To start we are going to have to make two dubbing brushes, and if you dont
have a dubbing brush table then there are a few brushes you can buy that would work,
and I will leave links to them in the description section, but they cost a lot.
So I highly recommend this dubbing brush table made by Oasis Benches.
One of the best on the market at the price point. I will link to the table below as well.
For the first brush, we will need EP fiber,
or this better priced "Congo Hair" from Fly Tyers Dungeon in white.
Also some white craft fur (make sure its the extra select stuff).
And some flashy dubbing like this starburst (also from Fly Tyers Dungeon) in pearl.
Now you have all seen me make brushes before,
so I will not spend too much time on building the brush. And if you are new to the channel,
I will link to a video about making brushes in the description section.
But basically just lay your base material,
which in this case is the Congo hair I cut into about 1 and a half inch lengths.
Then craft fur, sticking out past the Congo hair slightly.
Then on top of all that, some strands of the pearl starburst dubbing
also cut in about 1 and a half inch strands.
Then spin it up, brush it out,
cut it from the table and there you have it, a brush ready to tie 4-5 of these flies.
Now for the 2nd brush.
Still using the white Congo hair as the base.
But to stiffen up the brush a bit, Im using this. Its basically super hair,
just in bulk without the fancy packaging. But super hair would work just fine.
Also we will be using more starburst, but this time in the holographic silver color.
Ok create the brush just like before,
but make the super hair fibers about the same length as the Congo hair.
And there we go, two brushes. The first one is softer and used for the back to blend in the tail,
and the second is stiffer and used to bulk up the head and push more water.
Now to tie the fly.
I am using a beefy saltwater hook since this will be a mullet pattern, used in saltwater.
And these Gamakatsu SL11's in size 2 will work great.
Place the hook securely in your vice.
For thread I am using Veevus 140 power thread in gray.
Start your thread behind the eye of the hook
and bring it down to about half way down the hook shank.
Then come up to about an eye length shy of the eye of the hook,
and then back down and up multiple times to form a thread base to put the dumbbells on.
End with your thread about 2 eye lengths shy of the eye of the hook.
For dumbbells, today I am using a red painted lead dumbbell in the medium size.
Place the dumbbell onto the thread bump, and then tie it down with x wraps and under wraps.
Then bring your thread back slightly into the bend of the
hook and then back up to the start of the bend.
Now we need some craft fur. Cut a small section of fur from the hank,
then clean it up by pulling out all the under fur.
To make it easier to tie in, I like wetting the tips of the fur.
Now measure this to extend about 2 times the hook shank length off the back of the hook.
Then tie back up to just behind the dumbbell eyes and snip off the waste.
Make a couple more wraps to clean up that section,
and end with your thread right about at the hook point mark.
Now put some super glue on the dumbbells to keep them from spinning.
We now need some ostrich hurl. Cut off 4 strands of hurl from the plume,
oops I got a few extra here.
Then align the tips the best you can, and then wet them to make the tie in easier.
Measure out the hurl to extend slightly past the craft fur tail.
Then tie it in with some tight wraps, back to the start of the craft fur tail,
and then back up to the dumbbells.
Instead of grabbing your scissors,
you can just tie back down onto the hurl, and then break it off at the tie in point.
Now we need another clump of craft fur. About the same size as the last.
Tie this in extending out the same length as the last craft fur clump.
Trim off the waste and clean up the section, then bring your thread back to the start of the tail.
Now grab the first brush you made, the one with the craft fur in it.
Tie in the brush tag end, and then bring your thread up to right behind the dumbbell eyes.
Start wrapping the brush up the hook shank with tight touching wraps,
stroking back the fibers with each wrap. Periodically you will want to
brush out the fiber as well to make sure your not trapping any with the wraps.
When you reach the eyes, you can take a bodkin
to separate some fibers to get a nice clean tie in point like so.
Then pull back everything and wrap in front
of the brush before using wire cutters to cut off the brush.
Now you will always be left with a bit of wire sticking up which is sharp and
can cut your thread, so push that back, and then wrap up ontop of it.
Use your bodkin to pick out any trapped fibers the brush might have missed.
Now take the 2nd brush you made, the stiffer one, and tie it in as well.
Make a couple wraps tight against the back of the dumbbell eyes,
and then brush it out.
Now wrap up over the dumbbell eyes in a criss cross pattern like so.
Brush it out once again. Then cross under the eyes
and make a few wraps in front of the dumbbells to finish off the fly.
Use the bodkin trick once again to get a clean tie in point,
and then pull everything rearward and tie back up on top of the brush slightly.
Clip off the excess brush, and again push down the wire tag.
Then make a few wraps over everything to form a small head on the fly.
And now you can whip finish your fly.
To cement the head, I really love this Solarez Ultra Thin resin.
The paint brush applicator makes it easy to cover the entire whip finish,
and it leaves a nice glossy professional look to your fly.
It cures hard with a good UV light in just a few seconds.
Pull the fly out of your vice to trim it.
I like to pull out all the fibers on top of the fly like so,
then make an angled trim from the hook eye back, like so.
Then I try to match that cut on the bottom of the fly as well.
Then I do the same thing on each of the sides. Note that you want
to brush out the fibers before each cut, pulling them outward like this.
Clean up the head a bit with a couple more cuts, and then make a more straight back cut
shaping the rear of the fly like so around each side.
Now we have a good rough shape.
I then go in with my bodkin once again and pick out any trapped fibers.
Trim off any arrant fibers to clean up the body shape.
Then I run it under water, and then go in and trim some more,
refining the shape of the fly. Dont go overboard though with your cuts.
Make small ones, rather than a couple large ones. You can always cut more off, but cant put more on.
Once your happy with the overall shape, then place it aside to dry.
Once dry, then we will want to color the top.
In this case im mimicking a mullet. So I am using a medium gray color.
These Ad markers with their chisel tip make short work of this step.
Color just the top of the fly (remember this fly will swim hook point up).
You might have to trim a few arrant strands again after coloring the top.
But you are basically done.
I tied this fly up for a customer wanting to get some Clouser Minnows to mimic a finger
mullet. Mullet have large fat heads, and I figured the fly should push more water to
better mimic a mullet. So I came up with this. It has the same action as a clouser minnow,
but the fat head on it pushes a lot of water, and helps regulate the jigging action as well.
Let me know in the description section what you think of this fly,
and if you have seen something like it elsewhere. I have not, but its tough to know of every fly
ever created. But would like to hear from you all if this is a pattern you have seen before.