CANDY

SALTWATER - OFFSHORE

CANDY

Candy flies or more properly "Surf Candy" flies were developed by renowned American salt water fly tier Bob Popovics specifically as a baitfish imitation to target bonito and albacore. They are a robust fly and work very well on pelagics such as members of the tuna family, Australian salmon and yellow tailed kingfish particularly when they are feeding on eyes and krill. Whilst the fly can be tied using materials such as polar fibre or craft fur or un-crinkled nylon materials such as 'Fishhair' I think that candies work better when tied with crinkly nylon fibre material such as 'Superhair' or 'Supreme hair'. Also, both these materials take on a translucency when wet and I think this is one of the triggers to the fly's success.

MATERIALS:

Hook - Size 2 to 2/0 Stainless.
Thread - Clear monofilament.
Belly - White Super hair or any similar material.
Belly flash - Talon Pearlflash
Back - Darker Super hair or any similar material.
Lateral line - Tiewell Sparkleflash or any similar
Eyes - Holographic stick on eyes.
Finish - two coats of clear 5 minute epoxy.

Wind the thread in touching turns from the eye of the hook to the bend of the hook and back to the 80% position.
Tie in just a few strands of flashy material such as Krinkleflash or Pearlflash under the fly to add some flash to the belly of the fly and hide the shank of the hook. I prefer Talon Pearlflash because its much more robust than many of the other materials. When the fly is fished this little bit of flash may make all the difference between your fly being seen in the middle of a feeding frenzy.

Tie in a clump of white Superhair above the shank of the hook to represent the bulk of the belly of the bait fish being imitated. Avoid the trap of tying the candy too sparse or too heavy and target an amount of superhair that flares out to between 1/3 and 1/2 the gape of the hook at the bend of the hook.

Tie in a bunch of darker superhair on top of the fly to represent the back of the baitfish being imitated. The bunch of back material should be equal in volume to the bunch of belly material used in step B.

Tie in just a few strands of darker material along the intersection of the belly and the back of the fly on each side of the fly to represent the lateral lines of the bait fish.
Whip finish the thread, tie it off and trim the excess.

Mix up a small amount of 5 minute epoxy and apply a thin coat over the front third of the fly. I like to hold the body material of the fly rigid with my left hand and apply the epoxy to the body with the aid of a tooth pick. If you have only applied a little epoxy you don't have to rotate the fly to avoid the epoxy from drooping.

Once the epoxy has gone off stick holographic eyes on each side of the fly.

Mix up another batch of 5 minute epoxy and apply a liberal coat over the area from above the bend of the hook, over the holographic eyes and to the eye of the hook.
Rotate the fly until the epoxy has gone off so as to ensure an symmetrical shaped head.
If necessary trim the tail of the fly so that the tail is around one and a half times as long as the hook. I prefer a rounded or tapered end on the tail rather than a straight perpendicular cut.