A complete beginner

[HailfireX 0]

Hello,

 

I thought I would introduce myself. My name is Mike and I live in N.W. Iowa. I am a complete beginner when it comes to tying flies. I bought a Wapsi deluxe fly tying kit off of Amazon and am very excited to use it. I also picked up a few things at my local craft shop to expand what came in the kit. I also bought a little bit of Balsa wood in hope of making some poppers out of it. What kind of hooks should I get to make the poppers? Also are there any tricks or reccomendations on what type of fly I should try tying first?

 

I mostly fly fish for Bass, and panfish beings where I live there aren't any trout streams. I also enjoy other ways of fishing, but really like fly fishing.

 

I am saving up for a fishing Kayak also. Any reccomendations on what Kayaks are out there would be nice as well. The one I have my heart set on right now is a Jackson Kayak Cuda 12.

 

I know that eventually I will want to invest more in a rotary vise and other tools of the trade.

 

Anyhow I am waiting patiently for the ice to be off the lakes and rivers here

 

Thanks in advance for the input,

 

Mike

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

welcome to the site Mike as for hooks for poppers I would suggest mustad kink shaft hooks 33903

[pop-n-bug 0]

Mike,

 

Welcome to the site. I have only been tying for about a year and started out with poppers also. I got alot of ideas fron looking around on the internet. Youtube has alot of good videos on tying poppers or just about any other type of fly. There are alot of good step by step patterns on this site also.

 

I just started tying some foam ants and spiders using 2mm craft foam. I wish I would have started tying them before I started tying poppers. They are very simple and quick to tie. Can't wait for the water to warm up a little so iI can try them. out

 

As far as poppers, keep it simple. Don't over dress a popper. Bass are not too picky about what they will go after. It is kinda hard for me to know when to stop adding things to a popper. I have found that I catch as many bass with the simplest popper as I do with the ones that I put alot of different materials on. I mainly just put some rubber legs and and a few feathers on them now and they work fantastic.

 

Good luck with your tying and with your fishing as well.

[streamcaddis 0]

Mike , Welcome to this site and fly tying. Fly tying is a great stress reliever and a fantastic hobby. I have been tying for about 47 years give or take a week. The craft shop is a great place to tying materials. When buying online I go to J. Stockard Fly tying. If by chance you have a fly shop in your town by all means check them out first.

[utyer 0]

As far as a kayak, look at the Nucanoe Frontier. If your using the kayak for fishing, this is a good choice. Its wider than most kayaks, with multiple seat options. Its is built more like a canoe, and has more capacity than most kayaks. You can get 2 people in it and still fish. The stern is square so you can put an electric motor on it without any modifications.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Mike, welcome.

 

With the glues we have today from epoxy to CA/superglue, you can use any hook you desire for gluing into the bottom of your popper. The kink shanked hooks mentioned above are very good choices but if you don't have any on hand, don't let that stop you.

In fact, I only use kink shanked hooks on half or less than half of my bugs.

The Mustad 34007 is a good hook and the Mustad 34011, a longer version of the 34007 is a good one for longer bugs; both are SS, which makes it good for brackish water bass and saltwater fishes. The Mustad 3366 is a good bronze hook to use too.

The Gamakatsu Stinger hook, the B10s is a good wide gape hook.

I even make minnow and long poppers by using SS spinnerbait wire wrapped around the shank of a regular hook to extend it.

You can even glue a tube fly tube in the bottom of a popper head and thread your leader through and tie whatever hook you want.

The longer shanked dry fly hooks are good for bream bugs too.

You want to wrap the shank with some tying thread and tie off before gluing to give the glue something to saturate into and hold to the hook - although I'm beginning to wonder if I don't just do that out of old habit and if its even necessary with the great glues available today.

 

Check out the links below my name for some videos on making poppers out of perch floats and the photobucket to see pictures of my balsa, cork and hard foam bugs I've done using a variety of hooks.

 

Kirk

[SilverCreek 0]

Check out this post with two other Iowa tiers. Maybe you could PM each other and see how close you guys are.

 

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=72299