THINGS

SALTWATER - TROPICAL

THINGS

The original thing was pink and white and was tied by Graham White of Darwin the early 80's. It got its name "pink thing" when one of his mates asked for "a lend of one of those pink things". Whilst the "pink thing" was tied as a barra fly it has turned out to be a great dirty water fly for a range of tropical species. Other colour combinations have evolved and my three favourites are set out below. The yellow is also a dirty water fly whereas the black and orange is better suited to tannin stained water. They can all be tied without eyes, with painted on or holographic eyes or with bead chain or dumbbell eyes.

Availability of materials as much as anything else has led me to modify the tie a little. I found that the tail hackle I was using broke off easily when hit by a fish and rather than finishing up with a tail less fly I have added a foundation of bucktail. Funny enough it as seemed to stop the hackles breaking off.

MATERIALS:

Hook - Stainless or saltwater 2/0-4/0
Thread - Strong thread of the dominant colour
Tail - Foundation of bucktail and up to 2saddle hackles tied each sides of the bucktail tail deceiver style
Highlight - Four to six strands tied each side of the tail and as long as the tail
Body - Thread.
Beard - I only include a contrasting beard of orange bucktail on my black and orange thing
Hackle - Hackles heavily palmered toward the eye of the hook and then tied back a little
Head - Build up a uniform head of thread
Eyes - Bead chain eyes or alternative

Wrap the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook.
Select a small bunch of buck tail and tie it in at the bend of the hook with the tips extending as a tail behind the hook.

The tail should extend a distance equal to 2 times the length of a hook shank on a standard 34007 hook. If your using a shorter style hook this distance may be equal to 3 times the length of that hook shank and if your using a longer shank hook this distance may be only 1.5 times the length of that hook shank.

To complete the tail of the fly select two matching hackle feathers and tie them in with the curve facing inward on one side of the hook extending the length of the buck tail. Then select two matching hackle feathers that curve the opposite direction and tie them in with the curve facing inward on one the other side of the hook.
Tie in a couple of strands of highlight material on each side of the tail as long as the tail.
Wind the thread 1/3 of the way back to the eye of the hook in touching turns.

Select several quite small bunches of bucktail and tie them in around the hook shank with the tips extending uniformly around the hook shank and behind the fly a distance equal to two standard hook shanks.
You can also select a small bunch of contrasting bucktail and tie it in on bottom of the hook shank with the tips just long enough to obscure the bend of the hook.
Wind the thread 2/3 of the way back toward the eye of the hook in touching turns.

Depending on the quality of the hackle material select one or more hackles and tie them in by the butt/s.

Wind the hackle/s forward in touching turns half of the remaining distance tie them off and trim the excess.

Pull the hackle tips back a little and take a couple of wraps of thread in front of the hackles to retain that shape.

If your tying in bead chain or dumbbell eyes tie them in now just behind the eye of the hook.

It was bead chain eyes on the original but sometimes I use holographic eyes or just paint them on. It is important to make sure there is a little weight toward the front of the hook so that it will swim properly.

Build up a neat head of thread.

If you haven't tied in bead chain or dumbbell eyes you may want to apply holographic or dolls eyes on both side of the head about half way along the thread head .

The final step is to apply a little 5 minute epoxy or soft coat to the head.