July Flies From the Bench

[Sandan 0]

pontoon hopper

 

 

Pontoon Hopper

 

 

Must be hopper tying time. I whipped up a few of these yesterday.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Working on tying up some big night time flies for the Au Sable for an upcoming trip. Trip was "supposed" to be partly with my fishing buddy, but as usual he canceled on me. Finding a good fishing buddy is like finding bigfoot. Doesn't matter, I am going and I'm spending at least 8-10 days alone on the Au Sable by myself. Because one thing I have learned in life, we always think "well there's next month" or "There's always next year"...no, nothing is guaranteed. If you don't MAKE TIME to do the things you enjoy in life NOW, then you may never get to do them. Because even tomorrow is not guaranteed, so make it a point to make time to do the things you love in life before its too late.

[Mark Knapp 0]

Hey Steel, what do those simulate? They look nice. +1 on the making time and fishing partners.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Somewhat of a mouse pattern but also somewhat of a general all around night time "cover various bases" type fly. They work well at night for big browns here when swung/waked across the current. I think they would probably work well up there with you as well from what I have seen of some of the big mouse eating rainbows you guys have up there.

[flytire 0]

 

 

 

Hey, What did you use to cap off the end of the quill? At the head of the hopper/fly. "I" would like to stay true to the period. So with that said, UV products would cheating. LOL

P.S. Cool old-fashion-looking fly. I like the simplicity of it. I bet Bluegill would POUND that!

 

i'm sorry but i cheated by using uv resin and veevus 12/0 thread

 

from the internet

 

Unusual grasshopper pattern developed by Charles Craighead, improved by Bill Bennett, and popularized by Vincent Marinaro. Marinaro promoted the pattern in his influential book A Modern Dry Fly Code. The ungainly body is a turkey quill plugged at the open end with cork, and the legs are the pontoons that keep the fly upright on the water. A good example of a fly that fishes better than it looks.

 

the more i search the more i find

 

here are the instructions to tie the pontoon hopper (different from the photo i used to tie it) starts on page 164

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=8Vvklbk0K1UC&pg=PA164&lpg=PA164&dq=charles+craighead+pontoon+hopper&source=bl&ots=o4cnvCAR3i&sig=ACfU3U3s4TAauQyFPiKBRj8JWViM0p40dQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiYkdOl3cHjAhVmuVkKHSBSDlIQ6AEwDXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=charles%20craighead%20pontoon%20hopper&f=false

[Mark Knapp 0]

Somewhat of a mouse pattern but also somewhat of a general all around night time "cover various bases" type fly. They work well at night for big browns here when swung/waked across the current. I think they would probably work well up there with you as well from what I have seen of some of the big mouse eating rainbows you guys have up there.

Yes, we have a lot of mousers up here. Even our grayling are big mousers, and of course the pike. That's what I thought of when I saw this fly. Very cool. Imun have to tie me some up.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Really simple to tie. The tail and body are both one continuous rabbit strip with foam over it on top. I just tie the tail strip in and then spin the strip around the body then fold the foam over, tie down and flip the front hood back and whip finish. I add a few rubber legs in just to give it a bit more flare but works without the legs well too.

[Mark Knapp 0]

Really simple to tie. The tail and body are both one continuous rabbit strip with foam over it on top. I just tie the tail strip in and then spin the strip around the body then fold the foam over, tie down and flip the front hood back and whip finish. I add a few rubber legs in just to give it a bit more flare but works without the legs well too.

Nice, does it have a name? Did you come up with it?

[Steeldrifter 0]

No it's been around for awhile, honestly can't remember the name. There's quite a few variations of it where guys tweak or add something and call it something new, but it's be around well before I started using/tying it some years ago.

[mikechell 0]

Isn't it kind of a version of a "Moorish Mouse"?

[Steeldrifter 0]

kind'a sort'a. Somewhat the basic look of it. Moorish is a deer hair body, but same basic idea. I like the rabbit strip body better because it soaks up more water making the fly ride lower in the water so that it pushes more water/surface disturbance over deer hair. So basically a version of that just with some different material.

[Bruce Derington 0]

Gurgler mouse:)

[caloosa bug 0]

That pink and white will work all day long... bet it suspends between strips and shallow fish in the backcountry of the Everglades like that sort of movement...

 

You are correct. The combination of the wide surface area in the face a body combined with the buoyancy of the zonker keep it near the surface. Depending on the hook and density of palmered feathers, it will suspend nicely for a long time between strips. The wiggle of the zonker with the slightest movement and the amount of water it displaces is usually enough to drive any fish nearby crazy. This thing does more than any suspending crank bait could ever do.

 

Caloosa

Would you be willing to do a quick SBS? I would be interested in tying that fly in a 4/0 or 5/0.

Thanks

Tom

Thanks for your interest Tom.

Here goes my attempt at an sbs.

I tie on a small clump of kiptail or bucktail on top of the hook near the intersection of hook point and shank, extending to about half the length or the finished tail. Add some flash.

Then tie in the zonker strip on top of the same tie in point. Next, I tie in a small clump of kiptail on both sides of the zonker to help prevent fouling.

Advance the thread up the shank. Then tie in and wrap a feather using some of the fluffy stuff at the base to start. Tie in and wrap/palmer two or more feathers without the fluffy, with close wraps advancing your thread forward until you reach the head. Be careful when tying off each feather not to over wrap them with thread, causing them to lay down.

[FishnPhil 0]

Stop!!! Llama time!!

 

 

 

 

[Steeldrifter 0]

Thanks for puttin that song in my head for the rest of the night

 

oohhhh ohhhhh ohhhhh ohhh oh...oh oh...