Pattern from Scott Blackhurst

Low Fat Minnow.docx

The Low Fat Minnow Baitfish is a streamer pattern resembling a perch fry that is found in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation reservoirs. It can be fished by trolling or casting and retrieving. As you troll or retrieve, give the streamer some action by twitching your rod tip or tugging on the line. This will imitate a wounded baitfish that just might trigger a strike. 

Material List

Hook: Any larger size wide gap hook. I like to use the Masu K3 s8

Bead: Tungsten - I use a 4mm

Thread: Heavy white - I use GSP Veevus G02

Tail: White marabou

Body: A pinch of callibaetis uv ice dub

Overbody: Senyo's laser dub in silver minnow belly

Underbody: ice dub minnow belly

Eyes: Any you want that will fit the proportion of the fly. I use a Jurassic Eye gold/red in 4mm

Put the bead on the hook. I use a barbless hook. Anchor the bead back from the eye of the hook, the width of the eyes you have chosen to use.

                

Take a piece of white marabou that is more fibery than fluffy. Extend it from the back of the hook, around 1”. Tie it in and cut off the waste portion. You want the tail, when the fly pauses in the water, not to puff out, (like a popper or woolly bugger). The tail will have enough movement in the water.

Create a small dubbing ball of the callibaetis dubbing and fill in the slight gap from the base of the tail to the back of the bead. This should be a very small area. Do NOT use a lot of dubbing.

 

Now pull another pinch of callibaetis dubbing, making sure that it is not compressed. You want this light and airy. Just set it on the top of the hook and make at least a full, loose, turn of thread around the dubbing. This will pull the clump around the hook. Once you see the dubbing wrap around with the thread, pull the thread tight. Take a couple of turns in front of the dubbing, which should be against the back of the bead. Advance the thread to the front of the bead. Use a dubbing brush and comb out the dubbing, back towards the tail.

Take a pinch of the silver minnow belly and slightly preen the fibers so most are in-line with themselves. Make it kind of sparse. This pattern is meant to be slightly see-through. Make sure you take some thread wraps, up to behind the eye of the hook and back down to just in front of the bead. This will keep the dubbing from slipping around the hook shank. When you tie the clump in, do it around the 3rd mark, with the longer section pointing forward. Then, with your thumb, flatten the top of the bunch. This will make it so when you pull the bunch back, it will slightly cover the sides of the fly. Turn the fly over to expose the bottom and repeat this step using the ice dub minnow belly.

After making sure they are flattened, carefully separate the two colors. The fly will be right side up now. Pull back the top clump and make one full turn. Make a half turn, and hold the thread there, which will get it out of the way so you can pull the bottom clump back. Be careful of the hook point here or you’ll add some red to the belly before you’re supposed to. You want to try to get an equal amount of dubbing on each side of the hook Make several turns now over the top/bottom dubbing. Whip finish.

You know you have it right if you can see the bead in the center of the fly. After removing the thread, take your dubbing brush, and comb out the fly. Take a pair of hemostats and flatten the sides of the thread built up from tying back the dubbing. This will create a flat area for the eyes to sit.

Take your time here and use your favorite UV Resin. First fill in between the eyes, top and bottom. I pause in between coatings to make sure the eye of the hook is open. You want to build up the resin slowly and evenly, finally including a layer or two over the eyes.

The final step is to color the fly up with your favorite sharpies. I use brown, black and red.