Dragons tails?

[Guest]

Anybody use these? Started out from a toy and Orvis improved them....Longevity problem?

https://m.orvis.com/product/mangum-s-dragon-tail/2PEH?item_code=2PEH1509&adv=127748&cm_mmc=plas-_-FlyFishing-_-2PEH-_-127748&gclid=CjwKCAiA15vTBRAHEiwA7Snfc8fKZLyGDkGgSvr3y5Gq4mIwm-ICP_aFzx24SPMKoQPvBlor-rRQfRoCsRAQAvD_BwE

 

Saw article in F&S magazine... Miracle Tails

Said they had caught 185# tarpon and they cast better than rabbit strips....

[mvalbano 0]

I actually picked a few colors yesterday mainly because I heard they have been deadly. Im going to experiment and Ill post what I come up with.

 

Mike

[FlatsRoamer 0]

I'm worried about them fouling quite a bit. I do believe they work though, the videos of them moving underwater look enticing.

[Moshup 0]

The Big Eelie !

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WC4-In1a6_k

[Moshup 0]

Fairly durable . You need to hit the tail with a little CA. It has a Mono loop which is roughed up a bit because the dragon and the mono loop are glued together as well with a little CA to prevent fouling. This is a big fish fly.

[mikechell 0]

Advertised as a "New" material.

They look, amazingly, like these toys from MY youth.

 

Squirmles!

 

 

That makes them, definitely, not a "new" material. I think this is another case of "re-purposing".

[FlatsRoamer 0]

Mike, funny you say that. My buddy tied some flies using those squirmy tail toys a couple months before mangums tails came out. He has the dates on his instagram all to prove it.

 

Just a matter of having a good idea then taking it to the next level...

[vicente 0]

Good call Mike, looks like they are 92 cents for a 2 pack on eBay with free shipping.

[Guest]

According to the article in F&S they were first a toy called Squirmles attached to string worked like puppet slithering , etc. Colton Ruidi tied patterns in 2015 and later David Mangum, Fla guide, teamed up with Orvis to make the "tougher tail".....Youse Guys dont get F&T magazine? No wonder..ha. Read article....Nobody said it was new; seems the Orvis stuff might be....Mangum's Dragon Tails, '15 new?

 

BTW the original stuff per article from China almost melts in water....good luck with the Squirmles.

[Fishypieter 0]

Use to buy these from Edgwater Flies for the last 10 years. Sadly the closed down.

Now looking for a new supplier

[Guest]

.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Rabbit strip tails (or any synthetic substitute) come with built in liabilities - particularly as the tail used gets longer.... Mostly that has to do with fouling around the hook bend once you lay one out in the water. Most use mono loops to stabilize the portion of the strip near the hook - but I've never liked that method at all... My solution was to tie in a very sparse amount of bucktail then roll it around the hook shank just forward of the bend so that soft materials like rabbit, (and maribou as well...) have some place to rest on instead of being allowed to drape around the hook - then foul...

 

These new strips do look interesting though - they would allow you tie a fly that directly mimics the action of a plastic worm (another "secret weapon" for tarpon fanatics).

 

Here are a few pics of rabbit strip patterns with the bucktail support tied in under the strip - I've been doing these for a lot of years - and if you keep the bucktail really sparse - you can't even see that it's there without close examination. Like I said - I don't like mono loops...

 

Swamp Rabbits - I do them in five or six different colors

 

More Rabbits - these aren't quite finished so you can see the wire weedguard before it's bent down into position after the head gets FlexCoated

 

this Razor Cut Mullet does show the bucktail under that rabbit strip tail...

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Just took a peek on E-Bay and found that a local shop was selling them - with free shipping - guess I'll have to order a pack or two... They're listed as Mangum's dragon tails... I was also interested to note that one of my long-time suppliers, Cascade Crest was involved in their development....

[Guest]

Capt Bob, quick question....been researching tarpon flies and came across the idea that need not use big hooks for these flies. Something about being able to successfully set the hook effectively with large hooks in the bone mouth with fly tackle. Opinions were use 2/0, 1/0 no bigger and some said use1,2....some even said press the barbs down some to help penetration. What is your take on this? Thanks

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Articles are fun to write -but you're very reliant on whatever the writer's opinion is (at least that's what I thought when actually writing an occasional article..). Here's what I was taught about tarpon flies... The less pressured big tarpon are the less bothered they are by fly or leader size - the more pressured they are - that's when you end up going to longer leaders, lighter bite tippets and smaller flies . Anything, to get that bite...

 

My first procedure when fish turn down my offering is to go to the same pattern but in a smaller version (and hooking power is not the consideration - it's all about getting that bite...). Down in the Keys folks are using leaders as long as 14 feet with bite tippets as light as 40lb and flies in the size range you mentioned - all of it to deal with fish that usually can see you - before you see them... In comparison where I fish in the dark waters of the Everglades I rarely shift much away from an 80lb bite tippet on a leader that's rarely much over nine feet in length.. It all depends on the situation. I use much, much larger flies than most and all of them are rigged on a 4/0 hook. These big flies and hooks are deadly on big fish - but not effective at all on smaller fish (say less than sixty pounds... they still bite but are tough to hook on bigger flies with the bigger hooks). For them I go to the same big pattern - but scaled down in size overall, with only a 2/0 hook. That does the trick every time (and will also hook much bigger fish - if they can see the fly and it's right in front of them). Over a long fight though, smaller hooks don't allow you to pull as hard as you really need to.....

 

I routinely mash down the barbs on all of my flies (mostly in self-defense - I've been to the ER twice over the years to have hooks removed...). Coincidentally I found that hooks with the barbs mashed down actually hook fish better since the hook just slides into place, like it was greased. Setting the hook is actually misleading since the point is already stuck -when you're "setting" the hook you're actually driving it past the barb. Eliminate that barb and you actually have less in the way when burying the hook where it needs to be.

 

Most that have freshwater fly fishing skills are badly handicapped when they make the transition to the salt. No matter how many times they're told that you can't set a hook on a tarpon with your fly rod - most will do just that and fail until they learn to strip strike properly. That's just one more thing that has to be learned by doing - no way around it... I have a drill I put my anglers through that has proven effective though. It consists of having them make a cast then handing me the tip of their rod so that I can control what happens as their line slides through my hand where they can't see it... I then tell them to strip the line as if they were on a big fish and when they least expect it I simply stop the line cold, simulating exactly what happens when a really big fish takes a tarpon fly. You'd be surprised how many aren't even holding onto their line properly (freshwater fish let you get away with a lot of habits that in front of tarpon won't help you at all..). Moving from actually holding onto the line properly they then are taught how to actually strip strike properly and usually it's an eye opener (I compare it to playing tug of war with a big dog holding one end of a towel - and you the other end - but only for that moment needed -to stick a fish so hard that you're in danger of breaking it off on the strike...). We then work through exactly what's needed to allow a hooked fish to clear all of that loose line without tangling it until you're on the reel and the rest of the fight begins. One thing you can count on with tarpon and that's no two fish behave the same when they feel the hook and things can get pretty exciting along the way...

 

As you've already noticed - I do like to write and try to pass on some of what I've learned (or been taught...). Nowadays most magazines can't even afford a single article written by someone not already on their staff. If you have a magazine you like - enjoy it for now since all of them will be gone in a few years time... Wish it weren't so.