Since roughly Halloween, Florida waters have been awash with Spanish mackerel. Right now they’re about a dime a dozen—unless they are destroying your traditional hair and feathered flies! In that case you can bump the price up to about ten bucks. Tired of sacrificing flies? Then here’s a pattern that’ll make a winter’s day of fly fishing a whole lot cheaper.

Made of lead tape and an armored coating of epoxy, this fly will catch many macks, or blues and rough-mouth ladyfish if you wish, before it’s time to toss it away.

I tie this one for Spanish primarily, and when they’re feeding on glass minnows, the schools are easy enough to locate. Just look up and down the beach for some diving birds and the fish (and fishermen) will be on hand. Smaller fish tend to be on top, with the bigger specimens lurking at the bottom of the pack. To get to those fish, the Lead Belly is perfect. It’s a very fast sinker, even more so when fished with an intermediate or sinking line. Simply cast the fly into the school, let it sink, and then strip as fast as possible. Don’t worry if you miss a strike. Just keep on stripping and another fish will latch on.

Spanish mackerel are an excellent first fish for a flyfishing youngster, and the Lead Belly is an easy fly for the novice fly tyer. Before taking kids fly fishing for macks, sit down with them at the vise. Catching a fish with your own fly is a great experience. Seeing a young fly fisher do it is even better!

MATERIALS

Hook—No. 1 Mustad 34011

(long shank) or similar

Thread—Clear monofilament, .006 diameter

Body—Lead tape, medium size Mylar tubing, epoxy

Tail—Unraveled Mylar tubing

Eyes—Flat stick-on eyes of desired color

Step 1—Fold a piece of lead tape over the hook shank from just behind the eye to the bend. Trim to shape with a pair of curved scissors, being sure to leave ample hook gap.

Step 2—Slip a piece of medium Mylar tubing (approximately 1.5 times the length of hook shank) over neck of bobbin. Attach thread to hook just behind the eye. Whip finish and cement.

Step 3—Slip Mylar tubing from bobbin onto the hook shank, allowing the end to extend beyond the hook bend (for a tail). Tie in tubing directly behind hookeye. Whip finish and cement, but do not cut the thread. Instead, wind thread around the body of the fly to the hook bend end of lead body. Tie down the Mylar tubing, whip finish and cement. If you use a whip finish tool, an extended reach whip finisher makes this task a lot easier.

Step 4—Since the thread is now secure-ly fastened in both the front and back of the lead body, carefully slip scissors underneath thread and cut. Trim excess thread in both the front and back of fly. Mark up the body of the fly with permanent markers. A green back with red gills over pearl Mylar is one of my favorite combinations. Black back and silver Mylar or brown back and gold Mylar are two other favorites. Attach flat stick-on decal eyes of desired color. Mix a batch of two-part epoxy and coat the entire body. A motorized fly drying wheel prevents the epoxy from sagging and allows you to coat several bodies at one sitting. Once the epoxy has cured, unravel the Mylar tail and trim to desired length

VARIATIONS

Body braid is an excellent alternative to Mylar tubing. While slightly more difficult to tie, braid offers you every color imaginable while often making an even tougher fly, depending on the type of braid used. Simply tie on a tail of Flashabou and a long strip of body braid. Whip finish and trim thread. Fold a piece of lead tape over the hook shank, being sure to cover the base of the tail. Once the lead has been trimmed to shape, wrap the braid around the body all the way to the front of the hook. Tie down the braid just behind the hook eye. Whip finish, cement, and trim excess braid. Then proceed with Step 4, above.

Being a fast sinker, the Lead Belly is not the best fly for fishing the flats and shallows where snook, trout, and redfish are waiting. By replacing the lead tape with thin sheet foam, you have a much lighter fly that can be fished anywhere for any species. To attach the foam I simply lay a piece on some foil tape and fold the tape only over the hook shank, centering the foam underneath. This gives you a belly of foam and a back of foil tape, keeping a slimmer profile.

FS