Bonin Minnow

2013/05/272020/11/25

My pilot fly for reef fishing has been turd fly on #4, but it proved too small and not durable enough to do good job during my trip to Ogasawara Archipelago where reef is formed by complex mixture of rock, coral, and pebbles. Also, I was looking for good alternative to dumbbell eye that get snagged easily on rock or coral.

I already knew a very good alternative: Gee Crack's tungsten tube sinker. Originally designed for bass fishing, powder tungsten and silicone rubber are kneaded together into a shape of tube that can be attached to a hook to add extra weight on your lure.

Then the problem. Tungsten tube sinker is very soft, so I needed find better way of attaching it to the hook shank other than tying with thread which cuts right into its tissue. After making several attempts, I found a over body with mylar tube with soft coating on top was the best combination for superb durability. I then took this pattern out for everyday in Ogasawara catching fish, snagging it in reef, and hitting against rock and all. It passed the torture test and I found castability was much better than the one using dumbbell eye due to evenly weighted body design.

Then this finished fly pattern was tested on variety of species on Ogasawara for coral reef then it worked just the same for fish living in rocky reef on the main island.

My next test on this pattern is size variation and wing material. I only tested the patterns tied on #2 hook which substitutes Clouser deep minnow, but I wonder how small one bellow #6 size work on other species such as carp or bass.

Hook: Gamakatsu B10-S #2
Thread: #3/0 or anything with enogh durability for saltwater fly
Body-weight: Gee Crack tungsten rubber tube sinker 1/16 oz cut in half
Body-overbody: Gold mylar tube
Body-protection coat: Bond SU soft glue or UV Resins
Wing: Craft fur

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