Blue and Purple

Hollow Flatwings.

Playing around on the vise.

I have been playing around with foam, transfer foils and articulated flies.  I like to vary patterns from others.  At least I'm honest, We see a lot of people making a slight variation and claiming a new idea!

 

 

Kelly Gallup

 

 Vladan Milenkovic

 

 

Michael Decoteau

 

Ulf Hagstrom

 

Curtis Fry

Crease and Foam Fly Coatings

 

To start off I am or have copied saltyh20fly's (Stripers Online member) version of a "School Bus Crease fly for use here.

 I wanted to test a few products for coating Crease and foam flies that would;

1. 1) be flexible
2. 2) dry quickly
3. 3) not be too heavy.

I will only mention one product name here, Delta Ceramcoat Sealer and Exterior Varnish!  It did by far better than UV coatings (too heavy), water based fly varnishes (heavy coats took up to a day and a half to harden!), and last rubber/plastic dip products (too many solvents and did not dry clear).  I learned about the Delta products from someone coating foam popper heads with them.  First the sealer is applied then after 30 minutes the exterior varnish can be applied.  The exterior varnish must be applied 3 times each with 30 minute intervals.  The Delta fly is the one lower right.

  



The hooks I used?  You just don't find them like this anymore.  No one makes a fine wire hook with the strength of these!  They won't bend and it take a lot to break one (more than the strength of your leader!).  I got lucky when I found them and bought a few hundred.  If you can find them, buy them!

 

A few more from rehab

Again a few more Clouser variations.  On 30 degree jig hooks, a rabbit tail and crayfish version, and a Hollow Fleye tied on a "Clouser frame".

Bored in Rehab

Three weeks are over and one more to go.  I did want to get more flies done than I did but it's been a little more hard work here than I imagined.  Anyways I made some Clouser Minnow-Half  & Half variations including "lipped", "rattle", and "flatwing" versions,  Tested them in the whirlpool here (LOL) and they came to life, it was a miracle!

Hollow Emu Flatwing

Emu feathers are very mobile and have a strong stem allowing them various applications to flies.  Before dying some I tried a neutral (natural?) colour scheme.

Tail - grey bucktail, two emu feathers, and a black saddle hackle tied in flat.
Body - series of sparse grey and black (on top) bucktail with UV Angelina.
Gill collar - small red ostrich hackle.
Eyes - 3D epoxy.

Ass Backwards.....

Trying a few new things here.

Attach a Fly Lipp to an empty shank.

Tie in XL Craft Fur for a tail, and collar.

Pull it back and whip finish.

Tie on a loop of flat mono.

Attach to the front hook (with tungsten bead)

Begin a hollow fleye method with the XL Craft Fur, repeat two or three times.

Finished?  Not yet!

I added a nice pastel tone with a Copic Airbrush (the photo doesn't show it so good).

The ass end shakes back and forth, the front bobs up and down.  Damn!

Another, thanks Mr. P.

These flies are so easy!  It takes me longer to get out the materials than to tie one.  I like these flies more and more.  After reading Mr. P.'s "The Chocolate Cherry and Small Boobs" the thought stuck in my head.  The simple flowing features along with the action are beautiful.

I have to recommend Mr P.'s Blog not only for top fly fishing info, but his entertaining experiences.  "My Farting: An Outside Expert's Opinion" is a classic!

Thanks again Mr. P.

Suspender and Topwater Flies

Shake, Rattle, and no Rolling. Fly Lipps.

A Femme Fatale from Fly Lipp originator Greg Saunders.

A Topwater Deceiver.

A Topwater Clouser with Rattle Eyes

A Slider.

Stocking up for Perch and Zander

Went out for pike on Sunday and did nothing but break my 8 weight Redington on a snag,  The good news wass at sunset the Perch and Zander were chasing small bait fish along the gravel at sunset,  I'll give them a try on the weekend.

QC

A "Quick Crayfish"!

Combining Methods and Materials

Two tone rabbit, bucktail, sheep, and Crystal Flash. A Bunny, Hollow Fleye, Deceiver? Whatever!

Crayfish ?

From the top and side, a variation of a Dahlberg Crayfish on a jig hook. This pattern is hard to find and I don't know if it really comes from Larry Dahlberg himself or not. I'll have the chance to ask him at the Dutch Fly Fair in May. Out of curiousity I asked my wife if this looked like a swimming crayfish to her, she said she couldn't see it. What does she know anyways!

Swim Jig Hooks

I found some interesting hooks called "Swim Jig", I ordered them in 2/0 and tried to see what I could come up with.

Crayfish

Body - belly, copper, and mother of pearl Gummi Body.

Legs - crayfish silicon skirt tabs.

Collar - natural brown hare.

Wing - natural brown bucktail mixed with copper olive Angel Hair.

Baitfish

Body - belly and mother of pearl Gummi Body.

Collar - fl. red rabbit

Wing - white bucktail, pearl and red pearl Crystal Flash and fl. red bucktail.

Flash Fly

Wing - pearl gold, pearl yellow, chartreuse ice, olive, brown olive, and baitfish Angel Hair.

Collar - olive bucktail.

Throat - crayfish orange Angel Hair.

The hook point rides upward making them "snag resistant".

Perch things.

If I can find some open water I want to give it a try for perch and zander. After playing around with a barred golden olive rabbit strip I came up with these variants. They are very simple "minute flies".

The first is a long shank #6 hook with a gold tungsten bead head, and a peach crystal egg. The rabbit strip is tied in as a tail, then wound forward as a hackle.

The second has a #2 saltwater hook and gold bead chain eyes tied in on top. On the reverse side a rabbit strip is pierced on the hook and a body of orange Estaz Petite is wound in. The remaining strip is pulled over the body and tied in at the eyes. A "muddler head" of olive ram's wool finishes off th fly.