Christmas Island Special – pearl pink

 

There are a lot of colour combinations of Christmas Island Special (CXI) flies that my mates and I have seen on our various trips to Christmas Island and Aitutaki. Some work sometimes and not others and some work more often than not.

The prawn pink coloured and my version of the ring burner he CXI special are my two go to colours and each of those take up twice as much spac as any other colour version in my CXI fly box.

Below is my list of CXI flies that more often than not consistently work. From these I look for local knowledge from my guides as to which fly they will think will work at any given time.

The biggest mistake that guides apparently see is that flies are often overdressed and the proportions below are not followed.

cxi-o-h

These are the other colours that I find work consistently:

  • Pearl prawn - pink (as tied below)
  • Orange (Ring burner is a similar fly)
  • Pearl prawn - orange
  • Pink
  • Mauve pearl (Electric camel is a similar fly)
  • Yellow pearl
  • Pearl prawn - chartreuse pear

Materials for CXI Special - pearl

I have tied this fly below on a size #6 Spirit River SW07 and Fin Racoon over-wing.

Hook Threads Bead Tail and under-wing Body Over-wing
Gamakatsu SL11-3H or Spirit River SW07 in size #4 to #8 Hends body thread - orange VP-28 5/32"(medium) chrome finish brass dumbbell eyes Tiewell krystal flash in pearl Tiewell krystal flash in pearl Tan Finn Raccoon, craft fur, or rabbit fur

Process

 

A
  1. Wind the thread in touching turns from the 95% position to the bend of the hook and then back to 2/3 of the of the way to the eye of the hook.

  2. Put drop of super glue on top of the hook shank at that position.

cxi-o-a

 

B
  1. Position the eyes on top of the drop of super glue and tie them in on top of the hook 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 hook shank and between every couple of figure of eight wraps take a firm wrap of thread around the hook shank.
  2. Take the thread back down to the bend of the hook.

cxi-o-b

 

C
  1. For this size #6 fly select eight strands of krystal flash.
  2. For this size #6 CXI Special I have selected 8 strands of krystal flash to form the tail, body and under-wing. For a size #4 CXI Special I like 10 strands of krystal flash for the tail, body and the under-wing and for size #8 CXI Special I like 6 strands of krystal flash for the tail, body and the under-wing.
  3. I don't like the tail cut off square so tease the ends out so that the tips are close but random lengths.

cxi-o-c

 

D
  1. Position the krystal flash so that the tail when tied in will be about 1.5 times the gape of the hook.
  2. Lock the tail in position on top of the hook shank with a couple of firm wraps of thread.
  3. Take the thread forward to directly in front of the dumbbell eyes.

cxi-o-d

Pace yourself with the next two steps steps because you want to finish them with enough krystal flash left over for use as the under-wing.

E
  1. Flatten out the krystal flash and wind it forward to directly behind the dumbbell eyes.
  2. Do a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes.
  3. Now take the krystal flash backward doing a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes on the opposite diagonal.
  4. Wind the krystal flash back down to the bend of the hook.

cxi-o-e

 

F
  1. Wind the krystal flash forward again to directly behind the dumbbell eyes and again do a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes.
  2. Now take the krystal flash backward doing a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes on the opposite diagonal.
  3. Finally take the krystal flash forward to in front of the dumbbell eyes and tie it off on top of the hook shank and tie it along the top of the remain part of the hook shank to just behind the eye of the hook.
  4. Take the thread back to just in front of the dumbbell eyes.
  5. Apply a thin coat of head cement to the body of the fly and the tie in of the dumbbell eyes.

cxi-o-f

 

G
  1. Turn the hook over in the vice.
  2. Separate the krystal flash that you have left for the under-wing, pull it up to the underside of the hook shank with the loose ends projecting backward so that the tips are directly above the tips of the tail.
  3. Trim away any excess krystal flash so that the wing will extends beyond the back of the hook the same distance as the tail.

cxi-o-g

 

H
  1. Select a small bunch of your over-wing material.
 pink-h

 

I
  1. Hold the bunch firm between your thumb and forefinger and with you other thumb and forefinger pinch off any wispy ends.
pink-i

 

J
  1. Position the over-wing so that it sits neatly over the krystal flash under-
    wing.
  2. Tie the over-wing material in with several form wraps of thread.
  3. Trim away any excess over-wing material and build up a neat thread head and whip finish the thread.
  4. Trim away the excess thread and apply a coat of head cement to the head.

cxi-o-h



Last Updated: May 11, 2024
Author:
Categories: Trout, Trout flies