Surf Candy Variations

Tying the Surf Candy | Surf Candy Variations

Full Dress Surf Candy

Some bait fish, like bay anchovies and silversides, sport a dominant, metallic looking stripe the length of their bodies. This is one way to add that feature plus a tail. It may not be always necessary but the technique adds realism when desired. Here's a suggestion. Draw a fish tail and then lay a Simple Surf Candy on top of it so the tail protrudes from the rear of the fly. You will immediately see the effect you can achieve by incorporating this into your fly. First attach a 1/4" section cut from a saddle hackle to a piece of stiff 20 lb. mono, and slip a piece of silver piping over the mono, then attach it to the hook shank before proceeding with tying a Surf Candy as described above.

Deep Candy

Undulating or jigging lure motions can be deadly. By weighting the front end of a Surf Candy with a silver or gold colored bead, you can get the fly down better and produce a different action. Avoid any gap behind the bead head by cutting the hair ends square. Before you cinch the hair tight with tying thread, push the butt ends forward so that they follow the contour of the bead.

Rabbit Candy

Although the regular Surf Candies work extremely well with hair, some tiers (and occasionally some fish) prefer more wiggle and action. Few materials provide this quality like rabbit fur strips. The leather hide does not provide the principle action but rather the hair fibers, which move with the very slightest movement or water turbulence. Rabbit Candies are excellent for calm water situations or when fished very slowly. Restrict Rabbit Candies to small flies, since the hide will retain water, making the soggy fly inordinately heavy and difficult to cast, and making fouling more of a problem. A stiff piece of mono, with the end melted to farm a little ball, extends from the bend of the hook and goes through a hole in the hide to keep it from fouling.

Bonito Candy

This variation was so named after exceptional success while fishing for bonito in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Several small, thin saddle hackle points with no webbing are tied near the bend and the fly then completed like the Simple Surf Candy above, except that bucktail was here used instead of nylon hair. These two changes give more action and a seductive little wiggle to the lure.

This material is excerpted from Pop Fleyes: Bob Popovics' Approach to Saltwater Fly Design, by Ed Jaworowski and Bob Popovics, Stackpole Books, 2001.

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