United Fly Tyers of Rhode Island, Inc.
Created by Jonny King
Tied by Capt. Jim Barr
Hook: Saltwater long-shank (Daiichi X472 or Mustad S74SZ)
Thread: Uni fine mono
Tail and Body: Bucktail
Shell back: Two sheets of Sticky Back Foam glued together
Cincher: Bodi-Braid
Step 1. Attach bucktail at the hook bend. 1a Attach a second bucktail a quarter of the way up the shank. The second application should reach about three-quarters the length of the first.
1b. After distributing the second bunch of bucktail 360 degrees around the shank in loose thread wraps, pinch the hair top and bottom with your left thumb and forefinger to squeeze it out to the sides as you cinch down the thread with your right hand.
Step 2. Fasten some Bodi-Braid on top of and trailing back over the bucktail, and then tie in a triangular piece of doubled foam sheeting at its very tip, letting the foam angle forward over the hook eye.
Step 3. Flip the hook over in the vise and attach progressively shorter and more widely flared collars of bucktail along the shank, again squeezing tightly top to bottom as you cinch down the hair. The harder you pinch the hair, the more it will flare.
Step 4. Complete the bucktail applications with a contrasting color and shorter and more widely flared "wings" of bucktail. Note that the frontmost collars barely reach the hook bend.
Step 5. Flip the hook in the vise again and tie down the front of the foam over the bucktail just behind the hook eye. Pull the Bodi-Braid over the foam to snug the whole assembly down, and tie and trim the braid in the crease of foam left by the thread wraps. Post some thread wraps in front of the foam lip to angle it upward, and trim lip to the desired shape.