Cast deep into cover confidently with this weedless baitfish imitation.
By
John Frazier
Updated: October 17, 2012
Tie the HPU Weedless Fly. Cast deep into cover confidently with this weedless baitfish imitation.John Frazier
1) Place a short piece of hard mono into the vise, and wrap a thread base of about one-eighth inch, starting at the vise and moving forward just as though the monofilament were the shank of a hook. Cover this thread base with Zap-A-Gap. The mono should be as long as the entire hook you plan to use. The length does not have to be exact at this point, as you will trim the mono later.John Frazier
2) Tie in the marabou and holo flash on the top, bottom and sides of the strand of mono. The length and the amount will depend on the size of the baitfish you want the fly to imitate.John Frazier
3) Tie in a short piece of crystal chenille onto the mono, and wind the thread forward to the position where the mono will be tied to the hook. Before you start winding the chenille forward, measure the distance between the point of the hook and the beginning of the flat forward surface where you will start tying the mono to the hook (the length of the body). Mark the mono with a pen so you have a reference point. Next, wind the crystal chenille forward, and tie off at the point where you stopped the forward thread wraps. At that spot, put in a couple of half hitches to keep the material in place. Leave the tag end of the chenille for finishing the fly.John Frazier
Remove the mono from the vise and use some type of cutting pliers to eliminate the section of mono that was held by the vise. Immediately in front of the crystal chenille, flatten the hard mono with smooth-surface flat pliers in preparation for tying the fly onto the hook. (If you are tying a fly that has definitive sides, make sure you flatten the mono so that the sides of the fly remain in proper position after you tie the mono onto the hook.) Put the hook into the vise and make a few wraps over the mono, positioning the fly so that the tail passes freely through the hook point. You may need to cut off the mono by the eye of the hook before finishing with several wraps of thread. Before I add these wraps, I put some Zap-A-Gap on the thread to help adhere the mono to the hook. I use thin thread since more wraps of thin thread are stronger than a few wraps of heavier thread. Also before making the final thread wraps, I take the remainder of the ice chenille and wrap it forward to behind the eye of the hook.John Frazier
Finish the fly with the eyes of your choice. Use Zap-A-Gap Gel or Aquaseal to fix the eyes to the ice chenille.John Frazier
