The "Art of Fly tying" - The Coral Booby

[Old Smoothound]

Hi Guys,

As promised some tying instructions for the "Coral Booby".

Materials you will need:

Size 10 Kamasan B175 (I use these as they are strong hooks)
Coral Marabou plumes
Yellow Cylinder booby eyes
Black tying thread
Super glue
Head cement


Catch in your thread 1/4 down the hook-shank.



Then tie in your "Booby" eyes using a figure of 8 wraps. This is a cylinder cut from a knee-pad that can be purchased from any good gardening shop. This one is yellow. After many years of perfecting my booby fishing Yellow is THE colour for me.

Once tied on the hook shank put a SMALL dab of superglue over the wraps to stop it spinning around the shank, then continue the thread along the shank to a point in line with the barb of the hook.




Now take a good pinch of Coral Marabou feather (Marabou no is actually Turkey) Cut off the dross from the end and then WET it in your mouth, and spin it into a shuttlecock shape. This tightens up the end of the marabou and makes it easier to tie in.





Now catch in the marabou in an open loop and tie down. Run the thread up to the eyes that you have tied in and then back again to the point opposite the barb again.



Now take a pinch of marabou from the top of the feather. This is where the feathers are longest. Catch these in and tie down. Then take the thread to just behind the booby eyes and let hang down.



Now wind the marabou up the shank to just behind the booby eyes and tie in, then take the thread over and between the booby eyes and make 2 turns over the shank just behind the hook eye. The marabou feather then follows this. Now tie down securely and finish off with a whip finish and a dab of head cement.





Next the fun part….If you leave the booby eyes the original shape they will spin in the water and twist up your leader horribly. So what we do now is to trim down each "eye" into a more rounded shape. Use a very sharp pair of scissors for this, it does help! Start by making a few cuts around the edge of the eyes and keep turning the fly in between your fingers working toward the centre of the eye. Take very small cuts, as large chunks cannot be glued back! Nor do you have lots of "extra" material to work with!

This picture shows the first eye trimmed



Once one eye is trimmed, start on the other and "balance them up in size and shapes if you can.

[Old Smoothound]

Coral Booby - Part Two


Once one eye is trimmed, start on the other and "balance them up in size and shapes if you can.




That’s it all done! The end result should look something like this.







You can ring the changes in both colour and materials for the body of the fly but stick to marabou for the tail. Here are a few examples of what you can achieve.









Have fun tying them!

[kiwimarty]

A true "King" of fluff. These are terrific posts Shaun.

Kiwi.

[Miles]

Thanks Smoothie - your tying illustrations are much better than in a book I bought a while back to try and learn from !

Great tip about wetting and twisting the Marabou.

[Norfolkboy]

Another great post Shaun

Have you ever thought about writing your own fly tying book? You'd make loads

[A fluff chucker]

Great Smoothy, another real winner - been catching trout all winter on these

I've tied loads of boobies but still learnt a couple of tips from your post - thanks.

To cut the foam tube do you use a sharpened piece of copper pipe or a piece of 'car ariel' etc ?

[Old Smoothound]

Originally Posted by A fluff chucker

Great Smoothy, another real winner - been catching trout all winter on these

I've tied loads of boobies but still learnt a couple of tips from your post - thanks.

To cut the foam tube do you use a sharpened piece of copper pipe or a piece of 'car ariel' etc ?

Hi Fluff,

A sharpened piece of coper pipe as its easier to keep sharp. I put a small bolt into the bottom of it and mold it round then into a drill.

I have use old car aerials for smaller diameter "Competition" size boobies, and have caught 12lb Pike on them! But for standard small water boobies i use the drill.

I am glad I could pass on a few tips.....more to come as the season gets under way

[Old Smoothound]

Originally Posted by Norfolkboy

Another great post Shaun

Have you ever thought about writing your own fly tying book? You'd make loads

Funny you should mention that....yes! If there are any potential Publishers out there......PM me

Glad you like the post Dan. If people learn from them then thats satisfying for me.

Oh and I do fly tying demos to fishing clubs and fly tying guilds during the winter. So if you need a demo...PM me.