Weedless Frog Flies

[Morrowboarder 0]

Here's mine... Big frog for pike too (hook is 6/0) and eyes are made with the monofilament from weedless nylon.

PicsArt_1417207372957.jpg

No problem for casting with class 9 line...

I'd love to hook into a pike with a topwater, just don't have pike in my area. There's muskie, but by the time I get out to fish the musky lakes, they will be in the main channel and deeper. Is it likely to hook into Muskie on a topwater fly during the hot summer months? Never tried.

[Philly 0]

You should be able to pick up a muskie on top water. It may not be a big one. If they follow a similar pattern the pike in the lake I go to in Northern Ontario in mid-July. It's about 7 hours drive north of Toronto and the water temps can get into mid to upper 70's in a hot weather pattern. Most of the pike are in the 18-30 inch range the bigger ones have moved into deeper water to follow the whitefish and cisco. They are definitely structure oriented. Hanging in the shadows of beaver huts and fallen timber. The only way you'll find out if you give it a shot.

[Morrowboarder 0]

I already started a new design and will share soon, but I found this design and am thinking of adopting it for a frog pattern. Thoughts?

[mikechell 0]

I always thought Northern Pike and Muskies swam in the same waters. I know we don't have either down here ... Chain Pickerel being the closest fish to them relative this far south.

[Morrowboarder 0]

You should be able to pick up a muskie on top water. It may not be a big one. If they follow a similar pattern the pike in the lake I go to in Northern Ontario in mid-July. It's about 7 hours drive north of Toronto and the water temps can get into mid to upper 70's in a hot weather pattern. Most of the pike are in the 18-30 inch range the bigger ones have moved into deeper water to follow the whitefish and cisco. They are definitely structure oriented. Hanging in the shadows of beaver huts and fallen timber. The only way you'll find out if you give it a shot.

Thanks for the info, I guess I'll see if I have the time and patience this summer to give it a go.

[Morrowboarder 0]

The prototype isn't pretty, but I think it shows the concept. I went with a gamakatsu circle hook for the back and tied some rubber strands underneath to help keep it off the moss. I've never been great at spinning deer hair and I can do a better job than this, but ended up taking the fly off the vise and spun the last few bunches while holding it in hand. Not sure if I'll tie another one of these, but hopefully it stays upright and weedless.

[Morrowboarder 0]

I also added the large eyes to help keep the fly afloat. It's pretty heavy.

[GabPamgea 0]

 

Here's mine... Big frog for pike too (hook is 6/0) and eyes are made with the monofilament from weedless nylon.

PicsArt_1417207372957.jpg

No problem for casting with class 9 line...

I'd love to hook into a pike with a topwater, just don't have pike in my area. There's muskie, but by the time I get out to fish the musky lakes, they will be in the main channel and deeper. Is it likely to hook into Muskie on a topwater fly during the hot summer months? Never tried.

 

i've never fished muskie in my life so i can't help you....i'm sorry! in italy we have just Pike and Northern Pike.

[mikechell 0]

You'll have to take pictures of that in the water, Morrow. Looks good, but like you said ... gotta wait and see how it rides in the water.

[Kudu 0]

Google gutless frog. Uses offset Gama worm hook to keel the fly.

[TheCream 0]

The prototype isn't pretty, but I think it shows the concept. I went with a gamakatsu circle hook for the back and tied some rubber strands underneath to help keep it off the moss. I've never been great at spinning deer hair and I can do a better job than this, but ended up taking the fly off the vise and spun the last few bunches while holding it in hand. Not sure if I'll tie another one of these, but hopefully it stays upright and weedless.

 

Is the hook free swinging off the back? If so, let us know how it fishes. I tried something similar before I went tube version on the fly I posted. I had a Gama octopus hook free-swinging off a wire loop like a stinger hook. I had miserable hookup rates. I think the free-moving hook helped with allowing it to slide over vegetation a little, but I had a really hard time with hookups. I switched to the tube version that keeps the hook in a dependable position and my hookups were consistent. Small sample size, but I wasn't going to keep fishing a pattern I had little confidence in to hook the fish.

[Morrowboarder 0]

 

The prototype isn't pretty, but I think it shows the concept. I went with a gamakatsu circle hook for the back and tied some rubber strands underneath to help keep it off the moss. I've never been great at spinning deer hair and I can do a better job than this, but ended up taking the fly off the vise and spun the last few bunches while holding it in hand. Not sure if I'll tie another one of these, but hopefully it stays upright and weedless.

 

Is the hook free swinging off the back? If so, let us know how it fishes. I tried something similar before I went tube version on the fly I posted. I had a Gama octopus hook free-swinging off a wire loop like a stinger hook. I had miserable hookup rates. I think the free-moving hook helped with allowing it to slide over vegetation a little, but I had a really hard time with hookups. I switched to the tube version that keeps the hook in a dependable position and my hookups were consistent. Small sample size, but I wasn't going to keep fishing a pattern I had little confidence in to hook the fish.

The hook is somewhat "free swinging", but its restricted to only up and down motion, the mono line holds it firmly in the position shown. I'm worried about the hook up, but I know just the lake to test it out and will be out there mid May. Hopefully it works out, if not I'll have a couple more designs to test once I get around to tying them. Going smallmouth fishing next weekend, so I'll be busy whipping up flies for that trip. The idea of making the hook loose on the back is to help distribute the weight so it's centered along the shank of the hook.

[crazy4oldcars 0]

Try Dusty's Upside Down Frog (UDF)

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=60319#

A pretty intense tie, but it works as advertised.

 

Kirk B.

 

Edit!! I went back and looked at the step-by-step and its a fairly easy tie. I could probably tie it in about 15 minutes, and I'm slower than molasses.

 

kb

Edited April 21, 2015 by crazy4oldcars

[Morrowboarder 0]

Try Dusty's Upside Down Frog (UDF)

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=60319#

A pretty intense tie, but it works as advertised.

 

Kirk B.

 

Edit!! I went back and looked at the step-by-step and its a fairly easy tie. I could probably tie it in about 15 minutes, and I'm slower than molasses.

 

kb

This is it, exactly what I was looking. Thank you!

[Morrowboarder 0]

Tested the pattern I came up with on some moss pads yesterday. To my surprise, it stayed upright and didn't snag up any moss until the 9th or 10th cast. Now the real test will be how well it hooks into bass. The only real issue I noticed was the weight of the fly not making enough movement on the moss. I'd hate to make the fly heavier, but will just have to see when the bass start hitting topwater.