Smelt Fly

When I searched web sites, I found Fishin’ Hole rig with flies. The bead head glow-in-the-dark fly looked nice. I had some materials. I tied flies of similar design.

Hook
What came up to my mind for thin wire hook with a straight eye was bronze Aberdeen #8 available at Wal-Mart. It is sold as 20CT bulk packs and reasonably priced. Although I liked the wire gauge, the gape was too narrow considering big mouth of rainbow smelt. I knew it was easy to bend this hook because I used #4 for flounder fishing as an “easy unsnag” rig. I made the gape wider and the shank shorter with a plier.

Bead and thread
Available at AC Moore. I got gold beads of 3 mm diameter and fine thread of dark red color.

Fiber
I blended glow in the dark and flash yellow nylon hairs.

Tying is simple. Hook a bead, tie fibers and fix with Krazy Glue Advanced.
















From the top, an original #8 hook, a modified hook and a tied fly