Fly tying....getting back into it.

[Fallser]

On 2/10/2021 at 10:09 AM, Mr. Aquarium said:

That’s awesome! I love tying. I tie my own steelhead, panfish and bass jigs 

Nice.  There are four of us who fish together most of the time. I'm the only one who fly fishes.  I tie up jigs for them.

I also make Mepps style in-line spinner baits for them and I'm going to give spinner baits a shot once I finish tying my flies.

[Fallser]

I've been working on my bass bugs the last month.  Finally, got enough done to take some pictures though some in the last group need legs.

First, Meades Weedless Frog.  A new pattern for me.  They're tied on a Ahrex Trout Predator Long hook, size 2/0.  Tied up a dozen, need to wait a couple of months before I give them a shot.  They're suppose to be weedless.  

 

Tony's Froggie.  Normally, I tie these on a size 2xl, size 6 for panfish.  These are tied on a Ahrex Trout Predator Long hook, size 2/0.

 

 

This pattern doesn't have a name.  The template for the original panfish fly, I normally tie it on a size 6 2 xl hook, is the soft spider bodies you can buy on line or in a fly shop.  These are also tied on a Ahrex Trout Predator Long hook, size 2/0.

 

The last batch, for lack of a better name I call the Heart popper.  The head is a heart shaped piece of 2 mm craft foam.  Some still need legs.  It's tied on a size 4 Gamakatsu B10S stinger hook.  I modified a pattern shown to me by Harrison Steeves by opening the head instead of gluing it to the sides of the fly..  Yes it does have a Jitterbug action when using a steady retrieve.

 

[flyfisher]

Incredible stuff man.  I am working on a cicada pattern now with the impending hatch....i think i have it mostly figured out but time will tell.....I have also started down the treacherous path of making har bodied poppers for whatever reason lol

[Mr. Aquarium]

21 hours ago, Fallser said:

Nice.  There are four of us who fish together most of the time. I'm the only one who fly fishes.  I tie up jigs for them.

I also make Mepps style in-line spinner baits for them and I'm going to give spinner baits a shot once I finish tying my flies.

Nice dude. I want to start tying up spinner baits, inline or bass spinner baits for pike. Also going to tie up saltwater jigs this winter 

[Fallser]

4 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Nice dude. I want to start tying up spinner baits, inline or bass spinner baits for pike. Also going to tie up saltwater jigs this winter 

I enjoy it.  It's a nice break from tying flies.  I've got all the materials and some that most wouldn't think of using on spinner baits.  What got me started was a large in-line spinner bait I picked up at local fishing flea market.  It's about 6 or 7 inches long and weighs about 2 ounces or so.  Uses a Muskie size blade, a 5 inch soft plastic grub on a 4/0 hook plus a couple of spinner bait skirts.  The guy was making them for salt water striped bass fishing.  The first batch I tied up, looked good but I used to too small a blade.  I ordered some size 6 blades and I'm redoing the whole batch.  I'll post some here when I get a few more done.  The one thing I've noticed about salt water bucktail jigs that I've seen is they use too much buck tail

[Mr. Aquarium]

8 hours ago, Fallser said:

I enjoy it.  It's a nice break from tying flies.  I've got all the materials and some that most wouldn't think of using on spinner baits.  What got me started was a large in-line spinner bait I picked up at local fishing flea market.  It's about 6 or 7 inches long and weighs about 2 ounces or so.  Uses a Muskie size blade, a 5 inch soft plastic grub on a 4/0 hook plus a couple of spinner bait skirts.  The guy was making them for salt water striped bass fishing.  The first batch I tied up, looked good but I used to too small a blade.  I ordered some size 6 blades and I'm redoing the whole batch.  I'll post some here when I get a few more done.  The one thing I've noticed about salt water bucktail jigs that I've seen is they use too much buck tail

awesome dude!  Yea they use a lot of bucktails on them!  I want to try out other materials on the saltwater jigs.  Hmmm inline spinner for stripers? Never thought about that! Might have to try it. I love striper fishin. 
 

what got me started. We were fishing in NY for steelhead and salmon. Bought some crappie jigs from Walmart. 10 for 2 bucks. We slayed em. I wanted better hooks cuz the hooks would bend after 1 fish. Also wanted to try different colors.  It took off.   Have so many different color combos and styles of jigs. It’s awesome. Wish I could fish steelies more often then twice a year. It’s a 7.5 hour drive for me 

[flyfisher]

Been messing around with cork to make some poppers.....

https://www.facebook.com/1089240188/videos/10218126456048107/

not sure if it will show or not...

[Fallser]

On 2/26/2021 at 11:18 AM, flyfisher said:

Been messing around with cork to make some poppers.....

https://www.facebook.com/1089240188/videos/10218126456048107/

not sure if it will show or not...

It showed.  Nice work.  I started out using cork but just could not get them right.  I started using the butt end of large goose quills to make what we call "pencil poppers" in fresh water.  I'd stuff them with foam so they would float. They caught fish but I was limited to the size I could make and I was using long shank cricket hooks for them.  Then they came out with the hard foam bodies. I used them for a while, then the soft foam pre-made bodies came out, and I use them for most of my poppers these days.  Or sometimes foam cylinders.  I also do a few with the craft foam sheets.  

 It's a toss up as to whether I put the legs through the body or tie them in at the back of the popper.  For panfish flies, I tie them in at the back.  That way the smaller panfish can't grab the legs.  When I get up to bass bugs, I'll use longer legs through the body.  It gets frustrating, at times, getting the legs to come out level and in the same spot on both sides of the body.

[Fallser]

Still working on warm water bugs.  Of the batch this is the one that is tied specifically for bass.  It's basically a floating Woolly Bugger.  It's distantly related to the Booby Fly.  Overall length is 3 to 3 1/2 inches.  It's tied on a Mustad 3777BR.  The hook's gap is probably equivalent to size1 or 1/0 hook.

 

The rest of the patterns are transitional.  Tied for panfish.  They're all tied on size 6 2xl hooks.  Panfish will take them, but they're large enough that a bass may take interest.

First, is "Bluegill Bug" or "Triangle Fly.  It's apparently a hot panfish bug, and seems to tied mostly on size 10 hooks.

 

This is the panfish version of one I posted a week or so ago called "Tony's Froggie"

I have caught bass up to 15 inches on them.

 

The last are some large soft hackles.  I'll be fishing them in lakes and creeks that have bass and panfish in them.

[Fallser]

Just finished up some more warm water bugs.

We're expecting a brood X cicada hatch, in May.  I worked up a pattern.  The first two will fish, but I've got enough the materials to do two more.  Plan on a wider body on the next two.  Why only four?  The last two hatches of the "17 year locust" were no shows on the creek I fish.

 

 

Next up some Calcasieu Pig Boats.  I've been making smaller fly boxes from clear plastic photo storage boxes from the craft store and 6 mm foam.  The box will hold a dozen of the Pig Boats.

 

A couple of crayfish patterns tied in the Calcasieu Style.

 

Those two were a bit heavy for me.  I tend to tie my flies unweighted or lightly weighted.  So this one is the basic underbody for a Pig Boat weighted with a small to medium dumbbell eye.  I like it better.

 

 

[flyfisher]

Been crazy for me with the school year ending, travel soccer ending and tournaments so I haven't been able to tie much but today I decided to give it a whirl after a few month hiatus.  Finesse gamechanger and a Howitzer using the same material.  

[Michigander]

On 3/17/2021 at 10:20 PM, Fallser said:

Just finished up some more warm water bugs.

We're expecting a brood X cicada hatch, in May.  I worked up a pattern.  The first two will fish, but I've got enough the materials to do two more.  Plan on a wider body on the next two.  Why only four?  The last two hatches of the "17 year locust" were no shows on the creek I fish.

 

 

Next up some Calcasieu Pig Boats.  I've been making smaller fly boxes from clear plastic photo storage boxes from the craft store and 6 mm foam.  The box will hold a dozen of the Pig Boats.

 

A couple of crayfish patterns tied in the Calcasieu Style.

 

Those two were a bit heavy for me.  I tend to tie my flies unweighted or lightly weighted.  So this one is the basic underbody for a Pig Boat weighted with a small to medium dumbbell eye.  I like it better.

 

 

What makes it Calcasieu style? I looked on Google briefly but didn't find much.

[flyfisher]

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/022006fotw.php

 

Basically it is the style that is somewhat like a conventional swim jig.  Takes a lot of thread to build up the head then coat it but the results are money as you can see by the flies on this thread.  Really a pretty fly that isn't super hard to tie but super effective.  I have been focusing primarily on the river lately so I haven't tied many lately but when I get the largemouth urge and don't want to chuck big game changers, these are near the top of my list, even though mine don't look nearly as nice as @Fallser

[Michigander]

Swim jig you say.... Color me interested.

Well, that looks like the finesse swim jig style I've been after for tying to weighted wacky hooks. Thank you!

[Fallser]

I posted some up on the Tackle Making forum a couple of months back and got some good advice on the "swim baits".  The most frequent suggestion was to make the skirts a bit shorter which I've done with the latest batch.  Mine are unweighted.  I use either a Gamakatsu Worm hook 011, Daichi 2461 or the Eagle Claw Aberdeen Crappie hook in 3/0, looking at Barlow's catalog the Gamakatsu 474 Swim Jig hook in 3/0 would work to.  As far as far as the head goes, wrapping down the chenille and feathers provides a good thread base for the head.  If I'm going for RNLP head I add a strip of foam on the top and bottom of the thread base and use Big Fly thread, easier to build up the head.  If I'm going for a Spitzer head, I use just use the Big Fly thread.  A thick UV resin and a rotating vise help get the bullet shaped head.

  I make spinner baits for my fishing buddies and I've been tying the Pig Boat on them.  It's a nice change of pace to the standard spinner bait body.

[Bdnoble84]

On 1/1/2021 at 9:49 PM, flyfisher said:

He is kind of an odd guy and said he named all his flies like that instead of the boring ones like people usually name them...here are some of them

sex dungeon

butt monkey

twerking minnow

lap dancer

bangtail T&A

barely legal

butt sump

silk kitty.....

 

I think you get the idea 

Having a devious sense of humor myself, it cracks me up. I kind of feel it was an attempt by him to remove some of the stuffyness the fly fishing purists bring to the table. He is clearly challenging the notion that you have to fish a size 20 fly to catch trout with those big flys.

[Guitarfish]

Anybody watching me try to fly fish isn't going to confuse me with any type of purist.  I don't try to remember fly types or names.  If I find one that works I go ask at the shop for 'more of these'.

 

The only thing I stay pure at is old pick ups.  Kills me when an original gets chopped on.

 

Keep the sense of humor it will serve you well.

[Fallser]

On 7/4/2021 at 5:37 PM, flyfisher said:

For some reason I have been on a bluegill tying kick....

Nice, flyfisher.  How big are they?  Around here, particularly in the lakes I fish in South Jersey,  it seems the largemouth get really interested in the small sunfish, 2 to 3 inches long in the fall. The small sunfish tend to school up in the shallows, and on a couple of the clear lakes I've seen bass in the 2 to 4 pound range literally lined up in deeper water waiting to take a shot at them.  Ever so often one would rush in and blow up a school.  I decided to tie some up.  The mistake I made, which you didn't, was to tie them in spawning colors which the bass weren't interested in.  Those small sunfish are pretty dull looking.  

 

12 hours ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Having a devious sense of humor myself, it cracks me up. I kind of feel it was an attempt by him to remove some of the stuffyness the fly fishing purists bring to the table. He is clearly challenging the notion that you have to fish a size 20 fly to catch trout with those big flys.

There's actually an ongoing discussion on one of the fly fishing boards I frequent about those particular names and the "impression" that they create.

I've caught some 20 inch trout on size 20 flies.  Makes me a member of the 20-20 club.

When I first started fly fishing I focused mainly on trout.  One day I forgot my net and hooked a decent trout, about 18 inches.  My mind said "they only eat insects,  I can lip it to land it"  Wrong.  I needed a couple of band-aids on my thumb so I could fish the rest of the day, and I made sure I had my net with me when I went out again.

[Fallser]

11 hours ago, Guitarfish said:

Anybody watching me try to fly fish isn't going to confuse me with any type of purist.  I don't try to remember fly types or names.  If I find one that works I go ask at the shop for 'more of these'.

Don't worry about it.  I've been fly fishing for 27 years and I refuse to use the Latin names some purist like to toss about.  If you ask me what's hatching I might say a size 16 grey mayfly.  The Isonychia(latin) which is a large dark mayfly that goes by the English/America names of Mahogany Dun, Slate Drake, Dun Variant, Leadwing Coachman.  My favorite fly is the Usual.  "What are you catching them on?"   "The Usual".  Drives beginners and purists crazy.  Almost as bad as telling them you caught a bunch of trout on a Mop fly.

[flyfisher]

9 hours ago, Fallser said:

Nice, flyfisher.  How big are they?  Around here, particularly in the lakes I fish in South Jersey,  it seems the largemouth get really interested in the small sunfish, 2 to 3 inches long in the fall. The small sunfish tend to school up in the shallows, and on a couple of the clear lakes I've seen bass in the 2 to 4 pound range literally lined up in deeper water waiting to take a shot at them.  Ever so often one would rush in and blow up a school.  I decided to tie some up.  The mistake I made, which you didn't, was to tie them in spawning colors which the bass weren't interested in.  Those small sunfish are pretty dull looking.  

 

There's actually an ongoing discussion on one of the fly fishing boards I frequent about those particular names and the "impression" that they create.

I've caught some 20 inch trout on size 20 flies.  Makes me a member of the 20-20 club.

When I first started fly fishing I focused mainly on trout.  One day I forgot my net and hooked a decent trout, about 18 inches.  My mind said "they only eat insects,  I can lip it to land it"  Wrong.  I needed a couple of band-aids on my thumb so I could fish the rest of the day, and I made sure I had my net with me when I went out again.

Top one is probably 3-4" and the bottom on is a little longer.  

 

where I learned to fly fish is a trophy stream that is basically stocked brown fingerlings that get pretty large.  It is a tough place to fish and gets a ton of pressure but me being a new fisherman didn't know any better so I was thinking well hell, there are big brown in here so I am gonna throw the same stuff I do for smallies.  I always did well out there and when fielding questions at the fly shop I worked at when people would ask about the stream and what they were biting on etc...I would always say well XYZ is hatching but if you want the big fish gotta throw streamers and bigger the better.  

Many did not like the response......there are some amazing hatches out there that are pretty fun but I have only caught or seen a handful of the larger 20+" fish feeding on the hatched insect. 

[flyfisher]

22 hours ago, Fallser said:

For some reason, I can't access the pictures.

hmmm...I usually link from Facebook so I will see what I can figure out.

[Fallser]

Just finished tying up flies for my trip to Northeastern Ontario next week. These are some of the boxes.

Top water

Mop Fly streamers and a couple of Ned flies

Crayfish

Standard poppers and sliders

Soft Hackles

 

[HaydenS]

10 hours ago, Fallser said:

Just finished tying up flies for my trip to Northeastern Ontario next week. These are some of the boxes.

Top water

Mop Fly streamers and a couple of Ned flies

Crayfish

Standard poppers and sliders

Soft Hackles

 

Those are awesome

[Fallser]

Bump.  Put my fly rods away till spring at the end of October.  Time to start tying flies for next year, building or rebuilding some spinning rods.  Give a shot at making some spinner baits.  I'll be making some more of these patterns over the winter.

Subsurface bass bug.  Still needs a bit of tinkering.  It's tied on a 2/0 hook

 

 

Jig hooks have become popular in fly tying.  Most of the hooks used are too small(size 12 and smaller)for my purposes and can be a bit pricey.  These are fly rod panfish/bass hair jigs tied on 1/32 oz Neon Mooneye Jigs.  Size 6 hook.

 

 

[flyfisher]

@Fallser you do some fantastic work and your innovation and creativity is awesome.  I am currently enrolled in 3 grad school classes combined with teaching and everything else so I haven't fished or tied in a while....after the first week of December my time will free up though.  

Somehow I did manage to pick up a couple more 8wts though