than the last. Tapering the layers is what stops a big fly from looking like a broom.
Wrap a silver Sparkle Minnow Brush forward to the halfway point, pulling fibres back with your fingers each turn, then build the second wing block the same way in white, yellow, green and black, and wrap a white Polar Fiber Brush over the front half. Brushes carry huge bulk with very little weight, which is why this fly casts at all at 10/0.
Work Icelandic Streamer Hair in white and black around and between the eyes, add olive synthetic on top and green Big Fish Fiber on the sides at about half the main wing length, then spin green Ice Dub in a split thread and wrap it around and between the eyes as a head.
Pull all the main wing fibres back tight and lock them with a thread collar, add a fan of pearl Flashabou folded around the thread on each side, and cover with red thread. Sweeping everything back like this is what gives the fly its bullet head and keeps it from fouling in the air.
Finish the front: red polar fibre gills to the hook point, orange Flashabou, black Icelandic hair blended short, peacock herl on top, and two olive dyed grizzly saddles at three quarters of the wing length. Cover everything in black thread, cement, and epoxy the head and collar once dry.