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Fly Tying
Matt McK

Mahi/dorado fly patterns?

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Anyone have any for the Destin area fishing? Really small chicken dorado looking for a smaller pattern any help?

Thanks,

Matt Mck

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When I was tying commercially, Deceivers were popular. Everyone has their own favorites & sizes. Colors such as green & yellow, green & chartreuse, chartreuse & white, chartreuse & pink, and even black & purple were some I tied frequently. As best as I can recall, most folks were tossing flies around floating debris & vegetation mats depending on where they were. Most of the flies I tied for dorado were 2/0 or 3/0, but Deceivers can be tied any size you wish. Hope this helps.

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I recently caught a bunch of 8 - 10 lb mahi, just on a 1/0 and 2/0 ep tie i do...not sure if they are similar size to what you are talking about but excellent fun on light gear, we use igfa leader set ups with the small 30/40 lb shock/ bite. My class i went down to 8 lb so we got points if the fish went above. They love minnows, clousers, poppers etc. ultimate fly rod fish, crazy fun on the fads!

 

P4052087_zpse2dc75b6.jpg

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Get into a feeding school of peanut dolphin and they will eat anything you throw at them, including a bare hook. Otherwise, baitfish flies like the ones Jam showed, deceivers in light blue, chartreuse and white (or any similar combination) and poppers are all popular choices.When in doubt, go with a chartreuse over white clouser, that fly will catch anything. For peanuts, 1/0 or 2/0 should be fine or even smaller

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I recently caught a bunch of 8 - 10 lb mahi, just on a 1/0 and 2/0 ep tie i do...not sure if they are similar size to what you are talking about but excellent fun on light gear, we use igfa leader set ups with the small 30/40 lb shock/ bite. My class i went down to 8 lb so we got points if the fish went above. They love minnows, clousers, poppers etc. ultimate fly rod fish, crazy fun on the fads!

 

P4052087_zpse2dc75b6.jpg

Great looking flies any tutorial on how they are tied?

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Many years ago I read an article in a "Garcia Annual" that stressed a yellow Seaducer with a red head. It did look like a lot of fun. It said to leave a fish in the water long enough for another fly caster to hook up on another fish, A hooked fish would have it's buddies chasing the hooked fish around and the second angler could get an easy hook up.

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Many years ago I read an article in a "Garcia Annual" that stressed a yellow Seaducer with a red head. It did look like a lot of fun. It said to leave a fish in the water long enough for another fly caster to hook up on another fish, A hooked fish would have it's buddies chasing the hooked fish around and the second angler could get an easy hook up.

 

Albacore will do that too - guess it's easier to steal a meal from your friends than it is to get your own. That's loyalty for ya!

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Hi Matt, i do have a brief sbs that i did for a captain in Vanuatu, he is even catching wahoo on it in a much beefier 8/0 but yes it has undone a few mahi. Can be done in any colour u like.

 

Modified EP Fish.
1/0 - 4/0 sl12s or ss15 hook
Ep fibers in turquois and white
red dubbing or silky fiber for gills
fine mono thread
for flash i have used minnow fringe in 'herring back' http://www.flyworld.com.au/view/20121118144259/
Stick on eyes of your choice plus zap goop to stick them on

Basically the tying stage is divided into 4 parts, part 1 & 2 are the same, part 3 & 4 is the same

first add some gills if you like near the bend of the hook by doubling over a short rolled piece of dubbing or section of silky fiber, trim to size.

Now step 1 & 2, take around 5 strands of the pearl flash from the minnow fringe tie ontop, take a small length of the turquoise ep fiber (around thickness of a matchstick) usually just over half a full length for 1/0 to full length for 4/0. Place ontop of hook in the middle of this noodle lash the thread, double the noodle over towards the back, lash down.

Take a section of white ep (once again matchstick thickness) tie in at the halfway point of it just infront of the turquoise but facing downwards on a 45 degree angle. grab the top facing bit and fold over to the otherside and again downwards and 45 degree, lash down.

Grab another section of white ep, just over 1/2 full length for 1/0, fold in half over the thread hold back and lash to the side facing your straight back, so u got the turquoise ontop, white going down on a 45, and this folded section going back.

That is is reapeat this step once more for the tail section (length)

Step 3 & 4

I stop using the flash and now it is easy, do the same as step 1 & 2 for the top colour but progressively shorter lengths of ep. Next grab a short piece of white maybe 3 inches (much shorter as we are building the front), tie in and down in the centre poing on a downwards 45 degree angle, now instead of flipping it over the otherside, pull it down again on the same angle just infront.

Reapeat. If you have still room left to the head of the fly repeat this step 3 & 4 as long as it takes. To finish off, grab a very short piece of EP in the top colour and tie it in folded.

Whip finish....

Trimming and brushing, brush with a comb the top colour kind of in an upwards direction, will look silly but it will come together!, brush the white down so the 2 colours are seperate...Now brush with 3 strokes back on one side, flip and brush with 3 strokes back on the other...Get scissors and now trim from the head in a long trianle pattern, check fiber placement, and then trim to final desired shape.

Place back in vice and re- attach thread once minnow shape is achieved, now lash onto a nice lot of the blue colour from the minnow fringe, you can add some to each side and the bottom depending on how flashy you want it, glue eyes on with good, whip finish again, and add some sally hansen.

The tying pattern before trimming will look like an odd mess, some people measure lenghths really carefully to get a good profile, i do a rough job then just trim to shape after combing...looking for that step 1 & 2 to be the tail, and the 3 & 4 to be the body/ head.

Any questions let me know...You may find use in these video's tho!! It is an okay deal i don't mind supporting enrico as his flies work really well and you will get incredible detail and hints.

https://www.epflies.com/member/login/

Mike

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Sometimes they get lockjaw and won't eat anything. And I have heard to keep some small dark flies handy as they look like some of the small fish that live in the grass and also have heard shrimp will work when all else fails.

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On a recent Dorado trip to Loretto, Mexico, all the guys in my group scored best with Crease Flies by far. I hate the darn things. :-)

 

Tight lines,

Bob

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