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Capt Bob LeMay

Basic Everglades patterns, Part two

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These last three patterns are for bigger fish (and the last two for bigger rods as well...).  First off is my own Silhouette - an almost universal pattern since it's tied to imitate the shape of whatever the bait fish are, down here it's the scaled sardine (the pilchard, or as folks call it on the west coast of Florida "white bait").  I've been tying this pattern since I first came up with it forty years ago for every shop that I worked for.  At times I've filled orders for it by the hundred for folks down in the Keys.  Ideally we fish these in at least two feet of water... This is a deadly pattern for anyone live chumming with white bait.

 

The Silhouette (one of my first signature patterns)

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This is an all feather patterns using wide, webby saddle hackles for both the tail and the body.  I'm usually working with strung saddles (some call these deceiver hackles...) and they come in 4- 6" lengths.  I'm wanting the 6" hackles if at all possible... The first step is to tie on small or ex-small lead eyes, an eye width behind the hook eye. Figure eight them into place then take three or four turns of thread between the lead eyes and the hook shank to tighten up the connection between the hook and the eyes (note:  I've always painted my lead eyes in bulk before using them - but plain lead will do just fine...).  Next, take six of those bleached white saddles and mate them together three at a time with the tips even and the curve facing the same way so that the three look to be one feather.. Do the same with the next three then take each side and place them together with the natural curve of the hackle facing inwards.  When completed this step should provide a single tail (six feathers) and you'll hold it together as you make a single cut across the stems leaving about 1/4" of stem as your tie in point.  Your tail should begin right where the "fluff" on the feathers ends - and you'll be stripping the remaining fluff away before tying in the tail on top of the hook as a single unit as close to the hook bend as possible - but still on the straight portion of the hook shank.  Once the tail is tied in place add six to twelve strands of Flashabou Accent in pearl along each side of the tail with all strands a bit short of the tail itself so the tail has lots of flash on each side when it's fished... With tail completed add a tiny drop of super glue (Krazy glue - the original thin formula...) onto the threads that hold the tail in place and now you're ready for the body of the fly... Take three of those same wide webby saddle hackles and mate them together -all with the natural curve facing the same way, then take a look at the feather shafts... You'll note that at a certain point the stem of the feathers thickens and you'll cut the butts off of the feathers at that point, leaving as much of the "fluff" on the saddles as possible, that "fluff" will provide a maribou effect at the rear of the body... Now tie all three saddles at once by the butts on top of the hook with the curve of the feathers facing in towards the hook right where the tail ends.   Then as a unit, palmer them forward -wind the three saddles around the hook shank working forward.  Try to keep each turn of hackle close to the preceding turn to form a dense body,  you'll be needing to use a needle to work free any feather fibers that get trapped by each turn of the palmered hackles, as well as stroking each turn of the feathers to the rear with your serving hand to enable you to build a tight, full body... Bring the body feathers all the way forward to the hook eye (wind them right over the center of the lead eyes) then catch the tips with your tying thread a few turns, trim them away and finish out the pattern with a whip-finished head.  Your last step is another tiny drop of super glue on the thread only (be careful of super glue since it will be absorbed by other materials in your fly if you don't use it sparsely...).

 

Hook:  Owner Aki (or other ex-strong very sharp hook...) 1/0 or 2/0 (and I've tied these much larger on occasion - this pattern was the forerunner of the Tarpon Snake - the last of my "basic patterns" for the 'glades...)

Eyes:   Wapsi presentation lead eyes in size small or ex-small

Tail:      six wide, webby strung saddles in bleached white - the package will usually say 4-6" in length

Flash:   Flashabou Accent in pearl

 

We use this pattern in many different colors although it's hard to beat plain white... Although the first photo shows red thread I'm much more commonly using fl. green thread with a white version.   As always the thread is still Danville's flat waxed nylon for all the basic patterns shown here.  The following two photos show some color variations that many shops have requested over the years - and all of them have worked very well - this pattern will take every fish that swims (and from what anglers have reported - that's true any where in the world where the forage are small baitfish..).

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the Swamp Rabbit (my own original pattern)

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Rabbit strip patterns for tarpon have been around for years - this is my own favorite.  Many use a "mono loop" to support the tail of a rabbit strip pattern and prevent the tail from fouling around the hook when in use.  I don't like them at all so mine uses a different strategy with an "under-tail" instead of a mono loop - and it works well for any pattern that uses very soft materials (like the maribou on the Crystal Schminnow...).  With the hook mounted in the vise start the thread just forward of the hook bend and tie in a sparse amount of bucktail (color matching whatever color that rabbit strip is going to be).  You only want the bucktail to extend to the rear of the hook about 1 1/2" and just enough of it to support that rabbit strip... The next step is to add a few strands of pearl Flashabou on top of the bucktail, 5 to 8 strands, kept short with staggered ends and all of the flash just short of the ends of the bucktail... Now take your rabbit strip (with the tag end cut on a 45 degree bias and overall no longer than 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 inches long (long rabbit strips will always cause fouling problems) and tie it in skin side down on top of the bucktail... With tail complete a tiny drop of super glue on the thread will lock it all in place... Next, a second rabbit strip with the front of the strip cut on a bias - like the end of the tail... is tied in place in front of tail, skin side up then wound forward (like you would palmer feathers) to about I/4 inch of the hook eye where a single wide, webby saddle hackle (as noted in the Silhouette) is tied in place then wound forward to complete the pattern with a contrasting colored collar... A generous head is then built up in front of the collar with the tying thread, whip finished and super glued using the plastic glue tube like a paint brush... Once the head is dry you can paint on eyes if you choose of simply leave it as is... I like dark colors for tarpon flies in the Everglades so my favorites are red / black (called Black Death down in the Keys...) or black and purple (the first color is the collar the second the tail on a rabbit strip pattern...), but must admit that many  different color combinations work quite well.  Here's one example - these flies have been super glued and are ready and have eyes painted in place, and are ready for a final finish coat (my preference is FlexCoat , a rodbuilder's finish - note that the wire weedguard stays out of the way until the head is finished... then it's bent down into positiion, trimmed to length and bent into final form...

dyaFbG3.jpg

 

Hook:  Owner Aki or Tiemco 600sp in size 3/0 (or any other double strength super strong hook...

Underwing:  Sparse amount of bucktail to match tail color

Flash:           Flashabou in pearl, four to eight strands, no longer than 1 1/2"

Tail:              dyed black rabbit strip, slightly smaller than 1/4" wide, about 2 1/2" long

Body:            same black rabbit strip, about four inches long (you'll trim away any not                           needed

Collar:           Contrasting color large wide, webby saddle hackle feather palmered                                 forward

 

 

the Tarpon Snake (still drawing royalties on this original pattern)

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This was designed from the first to be a big fly (6 to 7" long) for big tarpon holding deep in rivers in the dark waters of the Everglades.  I actually do it in two different sizes though since a bit smaller fly works much better on medium sized tarpon (40 to 60lbs).  The smaller size is five to six inches long...  It was derived from the Silhouette and the tying sequence is the exact same with a few material changes along the way....   First step are largest size bead chain eyes (the exact size you'll find on the pull cord of vertical blinds...).  They're tied in an eye's width behind the hook eye to start off then the thread is wound down to just forward of the hook bend where you'll tie in a tail of wide webby saddle hackles - four on a side to total eight with the completed tail measuring at least five inches long (those big saddles are sold as "strung dyed saddle 6-7" long - and these days they're not easy to find at all... ).  Once the tail is in place - like the Silhouette you then add Flashabou Accent to each side - but here we're going to use quite a bit of flash... Take 8 to 10 full strands of pearl flash and fold them around the barrel of your bobbin so that one side of the fold is 1 1/2" longer than the other - then slide the folded flash off the bobbin up onto the tying thread and into place along the side of the tail - then repeat on the other side.  What you're doing is making sure the tail has a generous amount of flash on each side in two lengths - but no longer over all than the tail itself... Now, just like the Silhouette, take three or four of those same wide, webby long hackles and palmer, using as much of the "fluff" as possible,  a body forward over the eyes all the way to the eye of the hook where you'll trim away the feather tips and make a few turns of thread before doing a whip finish.. If desired you can vary this pattern with a contrasting color collar to end it instead of using three saddles for the body - only use two, tie them off next to the rear of the eyes, then start a single saddle of a different color in front of the eyes to finish... The variation shown is one we use instead of all black - it's not only for big tarpon but works well on other big hungry species like cobia or big snook - or even offshore...

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Need a big shark fly - do it up in all orange (the exact same color as a life preserver...)

Hook:  Owner Aki or Tiemco 600sp (or other double strength ex- sharp hook) size 4/0 standard, size 2/0 for the smaller version...

Eyes:   largest bead chain

Tail and body:   large wide webby strung saddles 6-7" long

Flash:   Flashabou Accent in pearl

 

Like the Silhouette, the Tarpon Snake has taken fish worldwide (and I've had one angler who had great success in the Seychelles with it, tossing the large version at huge giant trevally while wading along the edges of flats..).

 

I'll stop here, these six patterns are a pretty good start for anyone coming to the 'glades. Remember that places like the Keys, although close by, may prefer entirely different basic patterns in their world...

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I’ll bet you’ve gone thru zillions of feathers!   Do you ever tie tarpon toads or cockroaches?   Noticed you don’t use fibers.  Do you ever splay the tails?  And what knot tie on these from your bite tippets, please Cap’n?

BTW  have you tied for Orvis in KeyWest?

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Tied very few Toads, but fair numbers of Cockroaches... Since I’m an older tier I got my start long before the rise of synthetics.  When I was running as a production tyer I bought my hooks by the thousand per size, my feathers by the pound, my grizzly capes in bulk, etc.  Won’t have photos to show until I get back to my desktop.  Still have too much in the way of materials.  Literally a lifetimes worth remaining... 
 

Never tied for any shops west of Islamorada (or north of Boston...).  And yes... many, many tarpon flies with splayed tails (still drawing royalties on my Big Eye tarpon series, including the Sand Devil...).

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Since most of those photos show what Umpqua did with my designs....  Here's a pic or two of how I did them... First off here's my version of John Emery's classic Cockroach pattern... 

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this version was specifically designed to be snelled in place - the way top guides in the 1980's were doing in Islamorada...  This was back in the era where the only bite tippet available was in mono - and you had to use a "tarpon stretcher" for your set-ups.. With the advent of fluorocarbon leader material those old stretchers (and snelled flies) fell out of fashion... I still have two of them, though - just gathering dust... 

As for tarpon patterns with the tails splayed out - that was always the majority of all the tarpon bugs that shops asked for.  Here's a pic or two of a portion of an order with the flies still on the drying mounts.  I have six of these sticks able to load about 3 dozen per stick after applying FlexCoat - the final finish that needed to rotate for two hours - then left alone for another 24 hours before being package up and delivered... or shipped... 

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For some years now all of my bite tippet to fly connections have been the improved Homer Rhode loop knot.  Don't believe I've seen any books on knots that show the improved version of the Homer Rhode -everyone shows the original version (the one that was later called the Mirrolure knot by the manufacturer of the Mirrolure.).. The improved version brings it up to 85% of line strength - the original was only 75% strength... 

The other most important knot I use quite a bit for connecting lines of different sizes is the Slim Beauty (a knot from Australia originally designed for very heavy lines used in big game fishing on the Great Barrier reef...). The Slim Beauty is both smaller and stronger than any blood knot or other line connecting knot I've ever tried... 

 

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Nice flies Cap! I'm paying more attention to these since we are now seriously considering moving to Florida full time. Only wanted to winter over because I don't care much for stifling heat and humidity but the events of last week in Florida are a breathe of fresh air to me. Now all I have to get over is selling my jet boat and buying a fiberglass something. That's gonna be a tough one. 

Do you do much fishing in the middle of Florida? 

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Not at all I'm afraid - and each part of Florida fishes pretty differently as well.... Go to these two sites for info on central florida (and the east and west sides of the state are different worlds as well..). Microskiff.com (and as the name indicates a world of info on smaller skiffs (16' and smaller...) and that old Floridasportsman.com (it's an ailing site but still does get reports from the areas you're interested in).  Good luck on whatever  you choose and call me any time with questions that come up.  You'll find a world of year 'round fishing here... 

Bob LeMay

(954) 435-5666

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