Monday, January 21, 2013

Coffee's Sparkle Minnow


Here is a pattern I love to tie for smallmouth.  This step-by-step instruction is not mine.....Coffee did a great job, so why reinvent the wheel.  Thank you Coffee for the great work!

"Pretty simple fly to tie; making the dubbing brushes (not shown; you folks know how to make them better than I do) took about as long as the rest of the fly."

hook - Mustad 79580 #6
thread - Uni 8/0 white
weight - lead free wire .030
tail - marabou white/olive
flash - Krystal Flash pearl

body - dubbing brush EP Flash chartreuse

belly - dubbing brush Ice Dub pearl
head - 1/4" cone silver


mash barb and slide cone on hook
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wrap some lead free wire on hook
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push the wire forward into the cone, locking it against the eye
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attach thread, wrap the lead and move it back to point above the hook barb
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measure marabou (shank length)
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tie in and wrap forward to lead
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repeat with olive marabou
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tie in Krystal Flash on near side
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fold tag ends over to far side and wrap back to tail
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tie in pearl dubbing brush on underside of hook
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tie in chartreuse dubbing brush on top of hook
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start chartreuse forward, sweeping fibers back
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continue forward to cone and tie off; sweep fibers up and back
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pull belly brush forward on underside of fly and tie down
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take brush back along near side, go over the back of the hook bend and under the tail, then pull forward on far side and tie off (creates a fuller belly, maybe not necessary but I like how it looks); tie off.
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couple swipes on the back with a black Sharpie is optional
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Change colors as you see fit (a baby brown trout would look neat).

2 comments:

  1. Awesome pattern! This might be a silly question, but with the conehead and lead wire does the fly ride hook point up or down?

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  2. Hello-

    Not a silly question at all. The hook always rides down when I fish the Sparkle Minnow. I typically tie mine black over copper (belly) and it flashes beautifully in the water. The big issue I have with this pattern is the hammer handle pike won't leave it alone! If you can get it past the pike the smallies crush this one!

    Thanks for stopping by the blog, I appreciate your comment!

    Doug

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