Comment on this pattern

Current Tags for This Pattern
/ baitfish / Craft Fur / Flash / Krystal Flash / Marker / Saddle /

Extended Body Baitfish

 
tied by Sean Juan
Fly Type: General Freshwater, General Saltwater,
Target Species: not available Freshwater Bass, Bluefish, Pike, Striped Bass,
Recommended Region: Northeast US,
Imitation: General Baitfish,
Material List*:
Hook 2/0

Tail - four saddle hackles on 50lb mono

Body - Craft Fur cut backing material into narrow strip 1/4" palmer forward

Extras - Krystal Flash accents, mylar eye, marker for Gill and back
*Materials with links give you direct access to that product at the J. Stockard store.
Tying Instructions: Extended tail

In this example I used regular 50lb mono, stretched between two vises and tie in saddle hackle directly to the mono, super glue to keep things in place.

Other materials that could be used for the tail are wire leader material, Hard Mono (which would be straighter but less flexible) or a much heavier mono up to 200 lbs. The MOST important thing to note is that whatever material is used make sure it is either stiff enough or short enough to avoid becomming fouled. The other point to note is that mono of this thickness has a lot of memory. I used to stretch lengths of it off my deck by tying it to weights, buckets of bricks all sorts of crap - it worked alright but usually after siting in a fly box the curve would come back. Now I don't even bother. Baitfish aren't straight (Especially "brokeback" baitfish) and having a curved section of mono for the tail adds to the action. Wire leader material would be stronger and straighter (with less motion) if that appeals to you, since this isn't a fighting connection I don't worry about it - if you want to make a stinger hooked version I'd go with wire.

The extended tail is exaggerated in this fly normally I'd keep it closer to the main body.

The body

Craft fur comes sold on synthetic skins - to create a thick body fly I merely cut the fur into strips about 1/4 of an inch wide tie it in, advance the thread to the eye and palmer forward. Then you just need to tease the fur out with a needle, comb it (to remove the underfur if you are smart you'll do this first - I always forget) and its done.
Presentation Tips: Fish it like any other baitfish pattern, I find that allowing it to slowly sink with a few twitches is a killer bass presentation.