These Double Pupil Dumbbell Eyes are a great substitute for tying Christmas Island Special bonefish flies.
These new painted dumbbell eyes from Hareline look fantastic. The fluorescent colors (Fl. Pink, Fl. Orange, and Chartreuse) are super bright and the white iris and black pupil definitely give your flies some extra bling-bling. We offer them in either lead or brass versions.
When looking at the Double Pupil Eyes, there are three ideas that immediately pop into my head:
1) Christmas Island Special bonefish eyes
2) Redfish flies
3) Some cool variations on steelhead or salmon Intruder flies
I think these eyes will be particularly interesting to the guy trying to tie the Christmas Island Special. These eyes are the closest thing we’ve seen on the market for the dumbbell eyes on a Christmas Island Special. According to some inside sources, the only way to get them exactly like the commercially produced, original pattern is to paint brass eyes with a background color, then an iris color, and then the pupil color. That’s a lot of work! Plus, how well does that paint stick to plated brass anyway?
Well, the good news is, these Double Pupil Eyes look great. We offer then in both lead and in brass. Lead eyes are heavier than brass eyes so they are good in deeper water, getting bulky flies to sink faster, or when you want small eyes but still achieve a fast sink rate. For shallow water bonefishing, like most of what is done on Christmas Island, I would go with the traditional brass option.
The X-Small size is perfect on a TMC 811 size 6 hook for bonefish flies. It would also be the choice for a size 8 in my opinion. For size 4 and size 2, I would probably go with the size Small.
Shop now for Double Pupil Lead Eyes or Double Pupil Brass Eyes