A Simple and Effective Shad Fly

  1. Lay down a bed of thread on the hook shank.

2. Affix the dumbell eyes or bead chains eyes of your choice. I like to add a bit of nail polish/head cement at this point.

3. Add a little lead wire behind the eyes, and tie in a a few strands of Krystal Flash to start forming a tail. Sorry about the blurry pic.

4. Top the Krystal Flash with marabou.

5. Top the marabou with 4 or 5 full strands of pearl Flashabou at an equal or slightly shorter length. Do not trim off the long ends.

6. Fold the long ends of Flashabou back, and tie in a few inches of metallic braid.

7. Bring the metallic braid forward in overlapping wraps to form a tapered body.

8. Wrap the long ends of the Flashabou forward with no gaps. This adds a smooth, pearl iridescence to the metallic braid. Build a head with thread and whip finish. Top the body and head with a thin layer of clear coat for strength.

9. Add the Hickory Shad to the 2019 Fly Fishing Species List.

The 2019 Fly Fishing Species List:

  1. Brook Trout – Salvelinus fontinalis
  2. Brown Trout – Salmo trutta
  3. Rainbow Trout – Oncorhynchus mykiss
  4. Creek Chub – Semotilus atromaculatus
  5. Bluegill – Lepomis macrochirus
  6. Landlocked Atlantic Salmon – Salmo salar sebago
  7. Hickory Shad – Alosa mediocris