Library Step by Step Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen

Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen

Once I stumbled over this flypattern, I immediately fell in love. Not only is it fun to tie and looks amazing in the water, the fish really love to hit it. But I hate to loose a fly, which took some time to tie, to a stupid branch or other kind of weed. Looking at some spinning Lures with a worm hoo View more...
Touch the image to zoom in the fly.
Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen
List of materials
Hook: Wormhook, size 5/0Thread: Danvills Monofilament FineBody: Bucktail Black and Red, Grizzly HackleFlash: Flashabou Pearl + Copper, Hedron's Mirage Fringe Slit         FlashabouHead: Mylar piping, Bug BondEyes: CCG Steel 10mmGills: Red Marabou and Glass Rattle
Steps

Step 1

Flatten the end of some 100LB Fluorocarbon with pliers.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 1

Step 2

Attach to hook with the flattened side.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 2

Step 3

Secure with some CCG Hydro.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 3

Step 4

Measure a piece of tubing and mark it, so that you know where to stop tying.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 4

Step 5

Put the tube onto a Tubeflyholder. Doesen't have to be as fancy as this one ;-)

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 5

Step 6

Spin some Bucktail around the shank. DON'T use to much! As we are doing this a couple of times the fly is going to get too dense otherwise.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 6

Step 7

Add some Copper Flash a bit longer than the Bucktail, fold over. Use your Thumbnail to roll it around the upper side. Top it with some strands of Mirage Fringe.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 7

Step 8

From now on I'm using some UV-Glue after every step.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 8

Step 9

Tie in some Bucktail reverse style and secure.Make sure its evenly distributed around the shank.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 9

Step 10

Fold back and do a couple of wraps in front of it. Don't wrap over the Bucktail itself.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 10

Step 11

Add more Flash. This time pearl.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 11

Step 12

Roll it around the upper side, the same as with the copper.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 12

Step 13

Add two grizzly hackles. One on each side, as long as the Bucktail.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 13

Step 14

Again reverse tie some buck tail and fold back. Here you can see as well how nicely the ends of the fibers cover the previous tying spot. Together with the glue, toothy fish have a hard time ripping this fly apart.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 14

Step 15

Tie some Mirage Slit Fringe like a hackle. make two to three turns. I can really recommend this material. It mimics the colors of its surroundings and reflects nearly 100% of the incoming light. If you want a flashy fly, there's nothing better out there as far as I know. At this point I also added two another long hackles like previous, but I missed to take a picture.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 15

Step 16

Reverse tie some more bucktail

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 16

Step 17

and fold back.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 17

Step 18

Tie in a piece of Mylar Tubing

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 18

Step 19

and fold back over itself aswell.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 19

Step 20

Take some eyes of your choice.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 20

Step 21

Secure with some superglue gel.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 21

Step 22

Make a nice head. For this I'm often using Bug Bond as it doesn't stay sticky.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 22

Step 23

Put the hook back into the vise and add a glass rattle. Reinforce with some CCG Hydro.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 23

Step 24

Add some UV red Marabou as gills/blood.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 24

Step 25

Before adding superglue make sure the tube has the right size and can swing freely without touching the point of the hook.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 25

Step 26

After adding super glue, slide the tube onto the Fluorocarbon. Make sure that it sits correct and hold until the glue sets.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 26

Step 27

To get a better hookup ratio cut the fibers above the point of the hook.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 27

Step 28

Now the Hookpoint can swing out and back in.

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 28

Step 29

The finished fly.If you rinse it with hot water, you are directly seeing a nice fish shape which is going to stay like this. Otherwise just go fishing, the fly is going to look like this afterwards anyhow.Hope you like this fly as much as I do.Tight lines!

Fly tying - Weedless Optic Minnow feat. Brad Bohen - Step 29

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Ivan Randjelovic

Ivan Randjelovic

Guide, Fly Tying instructor, Casting instructor - Serbia and Montenegro

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