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Fly Tying
Landon P

Must have bass flies

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10 hours ago, Landon P said:

He is being kinda stubborn about what he wants so I'll just have to throw a bunch together 

 

Wow, Hes getting free flies and he's being picky?

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I was thinking he was being charged for the flies in which case he can be particular to what he wants. 

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I'm not sure I trust my skills in tying bigger streamers so I was gonna give him these for free and when he needs more (which he will) I would charge him 

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On 7/20/2020 at 4:36 PM, Justin H said:

I would second this pattern. I tie something very similar (unweighted) and it's a lot of fun to fish. I fish it as a slider, and it lands soft, slides right through the surface, and the bass just slurp them down. Perfect for the weedy shallows on still mornings. I've never tried fishing it as a streamer, but I am sure it works great that way too.

Also try tying some really small poppers too, some of my biggest bass have been caught on size 12 poppers. I believe that many bass are wary of large patterns/lures, so small can sometimes be the way to go, if you know where the fish are and you aren't just trying to cover water.

The trick to that fly I posted is how you trim the deer hair head. Most of the time I shave it flat on both sides and then round  the top and the bottom and you get a jerk bait type  Zara spook action out of it...Especially if you put 2 to 3 wraps a.020 lead at the rear of the hook.

That one posted I call a blockhead it’s a squarehead
 

And then you can trim it like a bullet shaped round Muddler Minnow.
 

I’m telling you they work if I was told I can only have one fly for the rest of my life to fish with this would be it.

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On 7/20/2020 at 11:06 PM, Bill_729 said:

Just curious.  Do you "throw" these with an 8-weight line (I have 7-weight).  Is it a struggle to throw them?  Does using WF line make it easier to cast them than DT?  Thanks in advance for responses from anyone.

Landon: Tell your friend he can only fish one fly at a time!  : )

Bill (Bill_729)

Bill, they're not going to cast like a smaller fly, but no worse to cast than say, Clouser Minnows. I use a 10 wt. for a lot of the bass fishing that I do, but have cast these flies with an 8 wt. I also use weight forward ( floating) lines that are intended for bigger, heavier flies, such as a Striper or Tarpon taper. Casting them with any basic WF is not a problem, as these rabbit strip flies are not particularly air resistant or heavily weighted, but once they get wet, they can be quite heavy, so that can limit distance depending on what weight you're using. 8 wt to 10 wt outfits should have no problems casting these flies, even once wet & if the angler only has basic casting skills, and out to at least 50'. A 7 wt can be fine too I'm sure.  I haven't used a DT line on a heavier outfit in a very long time. Only one I own now is for a 4 wt. They'll possibly cast these flies just fine too, if the line is heavy enough, but I do feel a WF is a better choice particularly when distance is needed. Generally a DT line is more for a gentler presentation, and tossing these big flies for bass is not gentle, so an appropriate WF would be IMO, the better choice.  

I seldom need to cast further than 50', but with the 10 wt, it helps if I do need to cast further.  I also use a much heavier leader & tippet than a lot of folks use, first because I will toss them into nasty snags and second I will also use very large flies. The butt end of my leaders are 50 or 60 lb test ( .028", .029" diameter) and I use 20 lb tippet much of the time. 

I've cast them with a 6 wt too, but not as far as I can with the heavier lines and it makes using them in some types of vegetation and other snags more difficult. I lost a lot of flies & fish because my 6 wt lacked enough backbone to drag even a 2 lb bass out of Spadderdock pads or downed tree's easily, even with 15 or 20 lb tippet. The 8 wt was better there, but I still progressed to using the 10 wt. 

If you tie these type of fur strip flies, they can be very productive, fairly easy to tie, and in the 4" to 6" length range be easily cast with many outfits in the 6 wt & heavier range. I don't fish particularly deep water, so weighting them heavily isn't necessary. I will vary the width of the rabbit strips that I use, which does affect the wet weight for casting, but seldom go wider than about 5/16". I've tried what they call the "Texas Magnum" cut strips, which I think are 3/8" wide, and tied 8" long eels for chasing Stripers, and they can be a bear to cast once they get wet, even with my 10 wt.  I cut a lot of my own strips and 1/4" wide is a good choice for most bass flies. 

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4 hours ago, tidewaterfly said:

Bill, they're not going to cast like a smaller fly, but no worse to cast than say, Clouser Minnows.  <snip>

Tidewaterfly,  Thank you for your detailed post. This sort of fly fishing seems to require it's own knowledge base--not only with regard to fishing but also to tying.   You've encouraged me to try to make some use some WF line I have.  Side-by-side, I generally like the way my DT casts better, but it will be interesting (for me) to see whether I can lob bigger or heavier flies with WF line easier.  I will try weighted streamers first, since I was fishing with those not too long ago and I want to see whether WF line will improve my experience with them. 

Bill (Bill_729).

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I mostly fish small clouser minnow variants, divers, and bunny strip flys for bass these two patterns I recently started tying are killing it lately, both pretty easy and basic.  I haven't fished this exact foam diver yet mostly using ones with marabou tails. The worm is pretty simple just thread and dubbing in a loop and furled with a marabou head which you don't really need.

On those foam divers you have to use a wide gap hook otherwise the lip will block the hook point, which gets frustrating fast.

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