Search the Community

Hey Guy’s, I’ve recently learnt some really exciting methods with tying surf candys/epoxy baitfish patterns. Happy to share what I’ve learnt if anyone is interested. Picked up the techniques from outstanding fly tyer Giannidepace. How do you tie yours? All the best, Chris

The Surf Candy was originally designed by Bob Popovics and has become a staple in many saltwater fishermans boxes. Like any good fly pattern, over the years there have been many variations made. This variation utilizes a dumbbell eye to keep the hook point up which will make it a bit more weedless. While not fool proof, it will snag much less easy on driftwood or other debris on the sea floor. That means you can fish it in some places that you normally could not fish the regular surf candy. I like adding the red sparkle type dubbing right behind the dumbbell eyes to mimic a gill or bleeding spot on the fish. However this is not required and you could leave that part out. Here is a list of all the materials I used today _________________________ Hook: Gamakatsu SC15 in size 1 1st Thread: Danville's 210 Flat Waxed in Red 2nd Thread: Danville's Fine Monofilament Thread Weight: Painted Medium Lead Dumbbell Eye Bleed Spot: Starburst Dubbing in red Bottom Fiber: Unique Hair in clear/white Top Fiber: Super Hair in light blue 1st Resin: Solarez "Thin Hard" UV curing resin 2nd Resin: Solarez "Thick Hard" UV curing resin 3rd Resin: Solarez "Bone Dry" UV curing resin

This "flash minnow candy" uses a flexible UV curing resin for the body shape of the fly. Instead of using hard curing resin which doesn't feel realistic, and is prone to cracking/breaking. This will be more durable, and utilizing a flashy material, it will shine brilliantly in the water. This fly is great for both fresh and saltwater fish. Hook: Gamakatsu SS15 size 2 Tail fiber: Unique hair - clear/white Flash fiber: Starburst dubbing - pearl, holographic silver, jet black Eyes: 3D 4mm eyes Eye adhesive: Fletch Tite Body Resin: Solarez "flex" UV curing resin Thread: Danville clear monofilament thread - Fine

Surf Candies are a great fly for a subtle presentation. These mimic a small transparent fish very well. Made originally by Bob Popovics to fish bluefish in the surf, these quickly started showing up in fly fisherman's boxes for just about all species. Traditionally tied with this olive color, you can tie just about any color you want. They will match most of the hatches in the world both saltwater inshore and freshwater. These are also very durable flies since the first 1/3 of the fly is covered in epoxy. Toothy fish will not be able to rip off the flies hairs. Hook: Gamakatsu SC15 size 1/0 Thread: Clear Monofilament (fine) Fiber: Ultra Hair in Clear and Olive(or any fine crimped clear fiber) Flash: Flashabou (fine) Lateral Line: Flashabou (thick/saltwater) Epoxy: Solarez "Thin Hard", "Thick Hard" and "Ultra Thin - Bone Dry" formula's. https://youtu.be/pVDYJToSOaA

Hey guys, I just finished the ridiculously long process of moving from California to New Mexico. I finally was able to unpack all my stuff, and setup for a quick video. I now have a bit more room to work with in the new place, and was able to shoot with the camera over the shoulder so you can get the POV type of video. (Thanks for those who recommended this). Sorry I have been away for over a month, I just really had many issues with this move. We have been staying in a hotel for what seems like forever. Anyway, now that I am unpacked, I will be back to my 1-2 video's per week schedule. Please enjoy this new video. The Mc Fry Glass Candy is a variation of my Mc Fry Glass Minnow in which I epoxy up the hook shank a bit more. I also use a few different materials as well. This is a very realistic looking fly that is made to mimic small fry or glass minnows. Occasionally fish will be feeding exclusively on these small fish. When they do that, you need to get a good fry imitation out there. I tied this to be very realistic and mimic the small fry perfectly. Hook: Gamakatsu SC15 size 1/0 Thread: Danville ultra fine monofiliment Body wrap: Super Pearl Braid, and Super tinsel twist Fiber: Super Flash Dubbing (Pearl and Holo-Silver) Eyes: 3/32" silver eyes Epoxy: Solarez "thin hard" and "bone dry" formula Music: Sunny, funnysong, ukulele - Bensound.com

Well... What a weekend... Just got back last night from a 4 day trip with a bunch of good blokes down to the Cold Salt waters of Newcastle, in New South Wales. Where we fished one of Australia's largest tidal lakes. It started out less than promising, but by the end of day 1 I already had landed two new species (a luderick / black fish) and an Australian Salmon (which aren't actually salmonoids, but perch). The 4m plus seas were interesting on Saturday, and it was so much colder than home (I am now back at home in shorts). By the end of the weekend I couldn't tell you how many fish we had brought to hand, but olive over white and gray over white surf candies typically did the trick on moderately fast retrieves after allowing the flies to sink on intermediate 8wt lines for about 3 to 5 seconds... They are a fish that if they grew as large as GT's would probably be unstoppable. Just fantastic sport. I can't tell you how many we caught, but of the Scores of fish only 5 were kept for fish cakes. The nest times of day were around the changing light periods of dawn and dusk.... If you're ever down that way in the Aussie winter, do yourself a favour I'll let the rest of the story be told by pics....