AndrewP 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2016 I tied up this pattern to try out in the super shallow waters where you have weeds just below the surface. The tie is pretty simple -- a bendback-style hook, estaz for the body, some mono eyes, and then the trick: a small triangle of thin foam tied in at the head (over the mono eyes), topped with some EP fiber for the wing. The foam does two things -- first, it absolutely allows for the fly to orient properly (hook up), and second, it really slows down the drop of the fly in the water column. In fact, in many cases the fly will float for a second after casting. I have to move it a little to gets some air bubbles to release, and then the fly slowly drops ..... The foam is soft enough that I don't believe it will be in the way when a fish hits the fly (foam will compress easily). Here are a couple samples I tied up. Let me know what you think -- only had 'em out once and didn't see any fish to test 'em on .... AP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tidewaterfly 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2016 Andrew, it's a sound idea IMO. Should work & the flies look good. Let us know how you do with them. What fish species are you targeting? I would think that bass or redfish, or seatrout would grab a slowly sinking fly like that! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bimini15 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2016 That is an interesting idea. It reminds me of the frog Caloosa ties for top water fishing in Okeechobee, but he uses the foam as weedguard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewP 0 Report post Posted September 20, 2016 Tide: Yeah, original idea was to throw at reds in super-skinny water with weedy/grassy bottoms. You almost want your fly to hover. Regular-tied bendbacks seemed to sink too fast for me, so that was the inspiration for this tie ..... AP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewP 0 Report post Posted September 30, 2016 Update: Well, trout like the fly -- got a couple last weekend. But I also noticed that the EP Fiber wing kinda disappears in the water while the foam really stands out. I think for Version 2 I'll replace the wing with something more opaque -- Craft fur or bucktail. Hoping this weekend I might be able to actually throw at some tailing reds ... AP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tidewaterfly 0 Report post Posted October 2, 2016 Thanks for the update! Will be interesting to see how the revised flies work out. If you go with bucktail, that too should aid with the suspending. IMO, the EP material may not really disappear, but from your perspective is not very visible. Doesn't mean it's not visible to the fish. Frankly, I like bucktail so that would have likely been my first choice anyway. Still, it's interesting to me to see how "experiments" like this play out so thanks for keeping us in the loop!. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saltybum 0 Report post Posted October 3, 2016 Yes on the bucktail since it will also help with flotation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
