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Fly Tying

DarkAngelEyes84

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About DarkAngelEyes84

  • Rank
    Bait Fisherman

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  • Favorite Species
    Musky
  • Security
    22
  1. Hey All, I am new(ish) to fly fishing, and have decided that I need to take an old obsession (Pike Fishing) and pair it with the new craze. So I picked up some heavy weight rods, some sinking line, and I am trying to get ready to really get after some warm water predators. This is where YOU come in!!! I'm looking for advice on tying up large flys intended for large Esox species (30"+ Pike, 40"+ Musky) I am typically tying on 1/0 to 5/0 hooks and throwing with 9 or 10wt rods I've banged out a couple of flys that I like, but would love to hear some feedback / advice on a few things specifically; • Tips or techniques that others find work well to reduce weight while still providing a large profile • Recommendations on hooks for larger toothy critters • Reliable leader setups that include or integrate wire bite leads • Tricks for casting a 9"+ "Wet Mop" • Anything else that you feel would be good for someone specifically targeting Esox If nothing else, let me see the biggest flys you've tied!!! Tight Lines from the land of 10,000 Lakes! DAE
  2. I started tying just a few weeks ago. I am relatively new to the fly fishing game on the whole, I have about 2 years experience going after panfish and Bass in still water on a 5/6wt, and at the end of last season decided to try my hand at Pike and Musky. Being from Central Minnesota my stream fishing/cold water opportunities are limited, so I put a 9wt and 10wt in my quiver to target the Esox species available to me a bit closer to home (cool side point, my 10wt 'supposedly' came out of Larry Dahlberg's personal collection, but that is another story). This lead me to find out that I am dissatisfied with the Esox flies that I could order offline, both in price point and quality of construction ('googly eyes',are you kidding me?), and I was REALLY unhappy about dropping $12-$30 per fly in my local shops to pick up well made large articulated Esox streamers, especially when my color and material options never seemed to be what I wanted (is it really too much to ask for a red and white pike bunny?). So around the beginning of April, I went into a large 'big-box' sporting goods store and come out with a fly tying starter kit, complete with a vice, tools, hooks, and materials. I brought it home, opened it up, dug through it, and immediately put it back in the box and returned it. On the second go-round I purchased an, only slightly, more expensive vice and tools kit, a handful of materials and an assortment of hooks running from size 8 to 5/0. I sat down my first night at the vice and tied up some barely passable "Flys".... seriously, if you looked at my first few flies you might assume that I either: 1. Had never seen a fly of any type before that night, or 2. Had a severe drinking problem coupled with acute color blindness. These were BAD!!! colors (being targeted at Esox and Panfish) aren't that important, but the proportions and tying were definitely sub-par. Days went by, and many night passed with Netflix running in the background while I cut, tied, trimmed and glued after the kids went to bed. Downtime at work was filled with YouTube videos about tips and techniques. I added materials and methods to my madness, and I am proud to say that I fished this past weekend (MN opener) with a box of flies that exclusively came off of my bench, and only one of them will be going 'under the knife' so I can trash the materials and get the hook back for another attempt. The fishing was terrible, super cold water temps as I was fishing northern MN, and I was only able coax up a single Northern Pike that flashed on my fly when he saw the boat, but the feeling that "My" fly coaxed that beast out from hiding was enough that I will be back on the bench as soon as life allows. If you made it this far, do me a favor.... pray to whatever G/god(s) you worship because if I don't have a successful year fishing on the rods, reels, line, and flies that I have invested in, my wife may try to find out just how good my life insurance coverage actually is. Tight lines! DAE
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