After seeing endless schools of herring fry, then watching the fish I’d just caught regurgitate a bunch of the same little fish, I decided to tie some flies to imitate those baitfish.
I started with crystal flash chenille for the body.
The wing has 3 layers, starting with white marabou…
…followed by a layer of green marabou…
…topped off with green crystal flash.
I finished it with about an inch of this crystal flash that comes as a sort of tube.
Lastly, I added a bit of acrylic paint for the eyes.
I tied 4 versions of this fly; they are basically the same, except that there is a 5-layer wing on the black/blue/white fly; white marabou, silver crystal flash, black marabou, black crystal flash, topped with a little bit of blue hair. I also lightly painted the top of its head with acrylic paint.
I plan on running these behind a dodger when I’m paddling my kayak. If I were fishing from a heavier boat I would tie these on a heavier hook, It can be hard to make a good hook set in a kayak, but these light wire hooks should penetrate more easily than a standard salmon hook. I don’t have to worry about the hooks bending out because it’s nearly impossible to put that much pressure on a fish from a kayak.
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