Those of us in Central Texas that have fly fished for any length of time have heard of the Cypert's Mylar Minnow developed by area fly fishing master tier Charlie Cypert.
The Cypert minnow is probably the #1 fly recommended to folks during the annual white bass spawn. The recommendation is due to its ability to be used down near the bottom where the fish are typically. To help avoid snags while on the bottom, it is tied with bead chain eyes on top of the hook allowing it to ride hook up.
As effective as it is, it is also a simple fly to tie with just five basic materials:
- 2x to 4x long streamer hook
- bead chain for the eyes
- thread
- woolly bugger chenille
- Mylar tubing
I also found some instructions in this thread at one of my favorite Texas fly fishing web sites at texasflyreport.com on how to tie them. This is another web page containing some tying information. Here is the excerpt from one of the posts by mickfly that gives the steps:
1. Place a streamer hook in the vise and tie in a pair of bead chain eyes about one hook eye width behind the eye, then spiral wrap the thread back along the shank to the bend.
2. Tie in a piece of medium chenille at the hook bend, then bring the chenille straight forward and wrap around one eye of the beadchain, then back to the bend.
3. Take two or three tight wraps around the chenille (still at the hook bend), then bring the chenille forward around the other eye and back to the bend. Tie it off and snip excess.
4. Take a length of mylar tubing that is four times the shank length, double it, and slowly work the middle over the hook eye.
5. Bring the mylar back to the bend so it sits above and below the chenille, like the back and belly. Take several tight wraps around the mylar to hold it in place, then tie off and whip finish at the bend.
6. Trim the tail (excess mylar) to the desired length, then use the tip of the scissors to comb out the tail.
7. Catch fish.
The only differences I did from the above instructions was that I wrapped the chenille instead of looping it, used red thread for all the wrapping and I added a few drop of glue to the top and bottom of the chenille just before putting down the mylar cord.
The flies in the photo were tied using:
- Size #6 4x long streamer hooks
- Medium silver bead chain
- Wapsi small wooly bugger chenille in light gray color
- Orange/red 6/0 UNI thread
- Wapsi small mirage cord in opal color
I think I need to consider tapering the fly better towards the "tail" area next time but for a first attempt I don't think they turned out too bad. I hope Rick likes them.
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