As the name implies these flies are built using a soft plastic lure body. I like to use 2″ and 3″ crescent tail type soft plastics as they tend to have a little more movement than some of the alternatives. For general prospecting or when targeting bream and whiting I use the 2″ version and when I am targeting flathead I use the 3″ version. The jury is still out on whether the tail should be up or down but on balance I prefer to have the tail down. Either way soft plastics are a bugger to cast and there is about the same incidence of the hook fouling the soft plastic tail. With the tail down however I think the tail disguises the hook a little better and as a consequence they catch catch more fish.

Materials

Process

A	Wind the thread from the 95% position to the bend of the hook and then back to the 90% position. [member Link=”p=10018″ Title=”Understanding hooks”] Tie in a set of bead chain, dumbbell or real eyes. [member Link=”p=573″ Title=”Tying in the eyes”] Return the thread to the bend of the hook.

B	Tie in a length of chenille at the bend of the hook and tie it as n under-body flat along the top of the hook shank all the way to the eyes.

C	Mix a very small amount of epoxy and put just a small amount on top of the chenille at the bend of the hook. [member Link=”p=2700″ Title=”Working with epoxy”]

D	Prepare the soft plastic by trimming it square at the front with the body equal in length to the shank of the hook.

E	Take the fly out of the vice and thread a soft plastic body onto the hook shank. As you do this the epoxy will be forced all the way along the under-body and when it sets it will hold the soft plastic in place. Put the fly back into the vice.

F	Figure eight wrap the chenille around the eyes. Tie the chenille off at the eye of the hook and trim the excess. Whip finish the thread behind the eye of the hook, trim the thread and apply a drop of head cement to the whip finish.