# Pilchard/ Glass Minnow Fly Patterns for Snook



## The Fin (Sep 28, 2021)

stuntdubl said:


> I've been seeing a few schools of snook eating small pilchards and glass minnows regularly.
> Even a live mullet they turned their nose up at.
> 
> Managed a couple bites live chumming and fishing pilchards.
> ...


I’ve always had good fishing using the Enrico Puglisi series of flies. The EP Pilchard and Micro Minnow work well.


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## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

My favorite. E-Z Body and Yak hair.


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## Loogie (Jul 24, 2019)

Use a size 2 Schminnow. Definitely the fly for the job.


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## MikeChamp12 (May 17, 2021)

I’ve used this with great results in the keys.


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)

I’m dating myself here but for glass minnows there was a local here in St.Pete named Carl Hansen. He was a legend. He used to tie a small hook blue thread for head, red thread for gills, wrap a bit of foil on shank and tie a nail knot over the whole she bang with mono. Killer lil glass minnow, super cheap to tie as well,, and works when the glass minnows are thick and the fish won’t feed on anything else. Here’s a link to a bend back he used to also tie.









Carl Hansen and the glass minnow


Carl Hansen was a fly angler from St. Petersburg, FL. He is known nationally as the inventor of the glass minnow pattern. Carl fished t...




riverraisinrods.blogspot.com


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## TylertheTrout2 (Apr 21, 2016)

Tom's Lightbulb fly works damn good in my opinion, can sight fish with it or blind cast it as a productive search bait..!


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## RennieRae (Aug 4, 2018)

Megalops said:


> I’m dating myself here but for glass minnows there was a local here in St.Pete named Carl Hansen. He was a legend. He used to tie a small hook blue thread for head, red thread for gills, wrap a bit of foil on shank and tie a nail knot over the whole she bang with mono. Killer lil glass minnow, super cheap to tie as well,, and works when the glass minnows are thick and the fish won’t feed on anything else. Here’s a link to a bend back he used to also tie.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I worked with Carl for about 9 months at BJ's in 1994/'95 and he was quite a unique individual. We used to tie a hundred of those things each day and they would sell out the next day (unless he was giving them away which he did quite often). I miss that old man as he taught me a lot about fly fishing and the appreciation of having the opportunity to enjoy life while doing it. That fly works on everything that swims in saltwater (as carl used to frequently say)!


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

For something a little bigger


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

Megalops said:


> I’m dating myself


I met Carl in the 70's when he worked at a shop on the corner of Ulmerton & Starkey in Largo. Bought my first 3 graphite fly rods from him, still have 2 of them. Great guy.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Glass minnows and small pilchards... I like different patterns depending on which forage is getting their attention... For any size pilchard here's my go to pattern - it just happens to be my very first signature pattern from the very early eighties - and still killing them... I'll go down a size #1 but usually a 1/0 or 2/0 version - and mostly in basic white...

The Silhouette...








like I said - basic white is my first choice... Note, it has lead eyes, a wire weedguard, and a strong hook (these days mostly an Owner Aki... and it's all wide webby saddle hackles for tail and body... Need something "different"? This one is in electric blue...









If those fish are in really shallow waters though - then it's time for something that suspends - the old Seaducer pattern fills the bill...








I do these down to a size #2, using standard Mustad 34007 hooks - and all the way up to 2/0 and larger - still with a wire weedguard though (I'm in the backcountry of the 'glades where something to keep from getting snagged is a very good idea....


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## stuntdubl (Jan 23, 2020)

Pretty amazing set of answers for a fly n00b. Thank you for all the thoughtful answers.

Planning to put a few new flies to work this weekend.


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

Pretty hard to go wrong with Capt. LeMays recommendations.


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## captgeorge (Jan 2, 2022)

Schminnow always does the job for me when they're on white bait


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

EP Baitfish and if the water is a little deeper I use the EP Bay anchovie. I catch a lot of snook on shrimp patterns too though.


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## Steve_Mevers (Feb 8, 2013)

Loogie said:


> Use a size 2 Schminnow. Definitely the fly for the job.


 yep, even try a #6 or #4 depending on the size of the bait


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

RennieRae said:


> I worked with Carl for about 9 months at BJ's in 1994/'95 and he was quite a unique individual. We used to tie a hundred of those things each day and they would sell out the next day (unless he was giving them away which he did quite often). I miss that old man as he taught me a lot about fly fishing and the appreciation of having the opportunity to enjoy life while doing it. That fly works on everything that swims in saltwater (as carl used to frequently say)!


did you ever work with Fred there? Used to do tying nights


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## RennieRae (Aug 4, 2018)

BrownDog said:


> did you ever work with Fred there? Used to do tying nights


Not that I remember. I did not work there for even a year.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

RennieRae said:


> Not that I remember. I did not work there for even a year.


10-4

I owe him for lighting the fly fishing fire in me. I was just a kid showing up to his classes. He built me my first fly rod and gifted me tying tools and a workstation that are still in use today.


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## forasong (Aug 10, 2020)

stuntdubl said:


> I've been seeing a few schools of snook eating small pilchards and glass minnows regularly.
> Even a live mullet they turned their nose up at.
> 
> Managed a couple bites live chumming and fishing pilchards.
> ...


Small lightbulbs are deadly. Don’t be afraid of very small flys. Sometimes finicky fish in clear water on glass minnows need something like a gotcha bonefish pattern dead stick drifted by them on 20lb floro


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## Jason M (Aug 13, 2017)

I don't see how any discussion of pilchard flies is complete without Scott Hamilton's Eat Me fly.









Home - Fly Fishing Extremes


Here are some particulars about what we do at Hamilton Fly Fishing. First of all, this is NOT about trout. This about finding the biggest, meanest, fastest fish available, getting them to destroy a fly and pull you all over the ocean. Sailfish, mahi mahi, wahoo and tuna; very much non-typical...



flyfishingextremes.com





And


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## Nathan Disher (Feb 8, 2020)

Z man slim swim Z in smallest size. Have used in lights at night when bigger baits wouldn’t get touched.


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