During the past 10 years or so there has been a boom in the manufacturing of synthetic fly tying materials. I believe a lot of these materials are used in other industries, creative fly tying material manufacturers quickly pick up the uses of these materials as a potential fly tying material and manufacture similar materials.
Apparently flashes as we know today, especially all the flashabous, were originally used as showgirl wigs and decorative materials. Back then these materials weren't available in funky colours, like Steelhead Silver, Midnight Blitz and Wild Olive like it is today. Fishient, a proudly South Africa business has revolutionised synthetic materials and exports to more than 40 countries. Based in Scottburgh Natal, the innovative Cliff Rochester and his wife Tarryn are on the forefront of bringing us fanatical fly fishers a wide range of synthetics, they just know that we love all the available colours and are just as easily caught as a hungry West Coast snoek when a new colour hits the shelves.
We have had good sucess in the local Western Cape waters with synthetic baitfish imitations. These patterns cast extremely well and shed water quickly. If tied and trimmed correctly these flies will not foul while casting, something which is a very important aspect of any fly. I have sent up a few to the Zambezi last week and it took numerous Tigerfish before it started showing some visible signs of injury. After all these flies are great fun to tie, even if they might not see any water and just looks pretty in the fly box.
By using marker pens most minnows can be imitated.
Tying a Southern Mullet
Recipe
Thread: 6/0 or mono.
Hook: Any short shank, wide gape hook like the Gamakatsu SL12S, SC15, SC17. Hook size to be proportioned to fly size.
Gills: Polar Fiber or Frizz Fiber or Mirror Image.
Body materials: Any of the following range of Fishient synthetics – SF Blend, Mirror Image, Deadly Dazzle, Slinky Blend. There is aslo other brands of materials, but I am not familiar with these.
Pull the fibers in the middle of a section of materials outwards to create a taper. Tie in a length of white body material approxiamtely 2.5 – 3 times hook shanklength. I cover the base section with Loon Soft Head up to a point just past the gills. This gives the fly a "spine" and will aid in the fly not fouling while casting.
Use the same colours, the length extending backwards is slightly shorter than the length extending forwards. In this example,white below, grey on the sides and mullet brown on top. Use a empty pen casing topush the fibers back.
The following step is important, create a thread "foot" by making thread wraps back and forth, this will gradually push the fibers back. Add varnish after each step, this improves durability. If the fibers are just tied down there tend to be holes in the body when trimmed.
I prefer trimming the fly from the belly side first. It is also easier trimming the fly from the tail side forwards, since every cut is against the fibers' direction. By using quality scissors the end product will be much neater. Add the approriate size eyes (I use Alcolin clear glue) when the general shape has been cut out, further trimming will be made much easier. The eyes provide a very good reference to create the right size body.
The finished fly. Add epoxy to the thread wraps and I also cover the eyes with epoxy with a thin line of epoxy connecting the hook eye with the fly eyes for added durability.
Synthetic Baitfish
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