Step by Steps, Mylar Sandeel

Another step by step by popular demand, My Mylar Sandeel...

You will need

 

 



 

 

 

Hook in Vice, lay down a short bed of mono. Leave a small gap of a couple of millimetres or so to tie in the front of the Mylar for the Sandeels nose later on. 

 

 



Pick out a sparse bunch of White Bucktail about 31/2 times the length of the hook. Clean out the Bucktail by pulling out any long ends and then hold the tips and flick the butt sections to loosen any short hair. You should now be left with a sparse bunch of Material of more or less equal length.
Tie in as below, hook inverted to form the belly of the fly, and trim butts flush with mono leaving our 2mm gap at the front.

 

 



Now Tie in a few strands of Sunburst Yellow Flashabou on top of the hook.

 

 



Now pick out a very thin piece of Yellow Bucktail and clean it out as above. You should be left with around a dozen or so individual hairs, and tie it in on top of the flashabou.

 

 



Tie in another few strands of Flashabou and then A sparse bunch of Olive Bucktail.

 

 



 

 

 

 

Next step is to add three strands of Peacock Herl

 

 



Take some Lateral line

 

 



And add a strand onto either side of the fly, trim and whip finish and cut your thread

 

 



Now we come to the fun bit !
Select some small diameter Mylar and slide it over the nose of the fly until it comes to a stop against the bend of the hook

 

 



Mark the Mylar just in line with the bottom of the hook eye and cut

 

 



The next stage can be tricky if you're not used to working with Mylar, you need to capture the Mylar with your Mono thread, I find it best to make a few loose wraps away from the edge of the Mylar, then slowly and carefully tighten the wraps and let them slide down around the end of the tube..

 

 



Once you have done this, apply some cement and whip finish and cut thread.

Now we are going to apply the UV Resin and eyes to the fly

Start by applying a thin coat all round the Mylar, rotating the fly in the vice to ensure even distribution. This first coat will soak into the Mylar and once you cure this coat the next one will sit on top of the Mylar.

 

 



Cure first coat to seal the Mylar

 

 



Apply a second thin coat, this should mostly sit on top of the Mylar now and begin to form a shell. Remember to rotate the vice while applying to get an even finish. Cure this coat.

Now choose your eyes, and position them just before the taper on the nose.

 

 



 



Now coat the eyes with a fairly generous amount of Resin over the eyes and cure.

 

 

 

 



Once the eyes are well coated, finish the rest of the body with resin, this last coat will give the lovely transparent finish and bring out the flash in the Mylar.