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Steve Farrar, August 2004
   

   

It’s August, 2004 and the dime to quarter sized peanut bunker are abundant in our area. They are thicker than I’ve seen them in years and are forage for a variety of our local gamefish. Soon, the false albacore will make an appearance and key in on some of these smaller baitfish. This size can be more difficult to replicate for many saltwater tiers. Everything needs to be downsized: hooks, thread, and most of all material. Here’s a pattern that simple to tie and provides a reasonable likeness of the mini peanut bunker(or any wide bodied bait fish) The tying sequence starting from the rear of the hook is three reverse ties and two hi ties. The pattern is tied with a material fairly need to the marked called DNA Holo Fusion. It’s a blend of flash and fiber that works well with this particular pattern.

Materials:

Hooks – size 4 to 2/0 short shank
Thread – extra fine mono
Material – DNA Holo Fusion
Eyes - mylar or epoxy
Head cement – fast drying
Softex or plasti-dip to bond eyes

Step 1
Reverse tie some DNA on the bottom and top(make sure it’s distributed completely around the hook shank). The photo with my hand in it shows an easy way to handle the material. The portion I’m holding gets cut right where I’ve tied it to the shank and is a good way to avoid holding very short lengths of material. Apply head cement then push all the material back with an empty pen casing and secure with thread.





Step 2
Advance the thread slightly and repeat step 1 with a slightly shorter length of material. Apply head cement to the wraps.


Step 3
Advance thread slightly and repeat step 1 with a slightly shorter length of material then used in step 2.


Step 4
Advance thread slightly and hi tie a length of material on the bottom of the shank roughly at the middle. Then fold it back over itself and secure with 4 wraps just at the tip. Turn the hook over and repeat. With a hi tie, no material is distributed around the side of the hook shank.




Step 5
Make one more hi tie(you should be right at the hook eye) on the bottom, then top and trim as shown with sharp scissors.




Step 6
Apply plasti dip or softex in between the eyes, then cover the front half of both eyes and the wraps. Finished fly is shown last after the plasti dip cured.