A few from over the last few days

[Chefben4 0]

I haven't had too much time at the vise the last few days with the holiday craziness but I ended up tying a few over the last week and finally got around to taking pictures. Mostly stuff for my upcoming trip (since 100 flies isn't enough yet ). One of the flies will be a SBS featured on http://www.frankenfly.com/ so Im excited for that. Hope everyone had a good holiday so far!

 

Mad Mike's Copperhead Crab Variant (I actually didnt have gold mylar. This is some gold shoelace I found at a dollar store a while back)

 

Mad Mike's Mud Minnow Purple

 

Mad Mike's Mud Minnow Rust

 

Bendbacks

 

 

 

 

A poor attempt at Kirk's Rattle Rouser! (again I didnt have mylar so I used the shoelace lol)

 

Franken Shrimp!!

 

Not saltwater but OH well. I saw someone posted a similar fly in the "December Flies" Post. I wanted to try!!

[Piker20 0]

Great set of fish food. The last one is a good little pattern that would work well on sea trout.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Great looking flies as usual Ben. That rust colored Mud Minnow looks like a good pattern. On those bendbacks, did the hook come out of tha pack like that? For a while, I think Mustad made bend back hooks; I always thought those hooks were bent to far back both at the point of bend and the degree of bend.

 

Kirk

[tidewaterfly 0]

Ben, I agree with the others the flies look great. Also agree with Kirk about those bendback hooks. The hook that Mustad made was a 34005, which was basically a bent 34007. It's been discontinued for a long while now. The bend behind the eye was a bit too steep on them. If you bend your own, you only want a slight bend. When that bend is too steep, it makes getting a solid hook set difficult as it wants to drag the hook point, rather than penetrate.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Lovely set of flies! Really like that last hairwing - low water excellence.

[agn54 0]

awesome flies Ben, I really love the rusty minnow, looks like a red killer for sure

[SCOwens 0]

Good Set Ben, if you need Copper Mylar stuff go to AC Moore they have a huge package for $1.99, makes about 1000 crabs haha

[Chefben4 0]

Great looking flies as usual Ben. That rust colored Mud Minnow looks like a good pattern. On those bendbacks, did the hook come out of tha pack like that? For a while, I think Mustad made bend back hooks; I always thought those hooks were bent to far back both at the point of bend and the degree of bend.

 

Kirk

 

 

Ben, I agree with the others the flies look great. Also agree with Kirk about those bendback hooks. The hook that Mustad made was a 34005, which was basically a bent 34007. It's been discontinued for a long while now. The bend behind the eye was a bit too steep on them. If you bend your own, you only want a slight bend. When that bend is too steep, it makes getting a solid hook set difficult as it wants to drag the hook point, rather than penetrate.

 

Sigh... I bent them myself. Mostly off of pictures of probably the old mustad hook lol So what it sounds like is I should try and fix these so its a little less of a bend?? I plan on using these for the spooky fish so I want to get them right! Thanks for the help!

 

 

@everyone else! Thanks!!

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Just start over Ben. I wouldn't bend it back again, may weaken the hook.

 

Basically, a "bendback" tied with bucktail doesn't really need to have a bent hook. However, it will help it keel perfectly if it is bent a little. It doesn't need to be much.

I used to go 1.5 hook eye lengths back from the back of the hook eye and bend it just a few degrees. The bucktail will turn it over, just a slight bend will offset the center of balance so it will keep hook point up on even fast retrieves.

 

I used to used to use a crescent wrench to hold the front of the hook while I pulled down on the hook bend with my thumb.

 

Kirk

[Chefben4 0]

Just start over Ben. I wouldn't bend it back again, may weaken the hook.

 

Basically, a "bendback" tied with bucktail doesn't really need to have a bent hook. However, it will help it keel perfectly if it is bent a little. It doesn't need to be much.

I used to go 1.5 hook eye lengths back from the back of the hook eye and bend it just a few degrees. The bucktail will turn it over, just a slight bend will offset the center of balance so it will keep hook point up on even fast retrieves.

 

I used to used to use a crescent wrench to hold the front of the hook while I pulled down on the hook bend with my thumb.

 

Kirk

 

Thanks Kirk! Just gave me another reason to tie!

[iFly 0]

Lookin good. Lovin that rust mud minnow. Send it down here and ill test it for you 😉

[tidewaterfly 0]

Just start over Ben. I wouldn't bend it back again, may weaken the hook.

 

Basically, a "bendback" tied with bucktail doesn't really need to have a bent hook. However, it will help it keel perfectly if it is bent a little. It doesn't need to be much.

I used to go 1.5 hook eye lengths back from the back of the hook eye and bend it just a few degrees. The bucktail will turn it over, just a slight bend will offset the center of balance so it will keep hook point up on even fast retrieves.

 

I used to used to use a crescent wrench to hold the front of the hook while I pulled down on the hook bend with my thumb.

 

Kirk

 

Kirk, it's scary how much you & I think alike!

 

Most bendbacks I tie with bucktail, so I also seldom bend the hook & I used a crescent wrench too when I did bend them.

 

Ben, try using some longer shank hooks too if you're going to bend them. I liked the old 34011 better for bending. The old stainless hooks bent fairly easily. The new ones, being a better grade of stainless, may break more easily. I had some trouble occasionally with carbon steel hooks, like the 3407 breaking, but seldom broke the older stainless hooks. The tempering on any of the older hooks was not always consistent.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

That is scary, damn Yankee and Coonass thinking alike! Congress should be more like us.

 

The 34011 is what I used for my Rattle Rouser. When I first started tying those, I would bend the hook a little. Now, I don't and it works just the same. The 34011 has just enough length to fit a rattle and allow for a nice body taper.

 

Kirk

[Bulldog_Trey 0]

That shrimp is BA.

[Chefben4 0]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Bulldog_Trey" data-cid="528006" data-time="1356831884"><p>

That shrimp is BA.</p></blockquote>

 

Thanks!