Tying the Puglisi Threadfin Shad by Byron Begley

Baitfish patterns tied with Puglisi EP fibers are realistic, versatile and they catch fish.  You can easily design a three dimensional baitfish to match what you have in your waters.  One benefit from using EP fibers is they are easily colored with Prismacolor markers and Sharpie pens.  So you can add bars or dots when required.  If trimmed correctly the baitfish is broader in the front and slender in the rear portion.  That is important if a fish is following your fly.  It looks realistic and three dimensional from behind.  It looks real. Also, you can't buy these flies or at least I have not seen them.

Using EP fibers allows you to make translucent minnows that blend in with their surroundings like real minnows do.  That is especially important when fishing clear water in streams, lakes and the ocean.  Or you can make them bulkier so they push water.  The possibilities are endless.  The fibers do not absorb water.  When you pull one off the water it becomes very light and easy to cast. 

There are two important characteristics to remember about EP fibers that make them perfect for tying baitfish patterns.  They are somewhat kinky.  So, when they are left long the fibers support each other and tend to stick together allowing your minnow body to keep it’s 3-D shape in the slender part of the body.  Another characteristic is when they are cut short in the front portion of the body they stick out like a bad haircut.  This gives the fly bulk in the front end and the belly, again giving the impression of a fat front end and three dimensional.  Learning to trim the fibers to achieve the shape of a minnow takes practice.  Tying these flies take time too.  A small minnow pattern can take 30 minutes to tie.  A large tarpon fly can take an hour or more if you are particular about the end product.  But, they are durable.  You can catch several fish on one fly.  You can cast them all day.  And they work.  Just don’t want to leave them on the dash of your truck on a hot day.  They will fluff up and look like a cotton ball.  Leave them in boxes or packaged in plastic tubing and they will store well.

Important:  When you purchase EP Fibers they are packaged in a plastic bag.  When you remove them you will need to secure one end or you will have a mess and lose a lot of fiber.  I have used a rubber band or two and wrap one end.  That works well.  Lately I’ve been using small wire ties available at your neighborhood home improvement store.  I like that better.      

The threadfin shad lives in most large rivers and lakes in the Southeast.  They are an excellent forage fish because they don’t grow to be too large and they spawn at different times in the Spring until Fall so there are often different sizes available.  They do not tolerate cold temperatures well so in our part of the region there can be large die-offs that make them easy prey during the harsh winters.  A lot of large trout have been caught when dead or dying threadfin shad are flushed through the turbines from our lakes into the tailwaters.  When that happens you want to be there.  But the populations bounce back after the cold winters.  Threadfin shad have been introduced to many watersheds to enhance the fishery.  They are not always native to your waters.  I found a great photo and story about these minnows in the book “The Fishes of Tennessee” by David Etnier and Wayne Starnes.  In this book is a photo of every fish found in Tennessee.  It has proved to be invaluable to me as a source for tying baitfish patterns.  You can purchase it at the University of Tennessee Press in Knoxville.