Wool Head Minnow
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Today I was tying up a box of wool head minnows and decided to do a full pattern description.
The wool head minnow is one of my favorite baitfish patterns. It is not a new pattern but over the past two years I have varied the profile to the current form. This fly is best fished on a fast sinking line to imitate an injured bait fish. However, the wool head soaks up water and adds weight to the fly in a manner that makes it possible to fish on a floating line. This is one of my most productive warm water patterns for smallmouth and largemouth bass. It is also great for redfish and snook. This is one streamer pattern that is always in my box.
The Wool Head Minnow
Hook: TMC 811s, size 2
Thread: Ultra Thread 140 denier, white (back)
Thread: Gel Spun, G.S.P 200, white (front)
Tail: Craft fur, white on ventral/bottom and various colors on dorsal/top (see below)
Flash: Mirage flash or Flashabou
Body: Crosscut Rabbit, various colors (see below)
Head: Sculpin Wool (e.g. Orvis Sculpin Wool), various colors (see below)
Eyes: Plastic Eyes, size 6.0mm
Cement for eyes: Quick Grip (all-purpose adhesive) or Goop or AquasealFly length: 3.5 inches.
Color Schemes: Chartreuse and white (all time favorite), brown and white, green and white (e.g. trout fingerling), grey and white (e.g. shad)
Instructions:
Wrap a thread base to cover the hook. For the first part of the fly use the UTC/140 thread. The Gel Spun thread (GSP) comes later during the wool head.
Clip the craft fur to twice the hook length. Use a blend of colors, white is always on the ventral/bottom, generally a medium color in the middle and the dominant color (e.g. chartreuse) on the dorsal/top. Tie the fur in sections, being careful not to counter twist the fur with excess torque.
Add a tiny bit of flash and splay wrap to the sides.
Tie in the crosscut rabbit strip at the bend of the hook and palmar forward three turns and tie off. Hint: it helps to add a tiny bit of brush on superglue to the hook prior being careful not to touch the hair to the glue.
Once you have competed the previous step you will wet the “ventral/bottom” hairs only and then clip them off. Do not cut the dorsal/top hairs! It will look like this.
Now tie off the UTC/140 thread and switch over to the Gel Spun thread. Gel Spun is very strong and nearly unbreakable, thus ideal for tying down wool or deer hair because you can apply great amount of pressure on the material to tightly bind the fly.
You are now ready to make the wool head.
Pull a clump of wool and measure it to blend half the length of the tail. This is more art than science – practice makes perfect. Once you have measured the length on the tail end be sure and double the total length because you are going to fold over the first set of wool on both the dorsal/top and ventral/bottom. Before securing the wool to the hook shank be sure and comb out the fibers. By combing you will release the fibers which makes them blend more efficiently. The following wool clumps don’t need to be precise but the first set is important to get some length off the back so the material naturally tapers to the tail. Again, this takes a bit of practice and is difficult to fully explain with pictures. It will look like this in series.
Start your first tie in about here on the hook shank – roughly one hook eye length beyond the taper from the previous material.
Tie in the dorsal/top material with three wraps of Gel Spun (GSP) with increasing tension on each wrap. By the third turn you will be at full tension and the material will be secure. Fold over the front end of wool and bind it down with three additional tight wraps. Then repeat this step on the ventral/bottom with the white wool clump. Make sure the two tie end butt ends are flush at the end of the process. Remember, the following steps of wool are going to be done differently.
Basically, we just made a transition from craft fur to wool and once we trim the final head this first set of material will act as a blend from the tail to the bulkier head.
Now we will make the wool head. This is much easier than the previous step. Here you simply cut clumps of wool with lots of bulk and not much length. The trick here is that you need to “pinch” wrap both the dorsal/top and ventral/bottom wool at the same time and bind them both together with 4 or 5 tight turns of GSP with full tension on the thread. The trick is to take your time and make sure the chartreuse is on top and the white is on the bottom and avoid spinning the material. This takes practice but is very simple once you get the technique. Again, you want a bulky clump of wool without much length; think short and stout. Once you secure the wool gently move the tying thread to the front and make a few very tight turns to secure the clump in front. Repeat this step again until you reach the front of the hook, leaving room to whip finish. Be sure and pack the material tightly each time and remember to “man handle” the wool at all times. This is labor intensive but the more you pull and tug and straighten, the better your final head will turn out. The following pictures demonstrate the process. At the end, you will end up with a bit mess of material that looks nothing like the final product. Stick with it, we will soon see the fly take shape.
Once you have completed the rough head you need to comb out the wool fibers. Gently tease out the wool in all directions at first and then comb back toward the tail to smooth out the final rough shape. This is a critical step because it opens up the fibers and releases any twists or clumps in the material. This will set the stage for the trimming and shaping to come.
The final step is trimming the head to a nice minnow shape. Use both scissors and a straight edge razor blade bent with a slight curve to shape the head. Go slow! Be methodical and act like Edward Scissorhands.
Attach the eyes by first removing the stems and then affixing them with Goop or viscous adhesive (Quick Grip (all-purpose adhesive) or Goop or Aquaseal). Use a medium amount of pressure to fix the eyes. Add a red gill slash.
Done!
Now clean up the mess, aagghh.
Examples of various color schemes.Chartreuse and white (killer fly – my go-to pattern)
Brown and white
Trout fingerling
Example of the fly when wet. Notice the great taper from head to tail when the fly is wet. This is what you are after so keep this picture in mind when trimming the head.
Example of the tapered wool head. Notice how this fly has a natural bulk to the head that encompasses both the dorsal/top and ventral/bottom and also, importantly, the lateral/sides. Again, this is what you are after so also keep this picture in mind when trimming the head. If done correctly, you end up with a great looking profile that looks like a natural minnow.
Cool post Neal. Thanks.
Question: how compressible is that wool head? I ask because you have a huge bunch right in front of the hook point.
Tim, the wool is extremely compressible and does not abut the hook or impede hookups. It’s really very easy to work with overall. Honestly, the Puglisi baitfish patterns offer distinct advantages from a weight standpoint but there is something about the wool head on this particular fly that gives a more 3-D profile to the front of the fly that makes it look like a “big fat” minnow in the water.
Also, I have been very impressed with the gummy minnows over the past year.
Tim Pommer-
Here are a few shots of my wool head sculpins. These images provide a better visual of the wool characteristics. These are tied with a looser head but you can see compression of the wool. I tie them two different ways – the first is with a deer hair collar under the wool head and the second is wool head alone with a big sloppy bulbous head and tailing wool. By the way, these sculpins are also very deadly on slow moving currents when dragged slowly on the bottom with a full sinking line.
For fun – this is a shot of my prized catch. A sculpin on a size 18 Rooks Berry Nymph, Ha. I look at this picture a lot when tying sculpin patterns. I still don’t understand why the fish prefer a green sculpin fly when the naturals are clearly dark brown in color.
Adam McDowell, I liked your idea about the shad pattern. Here’s a trial, looks like a great scheme. Unfortunately, I don’t have grey wool (yet) so I tied it all white and colored the dorsal/top with a grey marker.
Neal, thanks for the great tutorial. Now I have a great source on how to tie a really nice fly.
Bill
Hey Neal,
Quick question for you….how do you get that nice collar of deer hair like is on the wool head sculpins that you tie?
Great question Tim. Working with deer hair is one of my least favorite tying skills. Therefore, I have forced myself to work with it more often and incorporate it in my patterns. Through my own trials and tribulations and talking with really good deer head tiers at conclaves lots of little pearls have come down.
To speak directly to your question about getting a nice deer hair collar, I highly recommend watching this YouTube video of Kelly Galloup tying a deer head streamer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWq95R0vv24.
Here are a few tricks in picture form. These are from a tutorial I’m currently putting together.
Measure the collar to extend back the desired distance. Then trim the front flush just past your fingers on your material hand. For this tutorial I purposely left the front fibers long (i.e. did not trim them, kind of a do as I say and not as I do teaching point). Then Bind the deer hair with 2.5 turns of gel spun or other strong tying thread. The 2.5 turns are important here because you are not putting a lot of pressure on the thread during this phase. It’s easier to show in person. Then on the last 1/2 turn when you are completing the third turn you then tug very hard and apply maximal pressure. Hold your tension at the completion of the third turn for a few seconds and be patient – let the thread bite into the deer hair and grab. Then make two more turns to bind the hair and if all was done correctly the hair won’t spin.
Next, trim off the front hair fibers at an angle and make a few wraps to secure the fibers. They should be locked in place and bound tightly at this point. Mission accomplished.
FYI – You DO NOT have to trim of the front hairs. Instead, if you pre-cut the front tags to a short length then you simply push them backward to abut the collar and continue with your next step. If you are making a spun deer hair head then that makes sense. For the wool head sculpin the head is made with wool so it is necessary to trim the front hairs away.
Final result
Once you master this technique the creative possibilities expand. Here is a little streamer I like to tie using the flared collar combined two patches of loosely spun deer hair for the head. It has a rabbit strip tail and a fuzzle body. The deer hair collar pushes water and creates an eddy at the tail of the fly which makes the rabbit strip come alive and likely creates an acoustic profile.
the shad looks pretty good! I’m impressed! I have a great pond that you need to fish with me to try out these. pearl superflukes are the bomb there. I wonder how well these would do
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