March Flies From the Vise

[Chasing_Tails 0]

I use the dry dropper a lot in saltwater. Gurglers, poppers, divers, boobies, all work well so long as they have enough foam to float the rear fly. What I like best is that it allows me to work the suspending fly slowly, and at a constant depth, along cover without it sinking to the bottom.

There is a downside though, double hook ups. Many times I have had a fish take one of the pair, then during the fight another fish trying to figure out what the first fish got into will target the second fly. If this is happening a lot, or I am targeting larger fish, I will typically change the floating fly over to a hookless attractor (popper usually to get some attention). Even if they come up and take a swing at the floating fly they will usually come back and eat the suspending fly afterwards so long as you don't pull it too far out of the area.

[DOUG STOUT 0]

29 minutes ago, Chasing_Tails said:

I use the dry dropper a lot in saltwater. Gurglers, poppers, divers, boobies, all work well so long as they have enough foam to float the rear fly. What I like best is that it allows me to work the suspending fly slowly, and at a constant depth, along cover without it sinking to the bottom.

There is a downside though, double hook ups. Many times I have had a fish take one of the pair, then during the fight another fish trying to figure out what the first fish got into will target the second fly. If this is happening a lot, or I am targeting larger fish, I will typically change the floating fly over to a hookless attractor (popper usually to get some attention). Even if they come up and take a swing at the floating fly they will usually come back and eat the suspending fly afterwards so long as you don't pull it too far out of the area.

Where do you get the foam?  Is it Chocklett's Loco Foam?  I find no hits with "Wild Foam".  I totally expect to get some double hook-ups of white bass durring a feeding frenzy when the shad are small. SUPER FUN ON A FLY ROD!!!!

[Chasing_Tails 0]

5 minutes ago, DOUG STOUT said:

Where do you get the foam?  Is it Chocklett's Loco Foam?  I find no hits with "Wild Foam".

Pretty much safe stuff. I have had it for a while so it may have been a previous product name.

The use of the prismatic foam isn't really critical though as it is only on the back of the fly and not visible to the fish.

[DOUG STOUT 0]

27 minutes ago, Chasing_Tails said:

Pretty much safe stuff. I have had it for a while so it may have been a previous product name.

The use of the prismatic foam isn't really critical though as it is only on the back of the fly and not visible to the fish.

Yea, but it looks WAY cooler in the flybox. LOL

[Philly 0]

The fly this week for SW club's Zoom tying session was the gurgler.  I kept mine simple.

Hook: Daiiichi 2461 Size 1/0
 
Thread: Ultra Thread 280  Top fly-white, bottom fly-yellow
 
Tail: Top fly- Chartreuse  Blended Ultra Hair, Bottom fly- yellow buck tail
 

Under body:  Top Fly-Clear body wrap, Bottom Fly-Holographic silver Estaz Grande
 
Over body: 4 mm foam.  2 mm white sticky back foam, 2 mm yellow sticky back foam stuck together.
 
 

[Philly 0]

2 hours ago, DOUG STOUT said:

Where do you get the foam?  Is it Chocklett's Loco Foam?  I find no hits with "Wild Foam". 

You can make your own.  What you need is a sheet of 2mm sticky back foam and Art Deco Transfer foil, that is applied to an adhesive surface, not one that is applied by heat.  You can make a lot of flies from and 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of foam.  I use it on a lot of my foam flies.  You can make beetles.

Dragonflies

or poppers.  These are made out of "treated"  2 mm foam sheets.  In order of appearance, Mother of Pearl, Gold,  and Silver art deco foil applied to a white sticky back foam sheet.

I used permanent markers for the colors.  They do look cool in the fly box, but they catch fish.

[Mark Knapp 0]

1 hour ago, Philly said:

You can make your own.  What you need is a sheet of 2mm sticky back foam and Art Deco Transfer foil, that is applied to an adhesive surface, not one that is applied by heat.  You can make a lot of flies from and 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of foam.  I use it on a lot of my foam flies.  You can make beetles.

Dragonflies

or poppers.  These are made out of "treated"  2 mm foam sheets.  In order of appearance, Mother of Pearl, Gold,  and Silver art deco foil applied to a white sticky back foam sheet.

I used permanent markers for the colors.  They do look cool in the fly box, but they catch fish.

Very nice.

[flytire 0]

 

Moy Green

 

 

[WWKimba 0]

A tie from a Macedonia tying couple - Nadia and Igor Stancev.

Bullhead - This married couple have several shared loves including fly fishing, fly tying/design and macro photography.  And they have won awards for both their photography and 43 national, European and international competition awards from 1997->2001.

Hook - 4XL streamer, 2-1/0

Thread - Tan

Tail - matched pair pheasant, quail or partridge feathers

Body - any semi-stiff synthetic body material, trimmed - back half on a tapered round, front half as a tapered triangular wedge

Pectoral Fins - 2 pheasant, quail or partridge feathers

Eyes - 3D

[niveker 0]

29 minutes ago, WWKimba said:

Bullhead

Looks great.  

[SBPatt 0]

X-Spruce Moth

Variation on the X-Caddis; don’t think  moths have shucks but it adds a bit of sparkle to the fly.

hook - WFC Model 3 #12
thread - Veevus 8/0 tan 
shuck/underwing - Congo Hair Shiner Tan
body - Starburst dubbing tan
legs - pheasant rump 
wing/head - pronghorn hair

Regards,
Scott

[flytire 0]

Bo Diddley

[SBPatt 0]

Bullethead Stone (variation)

Found a video here. Not a huge fan of bulletheads any more because of their tendency to blossom after a fish or two but the segmented body makes for a nice effect. In these colors, this could pass as a golden or short-wing, nocturnal stonefly. 
Changed the tying sequence around, spinning the head first; I’ve done enough of these and found, for a neat, proportioned head, mine turn out better when I start with it. Also, if you have any dexterity in your fingers, don’t see a need for a bullethead tool (or having to cut/re-tie in thread - a lot of wasted wraps there).

hook - WFC Model 6 #6
thread - Veevus 8/0 tan 
body - 2mm foam tan 
wing - Congo Hair Shiner Tan
head/collar - deer hair bleached
legs - medium rubber golden stonefly
indicator - 1mm foam orange

Regards,
Scott

[WWKimba 0]

One last tie from Ireland this month!

AC Pearly Bug - Another simple and deadly design from Alice Conba's "Bug" collection.  She also has tied similar patterns for a brown bug (two variations), golden bug, golden pheasant bug, pink bug and red spot bug patterns.

Hook - Fulling Mill 31160,  10-14

Thread - black

Underbody - pearl tinsel (opal used here)

Overbody - - clear Crytalline plastic (clear 10-pound mono used here), tie in just behind the eye of the hook and wrap touching turns to rear of fly, reverse and go to just behind eye of hook trying to taper the overwrap towards the front of the fly

Thorax - peacock glister (peacock ice dub used here)

[gillage 0]

3 hours ago, SBPatt said:

Bullethead Stone (variation)

Found a video here. Not a huge fan of bulletheads any more because of their tendency to blossom after a fish or two but the segmented body makes for a nice effect. In these

 

Scott,

Video link comes back to this page.