Happy New Year !

Shad style Baitfish

Here's a little Shad style baitfish pattern created using some long Hi ties and short Lo ties.
I will do a step by step or possibly a video soon to demonstrate the techniques used to achieve the profile in the pattern. The fly can be used for both Salt and fresh water predators.

Polar Flash Dubbing

Here's a great material by Czec company Sybai, their Polar Flash Dubbing.
This is a super fine and soft material with superb translucent properties. The Dubbing also has a super fine flash blended in. Not as short as normal Dubbings this is designed specifically for Bonefish shrimp patterns and small Baitfish imitations and is cut slightly longer. Very easy to use and create some great fly patterns from, the limit is just your imagination ! Available in a wide range of colours.

Here is a small Baitfish pattern tied with the Polar flash Dubbing, once submerged in the water the fibres will open out giving a broader but more transparent profile with great movement even at 2.5 inches long !

Transparent Baitfish fly

I'm not sure who the originator of this type of pattern is, but no doubt it was designed with Sea Trout in mind, however it's one of those patterns that is far more versatile than perhaps the originator intended. Certainly it will take Bass and Pollock here in the U.K but no doubt many other species around the world will find it's simple elegant form attractive enough to munch on !

So here's a variation that I have come up with. The body is made from Sybai Polar Flash Dubbing which is a beautiful soft translucent material that I think suits the design parameters of this pattern down to the ground. In the core is a tiny pinch of Deer Creek Laser Dub in red, a very thin mylar tube is used for the tail to which I have inserted a grizzly hackle to form the Caudal fin. The head is finished with a small amount of Deer Creek fine flex UV resin. I'll certainly be carrying a few colour variants of this fly in my box next season !