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This is a variation of my very successful articulated swimmer and is a great fly when targeting barra in the relatively static water of Lake Awoonga and other barra impoundments.

Tied on a #3/0 hook, is 11cm long and on a #4/0 hook this fly is 12cm long.

I fish this fly on a #10 weight outfit with a clear intermediate or fast sink fly lines and cast it as deep into structure as I can. I leave the fly to settle for a few seconds and then retrieve it back out into open water with a slow draw retrieve and the occasional pause. The bib gets the fly down a little and imparts a slight shoulder action which is attractive to ambush predators.

Keep good contact with your fly as ambush predators like to retreat back into structure if they're hooked and you don't want that.

The brown bomber inspired version tied below is a great option for dull days and dusk and dawn.

The Qantas inspired version in red and white is a great prospecting fly when conditions get brighter.

My favourite colours for this fly are:

Brown bomber inspired

Qantas colours of red over white

Popular dark side lure colours of orange over yellow

Chartreuse over white

 
Building an articulated fly is basically a two part process with the first step being the tying of the trailing hook fly.

Materials for trailing hook

Process

A	Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook.

B	I build my marabou tail for these flies in three stages. The first stage is to tie in the under-tail. The target length of tail should be the same length as the length of the hook which in this case is 45mm. You will see that I have looped an elastic band over the top of my vice 45 mm back behind the back of the hook so that I can use that as a guide as to the length of the tail.

C	The second stage is tying in the tail flash. I don't like the krystal flash tied in on the outside of the marabou and prefer it partially hidden in the tail. To achieve that tie 3 or 4 strands of your sparkle flash around the top half of the under-tail.

D	The final part of the tail is tying in the over-tail which can now be tied in on top of the under-tail hiding some of the krystal and completing the tail.

E	If there is any unevenness along the top of the hook shank tie a little scrap wool in to make the under-body even. Take the thread forward far enough to be able to tie in a length of jelly chenille. Tie a length of jelly chenille and lock it in along the top of the hook shank all the way down to the bend of the hook.

F	Wind the jelly chenille forward in tight touching turns. Jelly chenille ties in better if you wet it and stroke the fibres back between each wrap of the jelly chenille. Tie the jelly chenille off directly behind the eye of the hook and trim away the excess. Whip finish the fly body and trim the excess thread away. I generally put just a little UV epoxy over the whip finish to complete the trailing hook component of this fly.

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

Process

G	Slide an articulated shank through the eye of the hook. Fish Skull shanks have an offset eye. Because you will be addinga flylipp below the shank make sure that when you slide the shank onto the hook that you position the offset eye so that the off set eye of the shank will be facing up.

I	Tie in a length of palmer chenille along the of the shank all the way back to the rear eye of the shank taking care not to go so far back that you inhibit the movement of the trailing hook.

J	Wind the palmer chenille forward taking 6 tight touching turns.

K	Tie the palmer chenille off and trim the excess away with a sharp blade. With wet fingers stroke the palmer chenille back with your thumb and forefingers forming a skirt that disguises the join of the hook and the shank and lock that in with firm wraps of thread.

L	Rotate the fly 180 degrees and tie a flylipp in so that it is flat along the bottom of the shank and it leaves enough access to the upturned eye of the shank to be able to connect your shank eye to your leader when you fish this fly.

M	Lock the flylipp into that position by winding tight touching turns all the way back to the front of the skirt. Turn the fly back upright.

N	Tie in a length of jelly chenille directly in front of the palmer chenille skirt. Take the thread forward to just behind the front eye of the shank.

O	Take a length of plastic bead chain and with the tips of your pliers squeeze of the second and third bead. Tie the bead chain in directly behind the eye of the shank. Apply superglue to the tie in of the flylipp and the plastic bead chain eyes.

P	Trim off the excess bead chain leaving just the two eyes. Wind the jelly chenille forward in tight touching turns to directly behind the bead chain eyes. Tie the jelly chenille off behind the plastic bead chain eyes. Take the thread in front of the eyes and whip finish directly behind the eye of the hook. Trim away the excess thread and put a drop of super UV resin on the whip fished thread. .

Q	Take a #00 lead shot, open up the split. Mix a very small amount of two part 5 minute epoxy and put just a drop in the split in the lead shot. I use the 5 minute epoxy because UV epoxy does not stick well to the flylipp. With a pair of pliers position the lead shot in the middle of the leading edge of the flylipp and then use the pliers to pinch the lead shot closed so its locked into that position. Rotate the fly in the vice to ensure that any excess epoxy flows evenly around where the lead shot is attached to the flylipp.

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