Chatto’s jig fly – olive bait-fish

 

This fly has a poddy mullet shape, casts well and as the name implies it has an action which is similar to both a jerk bait lure and suspending lure.

The set up of the jig hook and extension puts the tow point 15mm back along the fly so that a medium to fast strips cause the fly to dart off in different directions much like wounded or fleeing fish. The 15mm of 8mm diameter closed cell foam tube above the hook eye give the fly neutral buoyancy so then when you pause the lure it basically suspends at or close to the level it was being retrieved giving predators time to attack.

It has evolved from my jig fly that I first tied in 2015. It capitalises on Darwin's "theory of survival of the fittest" in that it presents a representation of a wounded fish, a fantastic target for predatory fish such as Barramundi, various species of Trevally, Queenfish, big flathead and I expect many other predator species.

Fished on a floating line it a great fly to fish in shallow water above weed, shallow gravel bar or swamped timber. Swap it over to an intermediate or faster sinking line and it can be fished at your choice of depths close to holding fish. In any case put in a long cast that will bring the fly through, past or over where fish are holding and retrieve it with a strip / stop action at various speeds until you find what is working on the day.

I tie this fly in only 5 colour combinations:

Bait fish colours of olive over shrimp as in this tie
Qantas colours of red over white
Brown bomber inspired colours of black over brown and gold
Nigh time colours of red over black
Natural of blue & grey over white

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Materials

Hook Thread to attach hook extension Hook extension Floatation Thread for rest of fly Under-body Belly Back Eyes Finish
Gamakatsu Jig 90HW or The Fly Shop Jig TFS 54444 #2/0 to #4/0 White Big fly thread Whiting hook with bend removed White 8mm closed cell foam cylinder/td>

VeeVus 100 denier thread H2O Slinky Fibre in shrimp UV UV shrimp Steve Farrar's Flash Blend Wild Olive Steve Farrar's Flash Blend 8mm Joggle Eyes Selleys clear 5 minute epoxy

Process

A
  1. Select your jig hook and measure the distance from the back of the bend of the hook to in front of the eye of the book.
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B
  1. Place the hook firmly in the vice.
  2. Starting at the front end of the straight part of the hook shank wind a bed of thread about half way down down the hook shank.
  3. Give the thread base a coat of super glue.

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C
  1. Take your whiting hook and cut of the business end of the hook from where the bend of the hook starts.
  2. Tie the whiting hook extension in on top of the jig hook taking care to ensure that the extension protrudes over the front of the jig hook a distance equal to 25% of the overall length of the jig hook.
  3. Do a couple of tight double hitches in the big fly thread and trim away the excess.
  4. The hook and extension in this case should now be 58cm long overall.
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D
  1. Cut a 13mm long length of the 8mm closed cell foam cylinder.
  2. Trim the leading edge of the cylinder so that its a little round rather than square.
  3. Put a diagonal slit along the cylinder.
  4. Open the slit up a little and put a couple of drops into the cavity.
  5. About 3-4mm behind the eye of the hook extension slide that into the top of the hook with the front of the cylinder being above the hook extension and the rear of the cylinder being below the shank of the hook.
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E
  1. Apply a coat red nail polish or paint to that part of the cylinder that is above the hook shank.
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At this stage 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 4 equal layers in the body of the fly. Layer one is an under-body of Slinky Fibre. Layers two and three are for the lower two thirds of the outer body of the fly and layer four for the top one third of the body of the fly.

There can be a bit of a learning curve getting the quantities right as your looking for just enough body materials to dress the fly without making the fly too thick.

It's also important to cut the lengths as described in the steps below so as the forward facing material for each step is folded back on itself the tips of the backward facing material line up in front of the tips of the forward facing material building a tapered body that does not require too much trimming in the final step.

 

Layer 1 of 4

 

F
  1. Once you have worked your quantities out cut a 13cm length of Slinky Fibre from the hank.
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G
  1. Because your going to fold each layer of Slinky Fibre and Flash Blend over on itself for each of the 4 layers of the fly it's important to tease the fibres 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.
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H
  1. Tie your denier thread in directly behind the foam tubing.
  2. Tie in with firm but not tight wraps of thread the 13cm length of Slinky Fibre on top of the hook shank directly behind the foam tubing so that 8cm is facing behind the foam tubing and 5cm is split with half facing out each side of the fly.
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I
  1. Take the half the Slinky Fibre closest to you and fold that back under the fly with the tips now facing back along the fly and lock that in using firm but not tight wraps of thread.
  2. Take the other half of the Slinky Fibre and fold that under the other side of the fly with the tips now facing back along the fly and lock that in using firm but not tight wraps of thread.
  3. With your thumb and forefinger massage the now rear facing fibres of Slinky Fibre so that they are evenly dispersed around the hook shank.
  4. Now lock the rear facing Slinky Fibre using tight wraps of thread
  5. Whip finish the thread behind the foam tubing, trim away the excess thread and apply super glue to the whip finish.
  6. Tie your thread back in this time in front of the foam tubing.
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Layer 2 of 4

 

J
  1. Cut a 10cm length of Flash Blend from the hank.

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K
  1. Tie in with tight wraps of thread the 10cm length of Flash Blend on the front side of the hook shank directly in front of the foam tubing so that 5cm is facing behind the foam tubing and 5cm is facing out in front of the fly.
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L
  1. Take the half the Flash Blend that is facing forward and fold that back around the other side of the fly, with half above and half below the eye of the hook extension and now facing back along the side of the fly furthermost away from you and lock that in using tight wraps of thread.
  2. Stroke the "level 2" materials back along the side of the fly and tie them out of the way for the time being. I use a pipe cleaner for that job but a couple of wrap of copper wire will do.

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Layer 3 of 4

 

M
  1. Turn the hook upside down in the vice.
  2. Cut a 15cm length of Flash Blend from the hank.
  3. Tie in with firm tight wraps of thread the 15cm length of Flash Blend on the bottom of the hook shank directly behind the eye of the hook extension so that 5cm is facing back behind the fly and 10cm is facing forward of the fly.
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N
  1. Take the forward facing Flash Blend and fold that back over the rear facing Flash Blend so that all the tips are now facing back along the fly and lock that in using tight wraps of thread.
  2. Stroke the "level 3" materials back along the under side of the fly and tie them out of the way for the time being. I use a pipe cleaner for that job but a couple of wrap of copper wire will do.
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Layer 4 of 4

 

O
  1. Turn the hook back up the correct way in the vice.
  2. Cut a 15cm length of Flash Blend from the hank.
  3. Tie in with firm tight wraps of thread the 15cm length of Flash Blend on the top of the hook shank directly behind the eye of the hook extension so that 5cm is facing back behind the fly and 10cm is facing forward of the fly.

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P
  1. Take the forward facing Flash Blend and fold that back over the rear facing Flash Blend so that all the tips are now facing back along the fly and lock that in using tight wraps of thread.
  2. Stroke the "level 4" materials back along the under side of the fly and tie them out of the way for the time being. I use a pipe cleaner for that job but a couple of wrap of copper wire will do.

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It's now time to bring the 4 layers together

Q
  1. Stroke all of the body material back neatly back along the fly forming a neat body shape.
  2. Lock them temporaly in place at the bend of the hook usinga pipe cleaner or a couple of wrap of copper.

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R
  1. Mix up a small amount of 5 minute epoxy and using a tooth pick apply a thin coat over the front part of the head of the fly and as far back as to just behind the eye of the hook.
  2. Rotate the fly until the epoxy starts to go off.
  3. Before the epoxy goes off to far use the stickiness of the epoxy to attach an eye on each side of the head of the fly.
  4. Add asecond coat of sealant to the fly this time concentrating on the head area including the eyes.

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S
  1. Rotate the fly until the epoxy completely goes off.

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