New to sand eels...

[tyguy]

I have never fished sand eel patterns before, let alone tie one. After seeing Dave Skok's sand eel picture posted here, I noticed the three mono legs at the nose of the fly, evidently to keep it in an upright "burrowing" position...?

Well, I tried tying one without the mono support legs - it seemed to me they could get hung up on bottom debris. What I did was tie the barbell on in a similar fashion, but tyed the tail section on a piece of foam and formed the foam to fit the EZ body tube, then tied/glued it in place.

I dropped it in a bowl of water, the results seem to be okay, as the body has floatation and the head does not, giving the eel a similar angle to Mr. Skok's. See the attached pix and please let me know if I am on the right track here.

[joshr]

Looks like a great sand eel pattern...the jig hook and the dumbells will keep it burrowing, and the thin saddles will provide great undulating action. I'd love to try it on the flats this spring...would you be willing to sell me a few...promise to send a full report on the field test! You can email me at jreibel@wgen.net.

--Josh

[Quicksilver]

tyguy I think your version is an improvement on the original!

[scruffy_fish]

Had simular thoughts about the mono legs, great idea about the foam. I bet it's easier to tie also. :)

[Sentience]

i always thought that the mono legs were to catch fishermen at the shows instead of working well in the water. but i could be wrong. good idea with the foam as a replacement.

[tyguy]

Thanks guys, glad you like the pattern! They are pretty easy to tie, the foam insert in the body works well in the "test bowl", so I'm pretty confident they'll do the job out in the real world.

[skyomish]

I've tied a similar fly based on a sandeel pattern developed by Ken Abrames back in 1994 that uses a hackle collar at the head of the fly to support it on the sand. Pops and hops beautifully if you want to, or it sits there and just wiggles. They're a great pattern to use when other sandeel patterns aren't working.