Bodkin / Patterns

Salty Minnow

Baitfish · Striped Bass · False Albacore · Sea Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Fischer's Flies

  • Hook Ahrex SA280 Minnow saltwater hook, 1
  • Thread Clear 0.20 mono

Materials

  • Body White silver material (Fulling Mill Salty Flash Fibers)
  • Flash Holographic silver flashabou (Predator or Saltwater Flashabou)
  • Collar Silver holographic ice dub (Hareline Ice Dub)
  • Eyes Fluorescent super pearl (Fulling Mill epoxy eyes, 7.0mm)
  • Resin Clear uv resin (Solarez medium viscosity or Flex, plus Bone Dry)

How to tie it

  1. Start clear mono thread at the 60% mark on the SA280. Mono is used throughout so no thread colour shows in the finished resin head. The fly is meant to look like nothing but flash and eyes.
  2. Tie in white silver Salty Flash Fibers in small clumps around the shank, working rearward to forward, so the fibres stand out evenly all the way around rather than sitting flat on top. Even distribution is what gives the fly a round baitfish body when wet.
  3. Add a few strands of holographic silver Flashabou down each side, kept sparse. On a small clear-water baitfish a little flash reads as scales and too much reads as tinsel.
  4. Dub a short collar of silver holographic Ice Dub at the front to fill the head area and give the epoxy something to sit against.
  5. Set a 7.0mm fluorescent super pearl epoxy eye each side of the head and lock them with medium viscosity or Flex resin, building the head in two or three thin cures rather than one thick one so it stays clear and does not slump.
  6. Finish with Solarez Bone Dry over the head for a hard, tack-free surface, then wet the fly and trim the fibre bundle to a tapered minnow profile. The shape you cut when it is wet is the shape it swims.

Tying videos

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