Shad Fly Tutorial
by: Bill Antley, Wild Bill (Pontiac, SC)

Back some time ago, Punkie asked several of us tiers to contribute to an effort to teach other tiers, and beginning tiers, how to tie flys. The idea was to do a step-by-step instruction with photos detailing the construction of a fly.

I decided to tie a streamer for this project since streamers are rather easy to tie and one of my favorites for tying.

This shad imitation is from the streamer swap we had.

Since this is a shad imitation, different colors for the back can be substituted for the blue I used, if this color does not work for you or, if another color "turns the fish on." Black would be one of my other choices for the back.

This fly doesn't have any complicated methods for tying it and a new tyer should be able to make one in maybe 20 minutes or so at the first try. The only difficult step I had was wrapping the deer hair in stages at the head. Releasing only a few of the hairs at a time for binding is somewhat difficult with these fat fingers of mine. The reason for binding the hairs in small parcels is to make a stronger head that will resist losing the hairs and make the fly last longer.

For this fly, place an Eagle Claw size 8 cricket hook into the vise.
Next wind on a base of thread. This thread is Black Nylon size 6/0 wound from the eye back to the bend of the hook.
Wind five or six turns of single strand red nylon floss around your finger tip to be used as a tail.
Tie the tail onto the hook about 1/4 inch past the start of ther hook bend.
Clip the end of the tail square and tie down the forward part of the tail. Rewind the thread back to the front of trhe hook and tie in an 8 inch piece of white embroidery thread for the body.
Wind the embroidery thread back to the end of the tail thread wraps and wind the thread back to the same point.
Wrap several soft loops around the rear tie point to hold the embroidery thread in place.
Rewind the tying thread to the head of the fly and counter-wrap the embroidery thread back to the head.
Secure the body thread to the shank with several tight wraps and cut off the excess close to the shank.
Tie in a base wrap of thread at the head site.
At this point make a band around the body with a permanent black marker. This will be the spots on the shad sides. I recommend using a SHARPIE brand marker.
Place a moderate sized clump of white bucktail into a hair stacker butt ends first. Rap the stacker against the bench or table to align the ends of the bucktail.
Tie on the clump of bucktail at the head of the fly using several soft loops.
Pull the forward end of the bucktail clump upwards and wind a few wraps of thread against the hook shank. Release a few of the hairs and wrap again, release a few more and wrap them and continue this procedure for a few more times until all of the bucktail is secured to the head of the hook shank.
Once the bucktail is secure, trim the hair ends close to the wraps and place a small drop of head cement onto the head wraps.
Take a small clump of kip-tail and tie it onto the head on top of the bucktail wraps.
Bind the kip-tail onto the head tightly in order for the head cement to be pushed into the kip hairs.
Finish wrapping the head to form a smooth finish, then whip finish it or use several half-hitches. Coat the head with head cement and let it dry. When dry, coat the head with some glossy, black fingernail lacquer. Let that dry and the fly is finished.

A little history on me and my tying efforts for all who may not be familiar with some of my bad habits:

I've been fishing since I was in my single digit ages having been seduced into it by a favorite uncle. Naturally, he is a favorite for introducing me to the extreme pleasure of piscatorial pursuit. Being a PISCES of the zodiac helps also.

I got interested in fly fishing after seeing fly fishers wield their long rods. Their efforts seemed so graceful and effortless that I was captivated by the idea of doing this myself. I didn't get started with fly fishing until about eight years ago when I found a deal I couldn't refuse on a rod and reel combo. I use it for bass and other large gamefish.

I met a fly fisher when I went to a local river trying for trout and was being unsuccesful at it. I was using bait then as I didn't pursue trout with the long rod. After having a good discussion with this fellow, I then decided to get into tying and try that method.

My wife got a tying kit for me about six years ago and I happily settled into tying. I also produced a few ghastly flies at the beginning. I got seriously into tying when I joined this site and participated in some of the first fly swaps. I have since gotten a little better at my tying efforts.

I will be available through the fly-fishing forum and through e-mail if anyone would like to ask questions, make comments or have any deeper discussions about my quirky behavior(s).

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