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Mono is a little harder to get secure around the hook shank. It tends to slip a lot easier. So when you tie it in make sure you hold the tag end at an angle until you wrap enough turns to secure it. Then cut the tag and make a few more turns to make sure its not going to slip.

Cut a piece of SLF. You don’t need much. You can either fold it around the thread and tie it in. Or tie it in the middle of the clump. Make a few turns tying it down. Then fold the other piece over and tie it all down. I do about ten turns or so. Make a even cut in the back. I like to use a straight pair and I make one cut with the back of the scissors.

Note: It makes it look a lot cleaner of a cut when you only make one cut.

I don’t show this step in a picture, but it’s a step you need to do before tying this E.P fiber in. When you get a clump out of the bag you want to pick enough to split it in the middle. Once it’s separated evenly you're going to add flash all the way down it. Then sandwich the two back together (with the flash in the middle) and you're ready to tie it in. You shouldn’t use the whole clump. This should be enough to do two whole steps like the first one.

Note: The type of flash you can substitute that is real easy to find is wing-n-flash. They make all types of colors and you can add the colors to the color your tying in.

Example: If I’m tying green I would use green flash.

As you can see I already tied my first clump in. When measuring (proportion) this fly to shape. You have to remember your building it (the clumps) to taper smaller as you go up the fly. So the first clump is going to be almost the first clump. You should have enough to do the top one more time. Now the bottom is a little different because the first clump is going to be the same in length as the first one, but the rest will be small because it only needs to measure the gap of the hook the rest of the way up.

Continue to step 5 to read more about this step.

When tying this down you can measure the back to either be shorter like a peanut butter fly in the Enrico Plaglisi line or it can be the longer ones that you can paint to look like various baitfish patterns like his mackerel.

I tied top side first to get my measurement and then rotate and do the same to the other side. When tying this down one thing to remember is you don’t want the clump to be tied right on top of the hook shank. Make a few turns to secure it and then try to spread it around to hide the sides of the hook. It needs to blend so you can’t see the metal showing. This step is called a herringbone technique. What you want to do when tying these two clumps in (in the two colors you picked to use) is tie the first clump down then rotate the hook to the other side and tie the other clump in on the underside. Once you’ve tied them both in you will want to rotate the vise back to the topside and fold the material over towards the back tying right in front of it with the mono. Don’t tie it down, which is tying on top of the material you folded over, but right in front of it forcing it just to stay back out of the way. It will look smashed down instead of flared out.

Do the bottom the same way as the top.

They should both look the same when you get done with the first set of clumps. When you pull the material back to get ready for the next set. You will notice the material will mesh together (and that’s good). That way it will stay out of the way until the fly is completed. Move the thread up about a ¼ inch up the shank and do the same step again. You will do this a few more times as you tie up to the eye. Look at the pictures below to get the right measurements on where to tie the next clumps in.

Continue the same step with the second clumps in olive. This should be your second set of clumps.

This is where you will still tie the olive on top, but the bottom will change twice with two different colors. The first one will be the yellow. Make sure you add flash in the two different colors also.

Tie in your yellow. Remember this only needs to be twice the gap in length.

Step 10.

After you tie in the last set of clumps. This step will be a little different then the rest. This time your going to tie on top of the clumps. You don’t want to go too far back (notice in the picture) just enough to tie down the material forcing it to lay back. Whip finish the fly and you're ready to start cutting it to shape. If you tied it right with keeping the material shorter as you went up the fly then this is how it will look. It will already have a shape of a baitfish. This will help you get the desired shape when cutting it.

The next thing you want to do is take the fly out of the vise and lay it on your leg. With some kind of soft brush you will start at the front of the fly and brush down blending all of it together. Keep the strokes straight and smooth. This will also force some of the hairs to the side hiding the hook shank.

After combing the hair to blend together. Use the taperize scissors and make two cuts up at the head to get some of the excess hair out. Now cut the fly to shape.