Tying The Burglar And The End Of The Contest

First off, I would like to congratulate Howard on winning the Fill a Box contest! And a huge thank you as well to Mark, Alton, and everyone who voted on the poll over the last week. Howard, shoot me an email of whether you would like the book or the flies for your prize. Nice Job!

Marabou has always been a favorite material of mine, since it moves so much in the water. It wiggles side to side, up and down, and most importantly, it breathes in the water. So while playing around with some marabou the other day, I created the Burglar. How did this big ole streamer get its name? Well, it hops up onto your tying desk and steals ALL of your marabou. So be prepared for a demo within the next couple days, and bring a full pack of the good stuff. In more detail, you'll need: Size 2 Bass Hook, Tan Marabou, Purple Ice Dub, and Stick on eyes. All that fancy 'bou let's the fly move between pictures one and two as you strip the fly. Until then, good luck out there!

Enrico Puglisi Flies, Step By Step

Enrico Puglisi Flies

As promised, here is a step-by-step on tying flies with Enrico Puglisi flies. I decided to do something a little more complicated for the demo, but feel free (I recommend) to use only one or two colors at first. Good luck!

Step 1: Get your hook set up on the vise, and start a thread base about halfway down the hook shank. If you go to far back, you may end up with too much material and too beefy of a fly. Setup Tip- it will help to have a waste basket below you so you can sweep away any excess materials.


Step 2: Cut a 5 inch strand of your top color, containing about 20 individual fibers. tie in the clump at the halfway point, so one end points back and the others points towards the eye of the hook. Next, pull the front half of the fibers over and tie them down. This technique will use less material and create a taller shape.

Step 3: Tie in your next color the same way, but make sure this clump is closer to the side of the hook shank (rather than on top). Rather than tying the front half of your materials on the same side, pull them around the hook and tie them on the other side. This will create a more even color pattern. Continue moving forward and tying clumps in until you have: A-Created the color pattern you were looking for, and B-You hit the eye of the hook (or close to it).

Step 4: Whip finish the fly and cut the thread. Take the fly out of the vise and grab some scissors, because this is the step that will make or break your fly. Once you're all set, take the fly and fluff it as much as you can. This is what the fish will see when the fly swims through the water. Take your scissors, and start from the back by cutting at angles until it looks like,well, a fish. The real trick here is not to cut too much. If you do, you end up with a ball of fibers that doesn't have much action and looks too small in the water. If you messed up, you're back at step one; if you're still here, let's move on to the next step.

Step 5: If you have a small  cautery /welding tool hidden in the garage, now would be the time to grab it. What you're trying to do here is create a small hole in the fibers where you want the eyes to be. Once you've got that done, use some epoxy to glue in some eyes. Voila! The finished fly... well, maybe.

Step 6: This last step is totally optional. If you want your fly to have lines, spots, or any special markings, just take a sharpie and add them in. This seems like a small step, but it can be the difference between a good looking fly and a great looking fly.

How The Coffee Sparkles

Important: The big fish I caught at the Dream Stream will be up within the next 5 days.

If you were to take a look into my streamer box (actually boxes), you would notice something. There are no Wooly Buggers, no classic Wet Flies, and for that matter, not much that has only one hook. I carry things like the Totally Articulated Bunker Rainbow, Circus Peanut, and yes, the Sex Dungeon. One of only few exceptions to this rule however, is the Coffee Sparkle Minnow. I know I have mentioned this fly before, but it deserves its own post. The flashy action this fly puts off in the water while maintaining a true baitfish look is unbelievable. I have always liked the Sparkle Minnow, but it really hit me yesterday at Sylvan Dale Ranch.

On the RMA group trip we held yesterday, I did a lot of kicking. And running. And netting. For a good part of the day, I didn't fish. And if I did, it wasn't very hardcore. When we arrived, I swung a sink tip with a Sparkle Minnow off a deep ledge. Cast number two had a follow, and number five brought a 20 inch rainbow to hand. Seems like a good time to take a break. A few hours later, while walking along what I call Bass Point, I hooked into a nice fish. A few seconds later, it popped off. Figuring it was just a largemouth, I cast in again, and immediately the same fish hit the fly. That's actually is pretty usual of the bass in this pond, so I thought nothing of it. I did start thinking though, when the net pulled up a 17 inch 'bow instead of the largey I was expecting. That just shows the power of the Sparkle Minnow.

The icing on the cake was at the end of the day, when most of the clients left and I got to actually fish from a belly boat (rather than just net fish). "All right, Justin, you and me. Let's make this competitive," my friend Peter said. "Sure thing," I responded, picking up a fat 15 inch rainbow that hammered the Sparkle Minnow on my first cast. We laughed, casted to risers, and wasted the rest of the evening while I hammered 6 more nice fish on the Sparkle Minnow.

The end of the day came when my buddy Klinker hooked up a pig on a TAB Rainbow. "He's a head shaker," was the first thing out of Klink's mouth. Looking at the bend in his 6 weight, I knew something was up. As I kicked over, I was greeted by an eruption of water and a head to toe drenching from 15 feet away. The next five minutes were spent with Klinker and I screaming like 7 year old girls while we kicked bank to the bank and took pictures of this big hen:

Crazy Fish, Klink!

That last bit wasn't about the Sparkle Minnow, but it definitely deserved a spot in there. The TAB Rainbow (Totally Articulated Bunker) is another favorite of mine, as I mentioned earlier.

Fluttering Minnow Step By Step

Steps 1-2: Tie in the dumbbell eyes about 1/4 of an inch behind the eye of the hook. This will leave you room for adding Silky Fibers later on. Next, move toward the back of the fly and tie in a small clump of Root Beer Silky Fibers as you would a marabou tail.

Steps 3-4: Continue moving forward on the hook, tying on clumps of Grey Silky Fibers on in a Dubbing Loop fashion. Stop adding when you hit the eye, but make sure to add only a bit at a time so you don't overcrowd the hook. Next, use a piece of marabou to Spey around the eye. For the fly shown, I switched the marabou to some Hareline Dubbing. 

Step 5-Finish: Dubbing Loop on another clump of Root Beer Silky Fibers in front of the dumbbell eyes. Whip finish the fly and add a drop of head cement. Now dip the thing in the water to get the shape looking right before you throw up. Seriously, that thing looks gross right now.