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In the #3/0 mega size this is one of my three main goto flies when I am chasing barra in both fresh and salt water Central Queensland environments. The 1/0 smallest size is great for fresh water tarpon and the middle #2/0 is a good general prospecting size.

It doesn't matter if you fishing the smaller 9cm versions of this fly or the 15cm mega version but I suggest that you fish these flies on a #10 weight fly rod as they are big flies that are well suited to big fish both of which will overpower light fly rods.

When I was first working out colours to tie flies in for barra in Central Queensland one of the dominant colour combinations suggested was Qantas colours of red head with white body and those colours have been applied here.

Depending on water depth and where the fish are holding I fish my articulated rattle flies on an intermediate or fast sink line and find that working the fly through or close to structure with short strips and plenty of pauses works best.This is a fly that has gone through 4 evolutionary changes over the last 3 years with each version taking longer to evolve and each version being just a little better than its predecessor.

Depending on water depth and where the fish are holding I fish my articulated rattle swimmers on an intermediate or fast sink line and find that working the fly through or close to structure with short strips and plenty of big pauses works best.

Other colour combinations:

• Brown bomber colours
• Orange & yellow lure colours

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	Place you hook firmly in the vice. The original version of this fly was tied on a size # 1/0 Mustard 34007 stainless hook and that's what I have used below. I also tie this fly in #2/0 and #3/0 versions and using Gamkatsu Sl15S anodised hooks. Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook. Tie in a marabou tail. The target length of tail should be twice the length of the hook shank but its not uncommon to have to accept shorter tails because of the lack of availability of long marabou.

B	If there are any ridges in the dressing use a bit of scrap material to fill in the ridges or gaps.

C	Tie a length of FNF chenille along the top of the hook shank. Take the thread forward to just behind the eye of the hook.

D	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. Tie the FNF chenille off directly behind the eye of the hook and trim away the excess. Whip finish the fly body and apply a liberal coat of varnish or a couple of drops of super glue to the whip finish.

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

E	Slide an articulated shank through the eye of the hook. 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.

F	Start half way along the shank and wind the thread back toward the rear eye of the shank. Tie in a length of palmer chenille.

G	Wind the palmer chenille forward taking 6 tight touching turns. Tie the palmer chenille off and trim the excess away with a sharp blade.

H	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. Tie in a length of FNF Jelly Chenille. Wind the thread forward to just behind the eye of the shank.

I	Tie in your dumbbell eyes 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. Tying in dumbbell eyes Finish with the thread behind the eyes.

J	Tie you rattle on top of the hook shank. A couple of drops of super glue through the tie in of the dumbbell eyes and the tie in of the glass rattle will ensure that the eyes and rattle are permanently locked into position.

K	Wet the FNF chenille and taking care to stroke all the fibres of the FNF chenille back between each turn as you wind it forward in tight touching turns to behind the dumbbell eyes. Tie the FNF chenille off behind the dumbbell eyes and trim the excess FNF chenille away using a sharp blade. Take the thread over the dumbbell eyes and whip finish behind the eye of the shank. Trim away the excess thread and put a drop of super glue on the whip fished thread.

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