Dble Haul

John is collaborating with a partner on a book about classic saltwater flies. It will have background into the origins of saltwater flyfishing, and highlight the old classics and recent flies that may well become classics. It's been a lot of work, but I'm sure that the final product will be worth it.

I think Jarrod has a solid lead for the Crybaby of 2006 award. We'll need to make room in his avatar for it.

That's a very good start for your first tie. My only advice is to pack the hair tighter and trim it closer.

Good stuff!

Check the species index. It's full of patterns for each particular fish.

:nono: I'll do you one better......I'll bring some with me when we hook up in the near future. And you don't need to teach that dog to steal anything; it comes naturally to her.

Thanks for that very thorough and introspective summary, Pete. For those of you who are looking for a recipe, the pattern has been in the database for quite some time now. Also, chartruese is a good color, followed closely by white. But they don't hold a candle to pink.

I use super hair exclusively for bluefish clousers. They stand up far better than the traditional bucktail.

I especially like the article on flies for large stripers. There's just something cool about a picture of one of those flies on a nautical chart..... :headbang:

Always? Perhaps you need a larger sample size. Not all of us who use leader materials other than wire are always losing fish. In fact, some of us rarely lose any to biteoffs.

I use fluorocarbon very often, and usually in two situations: 1. Saltwater, where abrasion resistance and strength are a primary concern. Being able to use a material that has a lower light refraction in the water is better for fishing the flats, and the thinner diameters that fluoros have for their breaking strength are great. 2. Freshwater, as shock tippet when pike fishing. I use 50 pound fluoro as a connection for the flies. It's abrasion resistant and very strong, and won't have the potential to spook other incidental species like wire can. It's also more supple than wire, and I use a non-slip mono loop that doesn't have any problems with slippage.

I have recently had very good success (that is, no biteoffs) using 50 pound Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon. I couldn't recommend it more highly. It's great stuff, and still somewhat supple.

Standard gurglers are only a few inches in length, so when I suggest making them bigger they may end up being four inches overall. That's a long gurgler tied on about a 3/0 hook....any longer and the fly loses balance in the water and spins during casting. I have always had better luck with larger (5-7 inch) flies for pike, but like day5 says what works for some may not work for others. I just don't want to give a truly large fish a reason to refuse.

I've had some luck with river smallmouth using this fly, but haven't given it any serious consideration for other bass fishing situations. I don't see why it wouldn't work elsewhere.

Make those gurglers as big as you can, with long tails. If possible, incorporate a bit of flash in the tail too. If you're worried about durability, you could always make a double gurgler. It's simply a gurgler made with two stacked pieces of foam, tied as one.

Geez, you've got some nice spinning kicks there.... :hyst:

Gorgeous stuff! :yahoo:

Don't hate the hair, hate the game.

:bs: Well, I guess I must be crazy because I tie them long on my Bunny Split pattern pattern and don't glue them. Glueing the long strips together needlessly restricts their action in the water. I just use a wire tail guard and have little to no problems at all.

Nice job packing that hair. :thumbsup:

That's about as good as a piece of advice that you can get as a beginner. By what you'll need, not what some company thinks you'll need. Have fun with it.

I use topwater frog patterns in two situations: 1. To imitate a wounded frog 2. To imitate a frog (healthy or unhealthy) having trouble getting from pad to pad in a field of cover, or trying to get to another piece of cover quickly Most frogs swim near the bottom, but when they are in an area with decent vegetation it really doesn't make any sense for them to go four feet down to the bottom, swim one foot to the right, and them swim four feet back up to get onto another pad that's only a foot to the right. They just swim across the top, straight lined, for a foot. Good topic.

I'll give an explanation later today, it'll be kinda long winded Okie dokie.

I'm curious, what specifically about this thread made you come to that conclusion?