May Minnow Madness!

Baitfish, minnows, little fish, whatever you want to call them, bigger fish eat 'em.  That's the food chain.   Baitfish imitations are a standard in your arsenal, regardless of whether you bait fish, gear fish, or fly fish.

I've been working on a series of baitfish imitations that improve upon the standard baitfish fly.  In my opinion, a fly of this nature:  1) should be durable; 2) shouldn't foul easily (or at least not often) and 3) should have as many triggers as possible to entice fish to strike.

After much time spent at the vise and on the water, I have come up with a series of flies that should cover most of your baitfish situations.  I call it the Hard Head series.  They're tied on a #2 Daiichi saltwater hook.  The head has an epoxy finish.  There are five minnows in the series; these will cover nearly all your baitfish imitation needs worldwide.  And before you ask... although you may not have seen them, the elusive chartreuse minnow is bountiful in your home waters.  ;-)

All month long you can take advantage of this months special on our Hard Head Minnows! Visit our website Flies of Fancy to Order!

Hard Head Chartreuse 

Hard Head Gizzard Shad

Hard Head Minnow

Hard Head Mackerel

 Hard Head Silverside

Shea's Bucktail Deceiver

My daughter has been enamored with fly tying since before she could walk. I recall one afternoon when I was sitting at my tying desk working away when suddenly there were tiny fingers and someone was standing beside me watching.

Yup, it was Shea! She had pushed a wooden box I kept feathers in over to my

desk and climbed on top of it and managed to balance herself so she could

watch me tie. She was only twelve months old!

Over the years she has spent time at the desk herself with bobbin in hand, tying

away. In the early days she tied flies with scraps of materials. It was very cute!

She is now nearly eleven years old and can tie very nice flies! She created

the egg pattern she named "Three Scoops Please" which was a huge hit this

steelhead season.

Pictured below is her two most recent flies, Bob Popovics' Bucktail Deceivers!

Both are tied on a small HMH tube and are completed with a Eumer large brass

cone. She did a brilliant job for her first attempt tying tube flies with cone heads!

Well done, sweetheart ;)