SALTWATER - INSHORE

WEED FLY - SINKING

Black fish move into the estuaries and around the coastal rocks at different times of the year and become challenging targets for fly fishermen. If they are actively feeding on weed around structure or you have used burley such as weed and sand to get the blackfish feeding they will often take a weed fly suspended or slowly sinking through the feeding zone.

BREAD FLY - SINKING

All sorts of estuary fish respond to bread burley and will take a sinking bread fly suspended or slowly sinking through the feeding zone.

The same tie is used for both of the above flies. The only difference is that the bread fly is dubbed a little heavier and then trimmed to shape. These flies should be weighted enough to sink but not so weighted that it becomes unnatural in their action. It is often often useful to suspend these flies under a floating bread fly or other buoyant fly so that you can detect any bites.

MATERIALS:

Hook - Size 6 to 10 stainless
Thread - Green
Weight - Lead wire
Body & back - Polar fibre

A) Wind the thread from the 95% position to just before the bend of the hook in touching turns. Wind the desired amount of lead wire around the middle section of the hook shank. On this fly I have used 15 wraps of .015 lead wire. Take the thread back up the fly over the lead and then back to the bend of the hook. Make a dubbing loop at the bend of the hook. There are of course other ways of adding weight to a fly.
B) Load the dubbing hook up with long strands of polar fibre.
C) Twist the dubbing loop into a rope.
D) Using a piece of "male" Velcro's pick out fibres all the way along the rope.
E) The dubbing rope should now look like this.
F) Wind the dubbing rope toward the eye of the hook in touching turns stroking back the loose fibres at each wrap of the thread so that the next wrap of the thread doesn't tie any of the fibres down. Build up a neat head of thread, whip finish, trim the thread and varnish the head.

11-Jun-2008Last modified: 06-Aug-2005.