Olive Whitebait    

Hook:    Tiemco TMC 5212 # 6-10 

Thread:   Green 6/0 

Over Wing: Grizzle Olive Cock Hackles x 2

Rib: Gold Wire

Body: Light Grey Super Bright Dubbing

1/ First off wrap a nice even base of thread starting from near the front of the hook and extending to the point where you are going to tie in your first part of the fly, the ribbing. This point should be roughly level with the barb on the hook as with most fly patterns. If you want to add some lead do so. Once this is completed go to the next step.
2/ Take a piece of wire and tie in at this point. It should be attached so that it extends out to the rear of the hook and is therefore out of the way of the following steps. This rib will become very important shortly as it is what keeps the wing in place and the fly together. See photo for comparison and trim the excess. Then go to step 3.
3/ Now take some of the dubbing and loosely attach it to the thread. This is similar to the PMS we did last week and we are going to tease it out in a similar fashion also. We are using the exact same material for this fly only in a different colour and you can purchase containers with 12 different colours ready to go.
4/ Wind the dubbed thread forward building up the body as you go. Take your time and try to get a nice fat body that will tease out nicely. If you have to stop half way through and add more dubbing to the thread to endure you get it right. While this is not a vital point we do like it to look a certain way. Remove any excess dubbing when you are done and add a couple of wraps to hold everything in place. .
5/ Select two appropriately sized hackle feathers. The best thing about Matuka style flies is that it allows us to use up all those oversize feathers we will never use when tying dry flies. These should be measured off against the hook shank. I tie mine long (1.5-2 times) the length of the hook shank while David likes them equal in length to the shank. Either way you will get short takes some times.
6/ Hold the two feathers together as they are to be tied in. Shiny sides outwards (when looking from above) so that the natural curve of the feather is into each other. Measure against the shank and remove a section of the underside of both feathers that will allow it to neatly sit flush with the hook shank. See photo and click for more detailed pic.
7/ Once you have measured this to your satisfaction hold the feathers together, shiny sides out on top of the shank as shown. Pinching them together with the thumb and forefingers of the left hand (right handed tier) use your right hand to wrap several tight wraps of thread and secure the wing atop the hook. The first few wraps should be gentle to allow exact placement of the wing. Once it looks right add several more wraps.
8/ Using your left hand gently pull the wing back with some pressure so that it sits flat on the body of the fly/hook shank. While doing this use your right hand to stroke the feather fibres forward as shown so that the rib will be easy to wrap. After a few strokes the teased out fibres should stand up vertically on their own.
9/ Now again use your left hand to hold the wing down firmly. Once it is flush with the hook as shown, pinch it with thumb and forefinger of the left hand and hold it still. Using your right hand take the rib and wrap several tight turns in the one plane at the rear of the fly body. Be careful not to break the wire or you will be unwrapping a few steps. Click on the photo for more detail.
10/ Now that the wing is fixed carefully taking up to 5 turns of the wire to rib up to the thread. Gently pull the wire through the teased out hackle feather fibres pulling down a bit tighter and locking the wing in place with every wrap. When you reach the thread tie off and trim any excess wire. Add some wraps to build up the fly head until you get something similar to what you see. then add a couple of half hitches and cut the thread away.
11/ Use the fingers of the right hand to hold the hook near the eye and secure it while stroking the hackle wing feather. Use your left hand to gently pull the wing fibres back towards the rear of the hook, the exact opposite of what you did in Step 8 in which we prepared the wing for the rib. Then take your piece of Velcro as we did with last weeks fly and gently tease out the body dubbing fibres. This is optional.
12/ Here you have the completed fly. While these patterns have been around for ages this particular colour combo can be attributed to Tassie commercial tier Bruce Gibson. He reckons it is deadly on Whitebait feeders in the estuaries on his beautiful island and it is not hard to see why. If you don't have the correct colour hackle don't worry too much with dark blue dun also working very well.

The Pattern

Matuka style patterns have been around and will be around for long time. Why? Well simply they work and are easy to tie. This little beauty found its way to us about 18 months ago courtesy of Tassie Flytier Bruce Gibson and quickly established itself in our boxes. It has proven to be a deadly addition to the Pondage fishers armoury. The two tone colouration with darker tail and wing with lighter underbody is very effective. The barred feather also is a good representation of many baitfish and this combination of patterns really accentuates any movement given to the fly. The teased out translucent when wet underbody brings the fly to life as does the wiggling tail that can lead to plenty of short takes. We tie ours without lead and have yet to try any heavily weighted ones or beadhead versions but there is no reason why they would not work. These past few weeks with the Pondage being so low we have enjoyed plenty of success with it and the empty section in our fly cabinet where they once were is testament to their effectiveness at the moment. 

In the river they work well when swung across and down or down and across, however you like to call it. Fishing the glides and deeper pools using this method has brought up some pretty good fish and we definitely recommend removing the barbs when fishing flies as large as these. This pattern also works well when fished upstream through the almost motionless pools with a short strip, stop-start retrieve working best.