Fishnuts Squid Fly

Darren Evans is an Adelaide based fly fisher who loves chasing snapper, kingfish and mulloway on fly. Like many of us, he is a keen fly tier, and sells flies under the name ‘Fishnuts Flies’.

As a result of too many large fish busting off his more intricate and expensive squid flies, Darren sat down to create a pattern that was easier and quicker to tie. Thankfully, the hardest part about tying his Fishnuts Squid is gluing the fluorocarbon to the 3D eyes! And it’s his favourite fly for dredging snapper, with lots of movement and a nice squid-like profile.

Speaking of eyes, Darren recommends gluing up a batch of them before you start tying. Source some 3D eyes (3/8" to 1/2" depending on the size of fly) and glue some 40 lb fluorocarbon to the back of them with five minute epoxy or Loon UV Thick.

The Gamakatsu SL12S is the hook of choice, in sizes #2/0 to #6/0. Prepare the head of your squid by starting with a ball of dubbed Craft Fur just above the bend, which will spread the hackles. Select two saddle hackles and tie them in long (one on each side) before adding another three on each side that are a little shorter. The good thing is that you can use all those saddle hackles that are not quite right for tails, or too thin for Whistler collars. Strung grizzly saddles in various dyed colours are great and provide an economical option.

Next, tie in the eyes by securing the fluorocarbon on each side of the front half of the hook shank. The back of the eye should just meet the rear of the hook bend for the correct proportions. Make a wrap or two under the fluorocarbon so that the eyes splay out a little. Then take some Baitfish Emulator Flash (BEF) and roughly trim the fibres to approximately 35 mm. Tie in front of the hackle and treat the thread wraps with some Sally Hansens before palmering the BEF, first behind the eyes, then over the front half of the hook shank. Tie off and whip finish – treat the head to a drop of Sally Hansens and, when dry, coat with Loon UV Thick. You can take this opportunity to trim up the fibres in the head, but Darren seldom finds this necessary.

Clip the head onto a 40 mm Blane Chocklett’s Articulated Big Game Shank from Flymen Fishing Company, then secure the shank in the vice. Wrap thread along the shank to ensure both ends are closed. If you want to add weight to the fly, wrap some lead wire along the shank. Tie in some more BEF at the rear of the shank before applying some Sally Hansens to the exposed thread wraps. While wet, wrap the BEF to the front eye of the shank. Tie off and whip finish, coat with Sally Hansens and finally with Loon UV Thick.

You can colour the fly with Sharpies any way you like… Darren prefers to use tan BEF and brown, orange and chartreuse markers on the top half of the fly. All that’s left now is a quick trim to make sure the eyes are exposed and the body gives the appearance of a squid hood.

This fly is best fished on full sinking lines – Darren uses a 10-weight rod and prefers the Rio S8 Outbound when dredging for snapper, or the Rio Intermediate when fishing for kingies and mulloway. Small and slow strips really make this fly swim like a squid, mingled with long pauses. Don’t overlook the ‘do nothing retrieve’, as fish will often hit it on the drop.

Darren usually fishes water depths from 8 to 20 metres (plus), using a sounder to locate schools of fish. Having found them, he positions the boat for a drift, allowing plenty of time for the fly to sink, before working it through the fish at their holding depth. A lot of the best fishing around Adelaide is over old spoil grounds and small reef outcrops, and the best time to fish them is on a high tide that coincides with sunrise or sunset. With all those snags around, you would want to take plenty of flies.

This fly has accounted for snapper to 25 lb and has hooked plenty of kingfish that now own more Fishnuts Squid Flies than their creator.