|
.
Dougherty's Vineyard Minnow:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Materials
.
Hook:
Size 3/0 Stainless Steel Mustad 34007 or
Mustad S71SSS or similar (other sizes may be
substituted)
Threads:
White or Uni-mono
Eyes:
Extra large dumbbell preferred (other sizes
or aluminum eyes may be substituted)
Belly:
Deer hair
Throat:
Red Krystal Flash or Gliss-N-Glow (optional)
Flash:
Several strands of Flashabou
Wing: 6
saddle hackles
Over-wing:
6 grizzly saddle hackles
Adhesives:
Zap-A-Gap CA+ and Zip Kicker
.
Buy materials now
.
Why it's successful
Short stories
Fish pics
.
History
.
Dougherty's
Vineyard Minnow, created in 1999, is a
modification of Lefty Kreh's and Bob
Clouser's Half-and-Half. The
differences are, Dougherty's Vineyard Minnow
lacks deer hair on the top of the fly.
This is replaced by the addition of grizzly
saddles over white or colored saddles.
Flashabou is tied-in flash-tail style (i.e.
allowed to extend an inch beyond the
saddles). Larger than normal dumbbell
eyes are used, however smaller eyes may be
used instead. Olive grizzly saddles
and white saddles are used in the original,
however, other colors may be substituted.
.
This pattern was
developed after fishing "The Gut",
Chappaquiddick Island (MA) several days in a
row and noticing schools of banded minnows
swimming its shores. Since those
initial minnow sightings I've returned
nearly every year and have been pleased by a
bent rod after fishing a Vineyard Minnow.
.
The Vineyard
Minnow imitates small baitfish, eels and
sand lances.
.
What makes this fly a successful pattern?
.
1. The
large eyes (yellow preferred) provide a
bull's eye to feeding fish.
.
2. The
heavily weighted eyes provide an erratic up
and down movement.
.
3. The
flashabou tail (tied-in flash-tail style,
i.e. extending an inch beyond the saddles)
is not constrained and thus is free to move
and flash illustriously.
.
4. The
over-wing of grizzly hackle continues the
full length of the fly. This darker
full length dorsal coloring is consistent
with baitfish.
.
5.
Feathers provide life-like movement.
Pull this fly out of the water and all the
feathers slick back along the shank of the
hook, but once in the water the feathers
return to life and move freely. This
tail action combined with the erratic up and
down movement provided by the heavy eyes is
deadly.
.
Four short stories related to this fly
.
1. After
out-fishing two fellow anglers at the Gut, I
was asked if I had any more of these flies.
Each angler was provided a fly which they
promptly tied-on. One angler went on
to catch more fish then what he had done
with his previous fly.
.
2. In the
spring of 2004, while fishing Menemsha, I
hooked and landed 32 striped bass (1-6 lb.)
on a single fly in one day, an all time
best. All fish were released unharmed.
.
Here's the fly
after catching 32 consecutive striped bass
in 1 day.
.
3. An
angler remarked "All you need for Martha's
Vineyard are a handful of white Deceivers
and Vineyard Minnows".
.
4. The
Vineyard Minnow has taken my largest striped
bass to date, 43.5 inches, 26.5 pounds,
pictured below.
.
Vineyard Minnow success:
.
Assateague
Island, VA
Striped Bass
(43.5 inches / 26.5 lbs.)
Caught on a 3/0
Olive Vineyard Minnow
(Click
to enlarge)
.
|
The stomach
content from the fish above, 2 eels, 1
sand lance and 1 mantis shrimp. Food
for thought, this gives you an idea what
these fish consume. The shrimp and
sand lance are roughly 6" while the eels
range between 15-20".
(Click
to enlarge)
|
.
Assateague
Island, VA
Speckled Trout
(26 inches)
Caught on a 3/0
Olive Vineyard Minnow
(Click to enlarge)
.
.
3Previous
Fly
Next
Fly4
.
.
|
