Craft Fur “Small” Bait Fish & “Fish two (2) flies in the Salt”
Hook – Mustad # 34007 (SW), size 4.
Thread – Danville’s 3/0 or Monocord, White.
Body – Kreinik Metallics tyers ribbon, White.
Under Wing – White craft fur.
Flash – A combo of gold/copper krystal flash, flash-a-bou, & angel hair.
Over Wing – Olive craft fur over which is placed a few strands of peacock
herl.
Head – White thread built up with reflective eyes and epoxied head.
Last year while fishing a salt pond I ran into a friend I knew. He told me of a fly fisherman who was there earlier and had great success catching two fish at once by fishing two flies. For some unknown reason I hadn’t fished a dropper (two flies) in a while, but tied on this fly as my first (top) fly. I had an awesome day hooking and landing shad and small schoolies on a light rod. Any good spin fisherman in the salt knows that your catch increases when you use a “teaser” fly on your rig. This is a proven method not only for fly fishermen. Fishing a dropper isn’t all the difficult. Just takes a little
practice and experimentation. I found it best to fish a heavier or larger fly on the bottom to help turn your leader over. The ideal condition to fish a dropper is when there is a nice current or rip in front of you. Trout fisherman have discovered a long time ago that giving fish two choices of what to eat will increase your chances of hooking up. It also provides food at two different levels in the water column. In the salt it also gives the appearance of a large bait fish chasing a small bait fish.
Not only do I use it in a dropper set up, it’s also a good choice to go to when fish are keying on small bait fish. Great for snappers. A very simple pattern to tie.
Lay a base of white thread along the hook shank Tie in the white metallic ribbon at the bend of the hook and wrap forward leaving room for a head near the eye of the hook.
Tie in an underwing of white craft fur approximately 1 ½ times the length of the hook shank.
Tie in flash material on top of hook shank. Then tie in over wing of olive craft fur topped by a few strands of peacock herl.
Build up head with thread, add reflective eyes and epoxy.