Jump to content
Fly Tying
Sign in to follow this  
salmobytes

Riffle Darts -- a how-to-do-it slide show

Recommended Posts

I may have to give that a try, again. I did something similar to that in foam several years ago. Based it on a lure called the Flatfish or maybe it was the Canadian Wiggler. Problem was that it needed to be fished in a fast current to get it to dive and wiggle and half the time it wouldn't dive or just twisted in the current. Did catch a few smallies and pan fish on it when it did work. I think I didn't have enough weight in the front to get it to dig into the water.

 

post-309-0-64801800-1543590339_thumb.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's important to balance buoyancy at the rear with weight underneath. All crankbaits are made that way. The opposing forces of weight below the bill fighting against buoyancy higher up and behind help to keep the flure from flipping over. I do use a barrel swivel 12" inches up the leader. I live in cold water country in Montana. I wish I didn't have to travel so far to fish for Smallmouth Bass.

 

Wigglers are special purpose flures. But they are deadly. The wiggler in the following vid is a good diver--scraping the bottom of the bathtub in 3" inches of water.

 

https://montana-riverboats.com/?robopage=Flies/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Wigglers/wiggler-vid.htm

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That does have nice action, Salmobytes. I'm assuming that you used double sided carpet tape. It looks like the stuff I have. How did you attach the hook? My initial instinct would be to poke it through the foam lip.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Double sided carpet tape? No not sure what that is or how I would use it.

 

I use closed-cell buoyant foam snipped to shape with a diving bill glued to the foam with CA glue. Small diving bills come from a Costco tomato container. Bigger diving bills come from soaking a small rectangular patch of fiberglass fabric with thin 20 minute epoxy or ZapAGap.

 

I glue feathers to the foam with fabric cement. Or sew fronds of fuzz using a wide-eyed sewing needle.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes that my pattern. I've been at this a long time. There was a May 1986 article in Fly Fisherman called Flies or Lures written by John Gierach that featured my flures along with others by AK Best and John Betts and maybe one or two others. None of us knew each other way back then. So we came up with what we did in a vacuum, on our own, not in any way influenced by the others in that group.

 

I used to work hard at publishing in the magazines. I've had a good 20 publications in glossy fly fishing magazines over the years, mostly back in the 1980s. I never did succeed in getting any wiggler articles published. Well that's not true. I did have a early-to-mid-1980s wiggler piece in Salmon Trout Steelheader. Does that magazine still exist? They targeted a more not-so-purist crowd.

 

The easiest way to get a fly tying article published in a glossy fly fishing magazine used to be by making it all about Mayflies. I'm not sure that's still the case but it used to be. At least if it was about a cold water context. Anything goes in the big Salt. Even then. But if it was trout fishing it had to be done in certain hermetically sealed ways.

 

Wigglers tend to make magazine editors nervous. One such editor told me "I'm afraid the readers would rebel," when he summarily rejected my wiggler article. It's not clear why but they get nervous but they do. Actually it is clear why. Wigglers remind people of spin fishing and spin fishing is on the other side of the fly fishing culture wars. It's all about tribal loyalty. I just like to fish. I like hand line fishing too. And tickling. I have tickled quite a few trout over the years. I've never tried catfish noodling but I'd like to.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great looking flies and action; lives up to it's name.

A few months ago I tried to do this using angled foam to no avail.

I will have to experiment with this concept.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...