Articulated swimmer – “brown bomber” with optional rattle

 

This is one of just four colour combinations that I tie my articulated swimmer fly in. Hard bodied Brown bomber lures are very popular as a lures for targeting barra and jacks in Queensland waters and most lure fishers have at least on in the lure tray. Based on the colours of the 'brown bomber' lure, particularly if I am targeting barra in fresh water dams like Awonga that are often a bit tannin stained, it's a fly I don't hesitate to tie on.

It's best to experiment with the retrieve speed. Slower retrieves cause the fly to swim with the tail pulsing from side to side whereas if you interrupt your slow retrieve with a couple of fast strips you not only get the tail working but cause the fly to dart off to the left or the right depending where the fly is at in its action cycle with that action being like a fleeing bait fish. Particularly on a floating line, but if your quick enough also when fishing an intermediate line or fast sink line, you can also throw in a couple of strips of the fly as it hits the water to make close by fish aware of the fly. That causes a lot of surface activity and a good slurping noise and may just be enough to get the initial interest of nearby fish and induce an early strike.

I suggest articulated swimmer flies on a #10 weight fly rod as they are big flies that are well suited to big fish and both the fly and big fish will overpower lighter fly rods. Around weed beds and close to the surface structure I fish these flies on a floating line. For prospecting deeper areas up to about 4 meters deep I fish them on an intermediate line and swap over to a fast sink line for water deeper than 4 meters or when I want to fish faster in shallower water.

Other colour combinations:

art-bomber-12cm2

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

Hook size Thread Rattle (Optional) Under-tail Tail flash Over-tail Body
#1/0 to #3/0 Big fly thread - black EJ Todd fly rattle 3mm standard Hends Marabou #19 pale gray 6 strands gold sparkle flash Hends Marabou #27 dark brown FNF jelly chenille - dark olive colour

 

Process

A
  1. Place you hook firmly in the vice. The medium version of my articulated swimmer, which I have tied here, is 12cm long and and the version tied below is tied on a #2/0 Mustard 34007 stainless hook but it is equally at home on hooks from #1/0 to #3/0. As an alternative hook I recommend Gamakatsu SL12S.
  2. Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook.
  3. Return the thread half way up the hook.
 art-rattler-a

B

    Tie in the glass rattle.

  1. Position a glass rattle on top of the hook shank so that the front of the rattle is well clear of the eye of the hook and tie that on top of the hook shank.
  2. Return the thread to the bend of the hook.
 art-rattler-b

C

    Tie in a marabou tail.

  1. The target length of tail should be twice the length of the hook shank but it's not uncommon to have to accept shorter tails because of the lack of availability of long marabou. The first step is to tie the under-tail in at the bend of the hook.
  2. Trim the butt ends of the marabou under-tail so that it sits sng up against the end of the glass rattle.
 art-bomb-c

D
  1. Tie 4 long strands of pearl sparkle flash in on the top of the under-tail with the tips extending the full length of the under-tail and with the butt ends of the pearl sparkle flash laying over the front of the hook.
 art-bomb-d

E
  1. Take the butt ends of the pearl sparkle flash that are pointing over the front of the hook and fold them back over the under-tail increasing the strands of pearl sparkle flash from 4 to 8 strands.
  2. Lock the pearl sparkle flash into that position and excess that extends beyond the under-tail back to the same lent as the under-tail.
 art-bomb-e

F
  1. Complete the marabou tail by tying in the over-tail in at the bend of the hook directly on top of the under-tail and pearl sparkle flash.
  2. Trim the butt ends of the marabou over-tail so that it sits snug up against the end of the glass rattle.
 art-bomb-f

G

    Make a body of FNF jelly chenille.

  1. Tie in a length of FNF jelly chenille at the bend of the hook.
 art-bomb-g

H
  1. Take the thread forward to just behind the eye of the hook.
  2. Wind the FNF chenille forward in tight touching turns. This is the same material used to make blobs and it ties in better if you wet it and stroke the fibres back between each wrap of the FMH chenille.
  3. Tie the FNF chenille off directly behind the eye of the hook and trim away the excess.
  4. Whip finish the fly body and apply a liberal coat of varnish or a couple of drops of super glue to the whip finish.
 art-bomb-h

The second part for building an articulated fly is to attach the articulated head to the eye of the trailing hook and dress the articulated shank.

 

Materials for articulated head

Articulated shank Thread Eyes Skirt Head material/th>
Fish Skull FS-GS-K25 2.5mm shank Uni big fly thread black Spirtit River 7/32" Double Pupil Real Eyes/td>

Wapsifly palmer chenille white FNF-Jelly chenille - safety orange colour
I

    Connect the articulated shank.

  1. Slide an articulated shank through the eye of the hook.
  2. Some Fish Skull shanks have an offset eye. If that is the case with the shank you are using make sure that when you slide the shank onto the hook that you position the offset eye so that it is facing down.
 art-bomb-i

J

    Tie in the dumbbell eyes.

  1. Start just behind the eye of the shank and wind the thread down the shank about 1/4 of its length and then back to behind the eye of the shank.
  2. Tie in your dumbbell eyes on top of the hook shank behind the eye of the shank using tight figure 8 wraps. To make sure that the eyes don't rotate on the hook shank include a couple of tight wraps the thread around the base of the eyes on top of the shank and between every couple of figure of eight wraps take a firm wrap of thread around the hook shank.
 art-bomb-j

K
  1. Continue winding the thread all the way back along the shank in tight touching turns.
  2. Take the thread forward about 1/4 of the way up the shank.
 art-bomb-k

L

    Create a skirt to hide the articulation.

  1. Tie in a length of palmer chenille and lock it in on top of the shank as far back as you can before the wraps of thread or palmer chenille start to fall forward over the previous wrap.
  2. Applying a drop of super glue over the thread is a good idea.
  3. Take the thread forward about 1/4 of the way up the shank.
 art-bomb-l

M
  1. Wind the palmer chenille forward in tight touching turns until you reach the thread.
  2. Tie the palmer chenille off with your thread and trim the excess palmer chenille away with a sharp blade.
  3. With wet thumb and forefingers stroke the palmer chenille back forming a skirt that partially hides the join of the hook and the articulated shank.
 art-bomb-m

N

Build up the body on the articulated shank.

  1. Tie in a length of FNF Jelly Chenille.
  2. Wind the thread forward to just behind the dumbbell eye.
 art-bomb-n

O
  1. Palmer the FNF chenille forward to the dumbbell eyes. Remember, this is the same material used to make blobs and it ties in better if you wet it and stroke the fibres back between each wrap of the FNF chenille.
  2. Tie the FNF chenille off behind the dumbbell eyes and trim the excess away with a sharp blade.
  3. A drop of super glue over the tie in of the dumbbell eyes will lock them and the FNF chenille permanently in position.
 art-bomber-12cm2



Last Updated: December 30, 2017
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Categories: Big fish flies - temperate & tropical destinations, Flies, Saltwater - tropical
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