FLY BOX: Baby Fat Minnow
IMAGE: Fulling Mill
Intro
Another stunner out of the Fly Fish Food camp! The Baby Fat Minnow was originally created by Clark "Cheech" Pierce to solve a problem faced by trout anglers across the country: stillwater streamer snubs.
If you don't have much stillwater experience, the trout can be notoriously picky when it comes to streamers. They'll chase them, inspect them, maybe even swipe at them; but getting them to commit to the eat can be tricky. The proportions, colors, and movement must be on point. Sometimes, especially in the alpine, you'll watch trout chase down a larger streamer pattern aggressively, only to nip at its tail. It's almost as if they want to scare it off instead of eating it. That's when Cheech came up with a solution, as documented in a blog post on the Fly Fish Food website written back in 2018:
“Have you ever had one of those days where you know you are fishing in the right place, the fish are active, the weather is perfect, but the fish just don’t seem to like your fly pattern?
If you have ever fished a lake where you can sight fish to cruisers you get to see the whole thing unfold. Cast out, fish appears out of nowhere and follows your fly, then he turns away. You strip your fly and he comes right back and follows even closer this time but still turns away... Yeah. Stillwater trout can be real jerks sometimes. Because they basically just swim and eat, they can afford to be more selective than river fish - mostly because they aren’t burning calories in currents just to survive. I could go on and one about this, but long story short, I wanted to create a fly that they wouldn’t be able to give the ol’ “looky Lou” anymore.
The Low Fat Minnow was born, and has been a very successful fly for us over the last 4 years or so. It has caught everything from Green Sunfish in Utah to Tarpon in Mexico. After a recent trip to chase big cutthroat, I noticed lots of really small baitfish that would school up right over the weed beds near shore. After that trip I began working on a much smaller and simpler Low Fat Minnow, and after a few revisions the Baby Fat Minnow was born.”
IMAGE: Weekender Media
Applications
CATEGORY: Streamer
TARGET SPECIES: Trout
The Baby Fat Minnow was designed to perform in stillwater. Here’s how we’ve put this streamer to work in Colorado’s high mountain lakes:
Using an intermediate sink tip fly line and the butt section of a 0X fluorocarbon leader connected to 12”-24” of 12 lb. RIO Big Nasty tippet, tie the Baby Fat on using the Tommy Loop knot. Unlike a traditional clinch knot, the Tommy Loop allows your streamer to move freely and swim more erratically; similar to a small baitfish struggling to swim.
Target structure. Look for rocky points, submerged boulder fields, laydown trees, drop offs, etc. Shoot as much line as you can and send the Baby Fat into deep water near the structure you’re targeting. The goal is to give the streamer a chance to get down before starting your strip. Always keep your line tight, but take your time: make the cast, open a beer, and look around for a bit.
When starting the retrieve, you want to go low and slow. If the streamer is on the bottom, you need to be feeling that. Long, slow strips, mixed with brief pauses and quick jerks will usually produce a strike.
VIDEO: Fly Fish Food
About the Tyer
Clark ‘Cheech’ Pierce, Fly Fish Food / Fulling Mill
Clark (Cheech) originally from Vernal, UT is relatively famous from his days as a steer wrestler in Elko Nevada. He ties a few flies now and again when he's not busy modeling plus size clothing. He has tied for many years, and got his start in fly design with Rainy's flies, where he created the Cheech Leech, Grumpy Frumpy, and other effective patterns. He is now an innovator for Fulling Mill, and many of his fly patterns are available through them. His most notable accomplishment in fly tying is that he once tied 65 San Juan worms in 20 minutes, and eating a Big Mac in 4 bites.
(via FlyFishFood.com)
VIDEO: Fly Fish Food
Material List - Baby Fat Minnow (Chub)
HOOK: Fulling Mill Bonio Barbless Carp Hook (#8)
BEAD: Danville Flat Waxed Nylon Thread (70 Denier, White)
BEAD: Plummeting Tungsten Beads (Nickel, 7/64" [2.8mm])
TAIL: Spey Chickabou Pelt or Bird Fur (White)
COLLAR: Ice Dub (Callibaetis)
HEAD 1: Bruiser Blend Junior Dubbing (Gray Holo)
HEAD 2: Bruiser Blend Junior Dubbing (Cream)
EYES: 3D Holographic Eyes (Super Pearl, 1/8")