JAX TWENTY-FOUR SEVEN SMELT
FULL MOON! OH NO! This is the lament of many fly fishers who feel that the moon light spoils their fishing.
Well this Fly can and has on numerous occasions proved to be a good fish fetcher for me.
My reasoning is that if the moon turns the night to day. Then fish as though it is daylight.
Give it a try and the beauty of this fly is that it is just as effective in real daylight.
JAX TWENTYFOUR SEVEN SMELT
Materials:
- TAIL: White Poly Yarn over Hot Orange Antron wool
- BODY: Aurora Skirt
- RIB: Silver Wire
- WING: White Poly Yarn Wing Topping Five or six strands Pearl Krystal Flash
- HEAD: Crystal Chenille
- THREAD: White Uni Thread
- HOOK: Black Magic B 6 to B10
STEP 1
Wrap hook shank with thread from the eye to the start of the hook bend
STEP 2
Spiral the thread back toward the eye for 2/3 of shank length.
STEP 3
Catch in tail material where thread was left hanging
STEP 4
Tie in tail material back toward bend
STEP 5
Clip excess tail material and cut tail to size
STEP 6
Spiral thread toward eye and catch in Tail topping material
STEP 7
Tie in tail topping material back along shank to start of the bend then spiral thread back to front tie off point.
STEP 8
Clip excess tail topping material and Catch in Wire for ribbing
STEP 9
Tie in wire ribbing and secure
STEP 10
Tie in a strip of Aurora Skirt fluorescent material at start of bend
STEP 11
Wrap Aurora Skirt strip forward to tie off point Overlapping each Second wrap to give a ribbed effect. Tie off and secure
STEP 1 2
Spiral the wire rib forward Anti Clockwise following the raised rib edge of the body. Clip any excess material
STEP 13
Tie in a strip of White Poly Yarn material for the wing. Allow a bit of overhang at the tail end for trimming later. Clip excess material
STEP 14
Tie in Five or Six strands of Opal Crystal Flash as a wing topping and trim to suite wing length
STEP 15
Tie in a short length of Crystal Chenille for the head
STEP 16
Wrap three tight turns of the Crystal Chenille toward the eye. The first turn of chenille, should be hard up against the base of the wing material Stroke the chenille fibres back toward the bend at each turn. Tie off and secure
STEP 17
Trim excess chenille and tidy the head area
STEP 18
Whip Finish the head
STEP 19
Clip thread and apply head cement. I also put one or two drops of head cement on top at the place where the head and wing join
STEP 20
Trim the tailing edge of the wing to a slightly rounded profile tidy up as necessary, then Go Fishing.
For more great info, check out:
Beginning Fly Tying | Intermediate Fly Tying | Advanced Fly Tying.