Many people have mentioned Polar fibre minnows as baitfish patterns.
But i dont remember seeing a Step By Step for it.
I have been tying a few of these up, ready for a trip in March, again i learned as i went along about material quantities and proportion, but once i got it right (IMO) the flies look really nice ,so i thought i'd take so photos and post them up.
Hook. Varivas 2600V size 1
Thread. Ultrathread 210 white
Throat. Red Ultra Hair
Wing. Polar fibre in colours to suit, In this case , White, electric yellow and olive
Sparkle. 5 Strands of Krystal flash, in this case Chartreuse.
Eyes. 3/8th'' holographic dome eyes
Step1: put hook in vice.
Step2: Wrap thread up to be in line with point of hook
Step3. Tie in some ultra hair fibres, not too many though.
Step4. Wrap one turn of thread under the fibres to kick them up a bit.
Step5. Tie down fibres trying only to cover the part the wings will be covering.
Step6. Cut off some polar fibre, take right from the root. A small amount is good.
Step7. Stroke the root end of the fibres to remove the underhair, quite a lot will come off even a small section.
Step8. Once you have removed all the extra fluff, the polar fibre should look very sleek and even to the tips.
Step9. Tie in the polar fibre, leaving about 2-3 turns of thread from the root end of the Red Ultra Hair.
Step10. Repeat Step 6-8 and tie in the hair leaving 2-3 turns from the root of the last lot of fibre.
Step11. Repeat Step 6-8 and lay the fibres onto the hook as in step 10.
Step12. Tie down the wing leaving space for the next two bundles.
Step13. This close up shows the gaps left between the bundles, ie the 2-3 turns.
Step14. Cut the tails of the fibres flat on the top, this makes the tying in more even
Step15. This is how the fibres should look prior to tying down.
Step16. Tie in the Krystal flash and butt it right up to the root of the last lot of fibres.
Step17. Repeat steps 6-8 for the first colour of the wing, in this case Electric yellow and tie in the bundle with 2-3 turns from the roots of the last bundle.
Step18. Repeat step 17 for the second colour of the wing this time olive. Cut the tails flat at the top again.
Step19. Tie down the tails and Whip finish a nice neat head.
Step20. The fly should look like this, nice and even with regular gaps between the bundles.
Step21. get fly, epoxy and eyes ready for use.
Step22. Apply epoxy to back of eyes and place in the appropriate position on the fly.
Step23. Do the same for the other side. Squeeze them together, the polar fibres will not seperate with the epoxy squeezed through them, so it is quite easy to work the rest of the fly.
Step24. Apply a little epoxy to the underside of the fly between the eyes and on the thread head. Just enough to cover the exposed thread.
Step25. Apply some to the top of the fly as well, taking care not to go up the wing higher than the eyes. put the fly in the flydrier to cure for a few minutes.
The finished fly
It should have a nice profile and nice and slim to make for easy casting.
It could be tied in almost any size up to the size i've made it, after that the fibres look to short for the hook and it is unbalanced.
Cheers
Sandy
