The Flying Flash Carpet

This article was initially rejected at GlobalLurefisher.com but Martin Joergensen assured me it was OK to publish it here – even though I’m not quite sure whether we are dealing with a fly or a lure.

Maybe I should ask

the pike that regularly sink their teeth into it. Anyway – the phenomenon of pike becoming accustomed to the flies and lures that we present to them is well known. Yesterday's top pattern can soon become useless to the pike if they have seen it too many times.
The Flying Flash Carpet is a means to present a fly/lure that the pike probably have not seen before. A lot of the pike's favorite quarry is laterally compressed, which can be hard to emulate with standard patterns if you want to exceed a certain size.
This pattern does just that.

As a bonus

you can construct flies/lures that are really big, essentially only depending on the length of flash fibers you can find, which is something that the pike don’t mind at all.
How many times haven't you had bigger pike ferociously attack the small pike that you have hooked?

Tying/building/constructing

Click on each picture for a larger version and more details on the construction.
1. Tie a piece of 10 cm 1.0 mm nylon to a plastic tube using figure-of-eight turns.

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2. Melt the ends of the nylon.

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3. Use pliers to squeeze the entire length of nylon. This will give the flash a better grip.

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4. Take a bundle of flash fibers (around 20 fibers) in the desired length and color and tie an overhand knot in one end of it. The use of a crochet hook makes this a lot easier.

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5. Slide the loop over the nylon and finish the granny knot with another overhand knot.

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6. Secure the knot with superglue (not the gel-type). You can trim the tags now or when you have tied a full side.

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7. Proceed on both sides until you have built or knotted your very own Flying Flash Carpet. If you left the forward flash tags on, trim them once the fly is done.

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8. Rig the carpet with another plastic tube that extends all the way to the end of the fly/lure where you attach a treble or single, maybe barbless, hook.

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Go fishing

in your favorite pike spot. You will quickly discover that Flying Flash Carpets larger than 10 centimeters (4 inches) high and 30 centimeters (12 inches) long are almost impossible to cast on a normal fly rod. The super large carpets (60-70 centimeters or more than 25 inches) are used for trolling from a kayak or a belly boat.

The Flying Flash Carpet

has a tendency to swim “sideways” (which is something that sick or dying baitfish often do). Split shots in the lower part of the “fly” and floating pearls in the top can correct this if you want.