Roosterfish Flies

[kuhnflyfish 0]

Headed back to Baja in May....seeing if anyone has been down there in the last year that could suggest any patterns that performed well on the mighty pez gallo. Been tying both mullet and sardina patterns "EP" style. Attached is one of them. Thanks in advance.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Very kool Mullet and welcome! I been thinking of trying to tie on some tails on my flies and wondering if there is an easy way to do it? I think i tried once by tying some 15lb mono in the fly then tying a bunch of material to the end of it, had a mishap with zap a gap and oh well that fly went in the 'tin'. As far as roosters, yes they love the pacific sardine type EP, think its steel blue, violet sides, white under

 

Have not fished Baja, interested to see what everyone else says for patterns, are you on a boat or from shore?

[kuhnflyfish 0]

Mostly from shore, but will most likely take a local panga out for a few days. This tail was done by whipping a loop around the two material colors (black and white), with mono thread. Whip finished and glued. It's an extra step but I really think it adds to the pattern. I will definitely tie up some of your color suggestions.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Sounds like fun to me! Certainly take a nice variety of deceiver / EP style minnows as i said with backs ranging from steel blue to a dark navy in a few sizes to imitate local forage fish. Take some squid flies and some poppers. This mullet you did looks the goods, i'd even take a few everglades sp's with the rattle tied in at the back (similar to this mullet), take some clousers for jacks etc, i'd even take a few large shrimp patterns and if offshore some tandem hook style tubes for dorado and sails. Let us know how you go *jealous*

 

Oh thanks for letting me know how to do the tail, was experimenting using the new international fibers which are a dry fly winging material for a tail while the front of the fly has some 0.030 leadfree wire. The fly noses down to the bottom tail up (floating waterproof). Interesting action, i must experiment more

[Drath 0]

I don’t know anything about fishing in Baja but that’s a darn fine use of EP fibers. Nice tie man.

 

-D

 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I have a few customers that have taken one of my patterns around the world, literally. It was developed for deep laying tarpon and is called the Tarpon Snake. If Giant Trevally and every other specie will eat it I'd rate it a good possible for Roosters (if you can cast it....). The original was done entirely in black but since I've done a fair number in red/white, fl grn/white, etc. It's on a 4/0 Tiemco 600sp hook or an Owner Aki 4/0 and is an all feather pattern. I'm working up an article on it for Flyfishing in Saltwaters magazine (and have to get it completed in the next few weeks. Here's the recipe....

Eyes: largest bead chain (at the hardware store ask for "plumber's chain"

Tail: Eight large webby saddle hackle in the 6 to 8" length, four on a side tied in Deceiver style just forward of the

bend of the hook

Flash: Flashabou accent (the Fat Pack) in pearl, 8 to 12 strands on each side doubled and staggered (the short side 2",

the long side almost 4"l.

Body: The same large webby saddle hackles, 3 of them with as much of the "fluff" on the feathers as possible tied in at

the butts then palmered forward.

 

Weedguard: #5 coffee wire.

 

Here's some pics, this pattern has been under contract to Umpqua Feather Merchants now for about 20 years....

 

Tight Lines

Bob LeMay

[kuhnflyfish 0]

Thanks Bob! I actually know the Tarpon Snake quite well...it hooked the only tarpon I've ever hooked Down in Belize many guides refer to it simply as "the chicken". You probably already knew that though... Great pattern! My old boss, Jeff Currier, told me about it originally I think a few years ago. Does the weight of the hook bend out-weigh that of the bead chain eye so that it rides hook point down? Is that the reason for bead chain? Ever tie the eyes on the bottom of the hook shank or does that take up too much hook gape? Thanks for the post. I'm definitely going to tie some of those in tan for baja...

[Denis Lamy 0]

Great flies guys. Thanks for sharing.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Thanks for the interest.... Some years ago I developed the pattern for Randy Towe (who at that time was one of the top fly tournament guides out of Islamorada and had his own shop, World Class Outfitters). He liked it enough that he asked me to withhold it from any shops or other guides and he went on to win a few tournaments with it when other patterns/techniques weren't working. In an article written by Lefty Kreh he simply called it "that big black bastard" of a fly (it does take a bit of work to cast a large chicken feather fly that's between 6 and 8" long...). Years later I came back to guiding but had no clue how the pattern was being used - that sort of stuff I had to learn on my own...

 

At any rate the bead chain eyes, as large as they are, add just the right sink rate and provide more of a profile (I'm convinced that fish in a little darker, or deeper, waters can actually feel food targets as they move through the water...

I'll use lead eyes only when I have to in swift waters, the bead chain work just right. The fly stays perfectly upright in this configuration so I believe the hook has more effect than the eyes... I fish this with an intermediate line almost exclusively and can expect the fly, leader, and line combination to sink at about one foot per second. This allows us to count it down then get it moving about a foot above the bottom.... This sort of stuff is in rivers that might be smaller than 100 feet wide and hold some very large tarpon.... When we're in this mode I encourage my anglers to think of this as tarpon fishing - like they were going after salmon holding in favored spots, and that's exactly how it works...