Christmas Island Gotcha

Recipe

Hooks – Preferred types – Gamakatsu SL45s, Mustad Big Game’s and Mustad Tarpon’s. Preferred sizes – 8, 6, or 4, size 6 is the best all round size.
Thread – Orange, Coral (light pink) or Tan flat waxed 210 denier.
Eyes – Weighted : I balz 5/32, Real eyes (small) or plain Brass Hourglass.
Unweighted : Bead chain (medium).
Tail/Body – Small Mylar tubing, Flat diamond braid, Chronomid braid etc in Pearl colour or a light Pink, Tan etc
Flash – Krystal flash or Midge Krystal flash in Pearl, Tan, Pink, Orange or Root beer.
Wing – Craft fur, Fly fur, EP silky fibre, Rabbit or Artic fox preferably in a light tan colour or perhaps a light pink or orange.

Finished flies

Tie CI Gotcha’s in varied hook sizes and eye weights to suit the size of the Bonefish and the depth of the water.
Roughly : lightly weighted medium bead chain for water under knee depth and heavy weighted eyes for water above knee depth.

Stage 1 – Lay down a thread base up to the hook barb.

 Stage 2 – Tie in Mylar tubing (inner core removed) or selected braid so that about 6mm of the material extends backwards as a tail behind the tie in point.

 

 Stage 3 – Fold Mylar/Braid back over the vise then advance the thread up the hook shank and tie in chosen eyes on top about 4mm back from the hook eye with a few cross wraps in both directions, followed by half a dozen square lashings, with a few more cross wraps over the top to finish.
NOTE : a small thread bulge behind the tie in point can help when positioning the eyes.

 Stage 4 – Wrap the braid over the thread base up the hook shank to form a body, then a couple of times around the eye bindings and tie off with the thread. Now take your bodkin and tease out the Mylar/Braid fibres of the tail. At this stage also seal the thread bindings and entire body with Head set, Vinyl cement, Nail varnish etc. This will make the fly more robust and stop it unraveling after it’s been chewed a bit.

 Stage 5a – Cut off a small (sparse) bunch of Fly fur (or desired wing material), pinch between your fingers and pull out the short under fur.
NOTE : Keep under fur in a small snap lock plastic bag for use as a dubbing or body material on future Crab and Shrimp flies.

 Stage 5b – Most of the wing materials mentioned in the recipe will already have a natural taper (feather out to a point), if not, taper the material at this stage to the desired shape (Slip the material between fingers). Try not to taper the wing with your scissors after it has been tied in (usually an undesirable result). Hold the wing material on top and tie in once you are comfortable with the position and length (about 1 1/3 x hook length to the tips). Then trim off the excess just behind the hook eye and bind over with the thread.

 Stage 6 – Tie in about 4 – 6 strands of pearl Krystal flash or Midge krystal flash on the top to the same length as the wing (trim the flash to varied lengths if desired)

 Stage 7 – Whip finish and cut the thread, then seal the head bindings with some more Head set, Vinyl cement, Nail varnish etc. The fly is complete.

NOTE : Fish fly on a floating line with a fluorocarbon tippet (12lb) for best results.