BEHIND THE FLY: The Baby Fat Minnow

Cheech

The Baby Fat minnow is arguably the most versatile small baitfish pattern in my box, and it doesn’t even matter what species I’m chasing, there is something about it that makes it get eaten by many different species of piscivores. I have caught everything from Green Sunfish to Tarpon, and Smallmouth Bass to big ol’ Brown Trout on it.  There is a story to be told about the development of that fly, so I may as well do it right here.  Caution though, it starts with a phenomenal day chucking spinnerbaits at Largemouth Bass at one of my favorite fisheries in the world.It was the first day of the duck hunt in one of those unseasonably warm years, and as we backed the 20’ Cobra bass boat into the lake, we were met with some questionable looks from eager duck hunters.  We nodded as friendly anglers do, all the while just imagining what it must feel like wearing 7mm neoprene waders and 3 more layers on top of that when it’s almost 60 degrees outside; but, if you spent the money on all that gear, there is no finer day to show it off all at the same time than on the hunt opener.  Anyhoo, off we went to see if we could scare up some fish and try not to piss off the duck hunters that were looking for flying objects, only to be disappointed to only see the occasional 737 descending to land in Salt Lake City as the day went on.  Little did I know that this would turn into one of the craziest days of bass fishing I had ever done!  I started the day with a bluegill colored spinnerbait (and for you fly only guys, it’s not like a Panther Martin…) and immediately we were in the fish. It was the most insane thing because the largemouth were boiling on bluegill fry.  Anything that moved would get a massive eat, and if you went a few casts without a fish, you moved to a different boil that was about to start in about 5 minutes.  Through this mayhem and countless largemouth bass caught, every few fish would puke up a few minnows that had just been eaten.  In the back of my mind I was thinking of how I could make this experience into a learning moment in my fly fishing or fly tying, and I started looking at the little bluegill fry on the deck of the boat.  What stuck in my mind is that there was something about this particular size and shape of bluegill fry that these fish just can’t resist.  I saw that the little fry were almost translucent; there were just faint bluegill colors, but the most poignant thing to me was that the little blood vessels in the fry looked exactly like some sort of UV flash.  All put together they looked like little translucent bluegill jelly beans.  After this trip, I remember being super excited and motivated at the vise because I needed to come up with something that will give me the bulk of a minnow body, it had to be translucent, and it had to have just a little bit of flash.  I quickly settles on ice dub for the flash, but the body of the minnow wasn’t really clicking at the vise.  I ended up going on a huge wild goose chase to come up with a dubbing that I could use on these little flashy jelly beans.  I would buy all kinds of different materials from anywhere like Hobby Lobby or bulk material sites.  I finally settled on what is now known as Bruiser Blend dubbing.  Once I had a few really good flies tied, I started to pass them out and have them tested.  The original minnow I came up with was the Low Fat Minnow, which has caught many species all around the world, but I wanted something even smaller - like a jelly bean.  I kept creating, and I had tied up some very small versions of the fly, and Brig and I just happened to be headed to Strawberry Reservoir that weekend…  You know, the lake in Utah that is just choked with smallish chubs and red side shiners.  Brig and I had such an amazing day fishing this little minnow pattern that Curtis and I had to go back and re-create that day on video fishing these little minnows.  Since then, it’s been tied in many different colors and it’s been fished by anglers around the world for almost any species that swims.  This was the process that cemented to me that, as a fisher and tyer, I need to pay more attention to the small details, regardless of the technique I’m using to fish.  By being a well rounded angler you will gain a better understanding of how to catch fish in general, and then you can take your learnings and apply them to the techniques you like the best.  Conventional bass angling made me a better fly angler and fly tyer that day.