Articulated baitfish – estuary version

 

Whilst not designed to represent any particular bait fish I have designed this fly to have a shape, form and function similar to many of the little fish that predators hunt.

This #2/0 estuary fly is 9 cm long and because it's unweighted it's relatively easy to cast. It's a great fly to use when targeting estuary species including but not limited to:

Bream (yellow tail, pikey and black bream)
Lutjanids (Mangrove Jack & Fingermark
Javelin fish (Barred Grunter and Silver Grunter)
Tarpon
Flathead (Dusky and Bartail)
Smaller trevally (including Giant Trevally and Golden Trevally)
Smaller queenfish

It can be used in a number of different ways including:

  • As a prospecting fly work the fly over and past where fish are holding or are expected to hold and retrieve at a range of jerky retrieves at various speed and with the occasional stop.
  • For sighted fish put in clean cast which is inside the fishers current swim path so when the fish sees the fly it will have to make a slight change of direction, instinctively taking it a little out of its comfort zone. The tendency of fish once they have made that change is to take the fly much quicker than they would had the fly been directly in their path. As soon as you think the fish is in range rip the fly in as fast as you can strip or roly poly. It's important to keep your line under control at all times as strikes are always hard and mostly followed by blistering runs and you have to be able to clear the stripped line and get the fight back on the reel as soon as possible.
  • It can also be used as a trailing fly for my articulated popper combination that I use to target predators in very shallow water or actually feeding on the surface.

The fly below is dressed in Brown Bomber colours but I also like it dressed in Qantas colours or natural colours of olive and shrimp..

ripper-a

Materials for trailing hook

Hook size Thread Body foundation
Mustard 34007 @#2/0 Big fly thread - black H2O slinky fiber - brown

 

Process

Right from the start it's important to get an understanding how much body materials you will need to achieve the desired thickness and density of the fly.

There are 2 bunches of H2O Slinky Fiber and two bunches of Steve Farrar's Flash Blend and an optional one or two bunches of Flashabou or Flash Blend to be tied in and it can be a bit of a learning curve getting the quantities right. The goal is to use just enough body materials to dress the fly without making the fly too thick. I suggest you start with bunches as thick as a match stick or tooth pick and then go up or down from that for successive flies.

Also, because your going to fold the Slinky Fiber and the Flash Blend over on themselves it's important to tease each bunch of Slinky Fiber and Flash Blend out at the end that was cut off the hank so when it's tied in and doubled over the tips will all meld together and you don't finish up with square ridges of Flash Blend, from where it was cut from the hank, in the middle of the fly.

A
  1. Place the hook firmly in the vice.
  2. Wind a bed of thread on the front 20% of the hook shank.
  3. Return the thread half way up that bed of thread.

ripper-a

B
  1. The size #2/0 hook that I am using is 3.75 cm in length so cut a 7.5 cm length of Slinky Fiber .
  2. Tie the Slinky Fibers in on top of the hook shank two soft wraps of thread.

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C
  1. Massage the Slinky Fibers so that they are equally distributed around the hook shank.

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D
  1. Build up a neat thread head.
  2. Whip finish the thread, trim away the excess thread and varnish the thread head.

ripper-d

 


 

The second part for building an articulated fly is to attach the articulated shank and to dress that to represent the thorax and head of the fly.

 

Materials for articulated head

Articulated shank Thread Structure guard (optional) Under-body extension Back Back flash (Brown Bomber only) Belly Belly flash (Brown Bomber only) Eyes
Fish Skull FS-GS-K20 20mm shank Uni big fly thread - black 50lb stiff monofilament H2O slinky fibre - brown Steve Farrar's flash blend - black Flashabou - black Steve Farrar's flash blend - orange Flashabou - gold Fish Scull Living Eyes Size 7 mm - ice colour

 

E
  1. Structure guards are optional on this fly and whilst I prefer to fish most of my flies without structure guards, because they swim better without them, i normally cay a few with structure guards for when I ma fishing in and behind mangroves.
  2. If your going to tie in a monofilament structure guard it's important to attach the articulated shank to the trailing hook with the front eye on the articulated shank facing up.
  3. Also at this stage it's important to make sure that the front and back eyes on the articulated shank are square to each other. More often than not you will need two pair of pliers to make a slight adjustment to ensure that.

ripper-e
F
  1. Cut about 6 cm of 50lb monofilament, fold it in half, and with a pair of pliers crimp the monofiliment so that it holds that shape.
  2. Invert the fly in the vice.

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G
  1. Build up a a base of thread in the middle of the articulated shank.
  2. Tie the monofiliment to the articulated shank with firm wraps of thread.

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H
  1. Fold the monofilament down onto the front of the articulated shank and lock it in place with firm wraps of thread all the way up to the eye of the articulated shank.
  2. Take the thread back down to the gap in the middle of the articulated and do a half hitch in the thread just to ensure nothing comes undone.
  3. Cut a 7.5cm length of Slinky Fiber.
  4. Tie the Slinky Fibres in on top of the articulated shank with two soft wraps of thread.

ripper-h

I
  1. Massage the Slinky Fibres so that they are equally distributed around the articulated shank.
  2. Lock the Slinky Fiber in with firm wraps of thread.
  3. Turn the fly back over the right way in the vice.

ripper-i

J
  1. Cut a 12 cm length of Flash Blend.
  2. Tease the Flash Blend out at the end that was cut off the hank so when it's tied in and doubled over the tips will all meld together and you don't finish up with square ridges of Flash Blend, from where it was cut from the hank, in the middle of the fly.
  3. Position the Flash Blend with the tips extending 3 cm facing backward and 9 cm facing forward.

ripper-k

 

K
  1. Lock the Flash Blend in position with tight wraps of thread.

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L
  1. Fold the forward facing Flash Blend back over the rear facing Flash Blend.
  2. Lock that in position with firm wraps of thread.
  3. Take a couple of half hitches to make sure that nothing comes loose.
 ripper-m

 

M
  1. If your adding flash to the back of the fly as in the Brown Bomber inspired version now is the time to do it.
  2. Cut a 12 cm length of black Flashabou
  3. Tease the Flashabou fibers out at the end that was cut off the hank so when it's tied in and doubled over the tips will all meld together and you don't finish up with square ridges of flash blend, from where it was cut from the hank, in the middle of the fly.
  4. Position the Flashabou with the tips extending 4.5 cm facing backward and 11.5cm facing forward.
  5. Lock it in position with a couple of tight wraps of thread.
  6. Fold the forward facing Flashabou back over the rear facing Flashabou.
  7. Lock that in position with firm wraps of thread and take a couple of half hitches to make sure that nothing comes loose.
 ripper-o

N
  1. Rotate the fly in the vice.
  2. Cut a 12 cm length of gold Flashabou and a similar bunch of orange Flash Blend.
  3. Integrate the Flashabou and the Flash Blend together and tease the Flashabou and Flash Blend out at the end that was cut off the hank so when it's tied in and doubled over the tips will all meld together and you don't finish up with square ridges of flash blend, from where it was cut from the hank, in the middle of the fly.
  4. Position the Flashabou and Flash Blend with the tips extending 4.5 cm facing backward and 11.5cm facing forward.
  5. Lock it in position with a couple of tight wraps of thread.

ripper-r

O
  1. Fold the forward facing Flashabou and Flash Blend back over the rear facing Flashabou and Flash Blend.
  2. Lock that in position with firm wraps of thread and take a couple of half hitches to make sure that nothing comes loose.

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P
  1. Take the fly out of the vice and stroke, comb or brush all the elements of the fly into their desired position.
  2. Reinsert the fly into the vice.
  3. I generally use an elastic band to hold the body components in place.

ripper-t

Q
  1. Place a stick on eye on each side of the head of the fly.
  2. Once the second eye is locked in position mix up a generous amount of epoxy and apply a coat of the epoxy over the head of the fly and as far back as the back of the two eyes.
  3. Rotate the fly in the vice until the epoxy had gone off.

ripper-u

R
  1. Do a final trim of the fly to finesse the body into a bait fish shape with an overall length of 9 cm.
  2. Bend the two structure guards into a position so that they are facing slightly backward in a V shape.
 ripper-a



Last Updated: January 9, 2022
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Categories: Flies, My estuary & coastal waters fly box, Saltwater - estuary
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