Had some time to kill so here's another step by step of the fly that's been working for me recently....
The materials you're going to need:
Place the hook in the vice, catch in the thread (in this case fine mono) close to the eye and wind in close turns down the shank of the hook, back up to the eye and back again to a point opposite the barb. Give this 'base' a liberal coat of superglue.
Take a generous hank of Flashabou (full length) and catch in at a point about two thirds of it's length. Before tightening down on the material, use your fingertip to push down on the tinsel to splay it round the hook. Then wind down tight. Glue the wraps of mono.
Before the glue has fully dried, push the rest of the material back towards the tail and catch in firmly - again, add a spot of glue.
Turn the hook upside down in the vice. Prepare a 3" length of mylar tubing by removing the core. Catch this in by the tips on the underside of the hook, facing towards the tail. Glue to seal.
Return the hook to an upright position and catch in a 10" length of long fibred UV fritz. Coat the shank of the hook with a thin layer of glue and before it's dry, start winding the fritz towards the eye of the hook. Use your left hand to brush back the fritz fibres as you wind the material on, this ensures a neat job. Add a half hitch here to secure the thread whilst you prepare the next length of Flashabou.
Repeat the process used for the tail of the fly except catch the tinsel in halfway along it's length. Again, keep adding glue to ensure belt and braces!
Carefully bring the Fritz back through the flashabou, ensuring you don't trap down too many fibres, and wind on along the shank until you are at a point 10mm or so from the hook eye. Catch the fritz in firmly, trim and glue.
Now it's time to add the rattle. Turn the hook upside down again. Using a needle, carefully spread the fritz and flashabou to either side of the hook, keeping it as even as possible.
Push the rattle into the mylar tubing and bring forward to the eye. Catch the mylar in firmly, trim and glue.
Return the hook to position and add the final hank of flashabou. Ensure the flashabou is spread evenly 360 degrees round the hook shank. Wind in a small, neat 'head' and superglue to finish. You can add eyes here if you wish but I don't think it matters that much.
Remove the hook from the vice and check the profile. As you can see from the (very blurry ) pic below, there are distinct 'steps' of flashabou. Use taperizer scissors (or a lot of patience with standard scissors) to rough these edges up a bit for a more natural outline.
The finished fly.....
Tight lines,
Dougie
Rattlin' Sparkler (Pike)
Love your ducks bum.
Linear Mode
