No Shoulders

Today was a beautiful day to sit out on the back porch and tie flies. This fly should work good on the largemouth bass. It has alot of steps, but I think over all it is a pretty simple fly to tie. It is and should be fished very similarly to a Texas rigged worm.

No Shoulders

Start off with a 2/0 gammy worm hook. Tie in some 1/4" black/chartreuse I-Balz under the hook shank, up next to the 90 degree bend. 

Next tie in some flash. I picked up some new age holo flash from Orvis the other day and I really like this stuff. You want the flash to be the length you plan on making this fly. 5-7 inches should work. 

You'll make a weed guard out of 60lb wire. This wire will also give the bunny strip some rigidity when the fly is wet.

Take about 8" and bend it in half. By leaving one end about an inch longer then the other it will make threading the bunny strip onto the wire easier. Take the wire and tie it on top of the hook shank, right on top of the eyes and flash you already tied in.

Take a 6-8" bunny strip. These need to be magnum (1/4") or Texas (3/8") sized strips. Not many shops will carry the Texas size bunny strips, but Bears Den does.

Start at the end of the bunny strip that you are going to tie down onto the shank of the hook. Punch 2 holes on the outside edges of the strip. Go down about a quarter of an inch and do the same. Then go down past the bend of the hook and punch 2 more holes. You should have a total of 6 holes.

Now thread the wire through the holes that you punched. Start skin side and make sure the right wire goes in the right side hole and the left wire into the left side hole. You want the hook to sit between both wires. Then go ahead and pull the strip all the way down the wire and prepare to tie it to the hook shank.

I tie the bunny strip down with an x pattern, the same tie down technique you used to secure the eyes. Make sure the wire is exiting the fur side. you can see the wire sticking out the back behind the hook shank. 

Now flip the fly over and pull the flash out of the way. Add a line of goop where the wire first begins on the skin side and continue about a half to one inch past the hook shank. The goop will hold the bunny strip to the wire, it will also add some rigidity to the body portion of the fly. By extending the goop past the hook shank it will act as a tail loop and keep the bunny strip from fouling around the hook shank. You can set the fly aside and start another one while the glue dries. Typically it just takes 10-15 minutes for it to dry. During the winter it may take longer.

  

Now that the glue is dry, take a knife or a razor blade and cut a small slit through the glue and between the wire. The slit just needs to be slightly past the hook point and hook bend. This is going to allow the bunny strip to move down and out of the way for good hook sets. Notice how when a fish bites down on the fly the hook point will be exposed. You will also want to cut the excess wire that is on the fur side sticking out past the hook shank. i cut it down to about a quarter of an inch.

The last step will be to finish the head of the fly off with some Senyo's laser dub.

Take a tooth brush and comb it back and into place. 

This step is optional but I like to do it. Take a craft brush and paint some Liquid Fusion onto the head of the fly. I think it makes the laser dub a little more durable. 

No Shoulders