Tying the deadly Bucktail Bend Back (pike,zander,perch,bass)

This is a great little fresh and salt water pattern for fishing over weed, rocks or in my case, zebra mussels. I've played with different materials, but find bucktail limits fouling around the hook, resulting in more positive hook-ups. I tie these specifically for zander, but catch other predatory fish too.
Materials:
Hook: Ahrex PR320 4/0
GSP 100D white
Bucktail white
Hedron Polar Flash in silver and gold
Hedron Strung Fuzzy Fibre in orange and yellow
Bigstreamers Nayat in white, grey and black
Angelina fibre in silver and peacock
Deer Creek 8mm Volcano eyes
Deer Creek Fine Flex UV
Medium lead wire (sub with tungsten if required)

[@RustyShacklefardd]

Great pattern. I’m a trout guy but I’ve been trying to get into bass on fly. I’ve fished bass to death on normal gear but I’m really loving these big patterns. Your channel is awesome!

[@sigurdurmarolafsson4183]

I was watching this one for the zillionth time and finally remembered that the Ahrex curved shrimph hook looks like the one you "made"!! So I plan on scaling down for trout.

[@Rensvind1]

Cheers from Sweden! Really great vid. Ur speech is lowkey and easy to follow. U dont mash in loads of information about everything. That gives ME time to ponder on what ur saying and therefore understanding ur instructions better. Keep it up! ;)

[@Neonatas]

This one is so fantastic Paul, this is exactly what I need for my zander in the home river. Loads of stuff on the bottom. Thx for sharing

[@hankvana2149]

Nice one Paul! I fish for walleye (a smaller cousin of your zander) with a hook-point-up fly like this fished right on the bottom. To maximize hooking I use only a small amount of bucktail to veil the hook point (to keep the weeds off) and tie the rest of the materials on the sides, below the centerline of the fly. Generally I tie the fly sparsely so the fly sinks well but rests lightly. I tie the bulkhead quite full and long as a thin "collar" with the bottom trimmed flat - this represents pectoral fins of the baitfish and stops the fly from falling on its side when resting on the bottom; the fiber collar on top of the fly acts as a "weed deflector" and imparts a bit of a swimming action to the fly when it is stripped. Perch are the primary forage (in my lakes) so yellow/orange flies work best in low light levels (late in the evening or very early in the morning) in a "lift/slow strip/settle and pause" with most takes being during the pause or immediately after the lift. Thanks for sharing your pattern! Cheers, Hank

[@paul_monaghan]

Thanks for the insight Hank. Food for thought and a pattern I will play with more for sure. I have found with zander too, they like to hit a slow moving or stationary fly. I really enjoy this style of fishing. All the best

[@marshallbaldwin8960]

this will catch largemouth bass here in Texas. Really looking forward to working with it. Thanks for showing me how to tye it.

[@Duke-fly]

I have been watching your videos for a long time. I watched this video 4 times. I have a lot of questions: 1) I am very interested, at what depth do you catch such beautiful walleyes? 2) How is the tackle arranged? This is probably a sinking fly line. If so, what is the length of the leader? 3) How do you know when a fly has hit the bottom? Perhaps you attach a small 1-3 gram lead to the leader to better track the lake bottom? 4) Fishing technique, strip length, pause time? Actually, it would be nice to see in your videos how to do it correctly on the river and on the lake. I am sure that many subscribers will be happy to see such a video with comments from you. Sincerely, Andrew.

[@mikehulsey4813]

Still probably one of my favorite patterns out there!

[@mattfleming86]

Thank you for sharing more medium/large size flies. I'm going to tie up a few (probably in normal hook orientation) as the overall look is a fantastic baitfish look. Walleye/sauger, bass, striped bass.. what wouldn't eat that! If you have other patterns that imitate younger baitfish 3in-5in/7.5cm-12.5cm many of us would love to see them!

[@Dookii2]

Oh, your videos has helped me alot in my tying, thank you Sir for sharing those videos! God bless! 🙏

[@paul_monaghan]

thank you.

[@Valasyna]

Thank you for the video. I think this fly os just awesome..

[@samuelerossini9716]

Excellent

[@tedvoise7964]

OMTD worm hook is a great bend-back type of hook for this type of fly

[@paul_monaghan]

Cool. I've actually switched to the Ahrex PR350 as us it for zander and that hook has finer wire and a wider gape

[@michaelburk9171]

I mostly fish salt water. But a weedless/weed resistant pattern is always good.

[@Craftyfly]

Excellent tying,thank you.

[@captainflint89]

heating the hook to bend it is a horrible idea , you will ruin the heat treatment on the hooks and you will lose the fish of a lifetime on a softened hook , i will be trying the bent back method as i am a saltwater angler who fishes over shallow mussel and bladderwrack beds in the clyde estuary for seatrout and bass and this looks perfect . if the zebra mussel is anything as annoying as the big scottish esturine variety then i feel your pain lol

[@paul_monaghan]

You are right with heating hook. I don't usually do it due to laziness

[@TheStreamUrchin1]

You are a much better craftsman than I am but I have an old VCR tape with Lefty K addressing bendbacks for fresh water, He emphasized that as soon as you feel hook bend stop there. Further bending hurts hookups was his position. Very nice site. The subtle blend of color is first class and very suggestive. You should do a search for flat tail saltwater streamers and check them out. The guys in Road Island count the hairs of bucktail before application to hook.

[@paul_monaghan]

Interesting about the bending of the hook. I'll have to experiment a bit, but no doubt Lefty was correct

[@edverdoold]

Hi Paul, I enjoy watching your fly tying videos. they are very motivating and your patterns work great in the water on the Dutch Pike. 1 question, what kind of glue is that “tear mender” seems to me to be a very thin liquid glue.

[@paul_monaghan]

I don't actually use it anymore, as never liked the way it yellows over white material. Prefer a thicker transparent glue and worked into the fibres to shape and secure. Look at the recent tutorials.

[@edverdoold]

@@paul_monaghan okay, thanks for your response. 👍🏻

[@stephenwelham]

What is your view on using synthectic materials as against natural to reduce the casting weight your thoughts would be very helpful

[@paul_monaghan]

Good question, and I could probably write an essay on this. It is extremely difficult to answer as a lot depends on the tyers' skills and the quantity of material used. Small flies like the bendback, then no advantage in terms of weight. Big flies for pike and musky, then I learn towards less is more and use a combination of both in most cases. It's very hard to create volume without bucktail. You can with synthetic, but you end up using more material and, therefore, make the fly heavier. There are ways around this, but it's hard for me as I enjoy tying with natural materials. I tend to put focus on how the fly moves in the water, rather than weight. Weight of fly is managed by the appropriate rod and line.

[@garyobrien4537]

Hi Paul, could you list the glues you are using, I see there are a number of them used in this tying...which is class BTW....Just starting to tie myself and had some nice fish yesterday to your Pink Punk.

[@paul_monaghan]

What I use now are Liquid Fusion, Evostik Serious Glue and Gorilla Glue Clear

[@tomcull9973]

Hi Paul, Been going through a few of your videos and tying up some patterns, including this one. I was comparing some hooks as I ran out of the PR320s but when looking through some packets I had some TP615. Putting a PR320 4/0 and a TP615 2/0 side by side, they are the same hook except that the gauge of wire on the TP615 is very slightly smaller. Just curious if you knew this and if you've made a conscious choice to use the stinger or if the 615 might be a better alternative? Keep the videos coming, flies are well thought through and videos well put together.

[@paul_monaghan]

I usually fish this one for zander, though the pike like it too. I have moved to Ahrex PR350 now in size 4/0. Its has a bigger gape and finer wire. The 320's and TP615 I found a bit too thick to get positive hookups with zander. Pike were fine. Hope that helps

[@tomcull9973]

@@paul_monaghan Got some of those as well and they are finer still, and as you say, wider gape. I'll give them a go when I get around to a trip after the Zeds.

[@lepetitpecheuralamou]

As always awesome fly. I really enjoy your work. I have just one question : Why you don't use jig-hook to tied this pattern? Thanks for sharing your idea ;)

[@paul_monaghan]

Thanks, I do sometimes, but not a fan of how they swim for the type of fishing I do

[@freddewfishing7611]

Paul love to see more weedless fly videos. Not much nyat in the states and online shops you could recommend for it ?

[@paul_monaghan]

@@freddewfishing7611 Have a chat with Paul J Beel at Franken Fly. I would say his Werewolf Hair would make a good sub. Or you could try yak

[@Boon-ie1rq]

How does a fly tied on this bent hook compares with a ewg weedless hook? Which one rides better and which one gets better hook up ratio?

[@paul_monaghan]

As long as you don't crowd the point with materials that clump together. Then I'd say the Bendback is superior in hookups than an EWG. However, look at later vids on the Ahrex Swimbait hook I had a hand in designing. The point of the Swimbait hook (based off an EWG) sits higher than the eye, increasing your chances of hookups. Of course hook-ups compared with standard hooks will be less, but your chances of takes will increase because you can cast into cover as they are weedless. Hope that helps a bit.

[@FT4Freedom]

I did notice less material underside. Seems this keeps the buoyancy above the keel.

[@paul_monaghan]

Yes that's key with Bendbacks

[@yuri9570]

Hello Paul, angel hair or angelina fiber they are the same thing?

[@paul_monaghan]

Pretty much, just angelina is cheaper as not sold through a fly shop.

[@BostinAngling]

Watch those gill rakers :D

[@Jnf458]

is it possible to add weight to this to get it deeper in the water column ?

[@paul_monaghan]

Few ways to add weight. Tie in tungsten or lead dumbell eyes. Better still add a tungsten cone to your leader and secure it with a stopper or two. I do the last one if need to get it down and the weight of the line isn't enough.

[@wrbbulltrout]

What is the flexible glue that you mentioned when attaching the eyes?

[@paul_monaghan]

Evostik Serious Glue....It's non solvent based

[@Capt-Joe]

What is a Zander ? I live in South Florida

[@paul_monaghan]

Similar to your walleye