Jolly Roger -- take two

[pittendrigh]

I posted this once before, about a week ago. So you might wonder "why again?"

This fly deserves a second look. This is an amazingly effective fly or flure or lure, whatever you feel compelled to call it. There are not many artificials that attract more strikes than this guy. It continues to surprise me.

And I've learned a little more about making them. To work with plastic worm resin you have to apply heat. I started out working with a $30 pawn shop microwave. But microwaves are hard to control and they tend to supply uneven heat. I bought a thermostatically controlled "toaster oven" at the goodwill store a few days ago, for 15 bucks. It works like a charm. You set the temperature. Set the cooking time. Turn it on and walk away. 5 minutes later (when it's all cooled down) you have a dinner plate-sized circle of thin nylon-mesh reinforced, soft gooey and ultra-flexible semi-transparent plastic to work with.

Put spawn sack on a ceramic plate.
Pour on slightly colored plastic worm resin (Barlow's Tackle, Lakeland, Janns Netcraft or many others).
The resin comes in a quart bottle. Colors come in tiny eye-dropper like bottles. Root-beer, green and yellow are the most useful.
Cook the resin for 5 minutes at 460 degrees or so.

Let it cool. Snip out a minnow body shape.
Cut a split shot in two halves. Flatten each half with smooth face needle nose.
Snell a hook to a #12 swivel.
Thread the hook through the body of the minnow.
Wrap flat nylon around the front end of the body and the back end of the swivel LOOSELY.
Put a drop of thin CA glue on the thread wraps.

Use thin CA glue to fasten a flattened split shot to either side of the minnow body at the eye position.
Use thin CA glue to fasten an adhesive backed molded plastic eye to the flat surface of the flattened split shot.

Surround the head with thick UV glue (Clear-Cure-Goo, Loon, etc).
Kick the UV glue off with an ultra-violet flashlight.

Sew in a few flashy adornments (tail and pectorals, for instance).
Lock the tail in place with thin CA glue.
Lock the pectorals in place with water-based fabric cement (Tear Mender, etc).

Fish with confidence. This is a hot-as-a-pistol flure. Depending on the size of the split shot you use--to make the eye sockets with--you can vary the weight from next to nothing to too heavy to cast. It sinks like a stone. Has good action in the water. And the fish really do seem to like its semi-transparent look. The swivel is important because this fly will curl ripple and flutter in the water, and occasionally zoom off sharply left or right. Without the swivel you'd twist up the tippet. In Montana 'fly fishing only' is a concept that does not have any legal standing. There is no such thing here, at least not on public waters. I fish it with a fly rod because that's my way. You could--I suppose--make these heavy enough to throw with a spinning rod. But the ones I make are too light to cast with spinning equipment. If they aren't flies they're fly rod something-or-others. And they sure do catch fish.