Tails that Never Foul

There is nothing worse than fishing a fly for a long period of time and later checking your fly only to realize that you have been fishing a fly that had a 1/2 pound of moss on it, or that the fly is messed up.  A common occurrence for anglers that fish streamers, crawfish, baitfish or crabs is that the tail will get fouled while fishing or casting. This is term used when the tail gets unintentionally wrapped around the inside of the bend of the hook instead of flowing life like behind the fly like it was intended). Unfortunately, this usually happens when you have one shot at a great fish and after the fish doesn’t take the fly or doesn’t stay buttoned up after it eats.  After everything is said and done, you check your fly only to realize that the tail is fouled and you missed your one and only opportunity at such a great fish.

This problem plagued me for years until one time after missing a great opportunity at a very large Permit while fishing the Caribbean salt water flats of Mexico, I was tired of dealing with it and decided to sit down at my fly tying vice and solve the problem so that it would never happen to me again.  This is the result…