Jackpott

Hey guys was recently fishing around an incredible section of river which had a deck built over it. The deck had floodlights onto the water at night and the moths would hover around the lights in their thousands, falling in the water everywhere the light touched the surface. The water was like an aquarium with the catfish, bream, bass and yellowfish species (a fish here in SA that gets bigger and much stronger than trout) sipping the moths in like cookies. The larger moths tht skipped and hopped across the surface were actually chased by bass for ages and great distances before the bass got a chance to actually eat it. I took a few fish but got more refusals than hook ups. Any suggestions on fly patterns or links that i can see? Thanks lads.

have you tried fshing the pattern with epoxy yet? the divers i make have an incredible bubble stream, keep their bright colours, pop louder and look exactly the same as they did when i took them out the vice. You must only coat 3/4 of the bug. The back part you can leave so that it maintains that soft feel when fish mouth it, and also to have an entry point to squeeze some permanent hydrostop fly floatant in there towards the head with a syringe to make it beyond bouyant forever.

Right well the Jury is in about Epoxied Deerhair divers.... I N C R E D I B L E i will never tie another diver again without giving it a layer of epoxy. The fly dived better, it pushed more water, it popped better, it was easy to cast, it floated better---- EVERYTHING! and after a full days fishing, and even when my dropper fly got stuck in its face after a mishap cast, the fly looks...... exactly like it did when it came out the vice. The epoxy also gives it a nice shine and prevents the colour from fading. AWESOME. Just try it. Will post pix of the fly later this evening.

Steve Awesome post! Thanks for the right up and edification! *runs to his vice drooling*

incredible ties.... Please ellaborate on "spin deerhair into a cup" i must know how you tie that, its absolutely brilliant and just what im looking for to make a fly that creates a noise!

Jackpott: Sorry that I grossly misinterpreted your description of what they look like after a few fish. Assuming that I know understand correctly what your problem is, simply steaming them in the steam stream from a tea kettle will make them look like new again! You won't believe your eyes! perchjerker Really? thats awesome!!! thanks for the tip mate, much appreciated! Absolutely nothing to apologise about I have tied a rough prototype (too rough for me to post lol) of a epoxy chartruese diver pattern. I layerd a very thin coat of epoxy over very tightly packed deerhair and....well...it looks GREAT! :bugeyes: I did not put the eyes on properly or trim it quite as well as i should have as it is a prototype. Im going to test it on the water and report back as to: 1. Action 2. Castability 3. Floatation 4. Durability p.s still feels very light and have left the backward part of the deerhair collar free of epoxy, might drop a few drops of hydrostop permament fly floatant in there to seep in to the head from the back.... But i think the epoxy will actually seal in airpockets quite nicely. Was very impressed with the outcome.

Thanks steve!

the bugs are not being destroyed at all, but definately do not resemble what they did when i posted photos of them. They look very similar to the bug that hairstacker posted above after catching fish. In fairness i am fishing for catfish which have tiny little rough teeth on their pallet. Even the plastic eyes have rough scrape marks on them. its just upsetting to see hours of work go to waste after a few fish, they are still most definately fishable but....just not the same Believe me, the hair dont get tighter

You sir are the man! will try this out and report back.

agreed however i would rather have an epoxy fly that starts to crack after 15 fish than a hair fly that starts to rip apart after 4 or 5

Hi gents I was wondering what you guys did to make your bugs more durable. I spend hours tying up flies and they are super hard and packed tightly but as soon as i catch a few fish the deerhair fly is but a shadow of its former self The dahlberg diver patterns etc that i tie i actually fish close to and on the bottom so im not too bothered if the fly is not as bouyant as other bugs but have any of you ever considered putting a thin coat of epoxy over your deerhair divers and poppers, and if you have what can you tell me about it? i epoxy the faces of my deerhair poppers to make them more rigid and i think they look great... Any other ideas to make the flies more durable would be greatly appreciated. Thanks chaps Jack

Thanks bud! I have MUCH better methods of tying incredibly brilliant 100% weedless weedguard techniques that i have learnt from some other guys that i will post up with some of my other patterns so keep posted but to tie these weedguards you do the following: 1. Tie off your fly with whip finish 2. Flip your fly over in the vice 3. Take a 3 inch piece of 80lb fluorocarbon and expose the tip to the BLUE PART of an exposed flame from a match or a lighter. If you expose the fluoro to the orange flame it will fizzle and curl up. Keep the fluoro about as close to the blue part of the flame as possible without actually touching it. The fluoro will burn and "ball up" at the end. As quickly as possible before the heated end of the fluoro dries, push the heated fluoro onto the tied off thread wraps at a 60 degree angle making sure that it is perfectly in line with the hook, the heated ball will then flatten out over the wraps as you apply pressure. 4. Mix some epoxy and apply it over the flattened fluoro tip and all over the thread wraps evenly, this keeps this weedguard there for good. 5. When the epoxy is dry, take your scissors and cut the fluoro weedguard at a slight angle so that the fluoro tapers just to the hook point.

hey dude, tried to find you a link but was unsuccesful. The product is called UV Streamer Brush by- Just Add h20 products.... hope that helps

So you form a loop in the thread, place the material inside it (laying the thread on a flat surface im guessing so that it doesnt fall out) and then twist it to form a brush??? Awesome!

hey man, uncertain of the brand but ill find out for you and post it up here. It sparkles UV purple, irrespective of its actual colour in the light and the actual material makes rabbit fur and marabou look like a brick on the water it moves so incredibly. The key is to pick out the individual fibres after palmering it forward, it is really top notch stuff. Imagine any colour with thousands of little tints of UV sparkle and glitter shining off it as it undulates in the sun.