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If your heading off on a fishing trip the gotcha fly in a few colour combinations and a couple of sizes should definitely be included in you fly box.

I was looking at the Fulling Mills bonefish flies and one of them was predominately orange with a pearl body ... this is my version of that combination.

It doesn't matter if it's fresh or salt water orange is one of those trigger colours for fish.

Materials

Process

1. Wind the thread down, up and back down to the bend of the hook forming a solid thread body.
2. Finish that step with the thread at the bend of the hook.
• Understanding hooks

B	Select a length of mylar cord. Retract enough of the internal chord to leave sufficient mylar chord for the body and tail of the fly.

C	Slide the mylar tube over the eye of the hook and all the way back to the hanging thread. Using your bodkin unravel just enough of the tips of the mylar tube to allow the loose ends to be fed around the thread and to present as a tail on the fly. Retract the mylar tube from the hook shank just enough to cut of the balance of the tube and chord and still leave enough unravelled mylar tube to cover the distance from the hanging thread and in front of where the bead chain eyes will be. Feed the tube back down to the hanging thread pass the unravelled tail material past the hanging thread and take 2 or 3 wraps of thread around the mylar tube to lock it in position.

D	Wind the thread forward to 4/5 of the way up the hook shank in open wraps forming 7 or 8 segments on the body of the fly. Take a final wrap of thread at that position and lock the thread with a couple of half hitches.	>

E	Turn the hook over in the vice. Tie your dumbbell eyes using firm figure of eight wraps of thread. Apply a little head cement to the tie in before moving on.

F	Tie in an under-wing of 12 or so krystal flash fibres. Economical use of synthetic fibres Lock the sparkle flash off in front of the dumbbell eyes and trim away the excess.

G	Take two lengths of the rubber or silicon leg material that you have chosen that are at least twice the length you want the finished legs to be and at the mid point bend them around the thread. Pull the thread down onto the shank of the hook just behind the eye of the hook and lock it into position with one or two wraps of thread ... keep the pressure on the thread so that the leg material does not move. Take hold of the 4 tips of the leg material and whilst still holding pressure on the thread stretch the leg material back over the dumbbell eyes causing it to stretch and get thinner. Whilst holding it in that position lock it in place with several firm wraps of thread between the eye of the hook and the dumbbell eyes. Before taking the pressure off the thread do a couple of half hitches to ensure the legs don't move.

H	Select a small bunch of fur and discard the guard hairs and the base fluff. Tie a wing in directly in front of the dumbbell eyes extending backward so that it further obscures the point and bite of the hook Build up a neat head of thread between the eye of the hook and the dumbbell eyes. Whip finish the head, trim the thread and paint the head with head cement.

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