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Fly Samurai

Looking for a little action?

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I designed the Femme Fatale for golden dorado in Bolivia but with use in saltwater in mind. It is a topwater/sub-surface pattern that creates quite a large pop on top but can also deliver some wicked sub-surface action as well. This is a large fly at six inches but not all that difficult to cast. Most tyers think lipped flies spin and are extremely hard to cast. I am obviously not a good caster and still manage to throw this pattern 75-90 feet depending on winds, and as you can see in the video it does not spin. As I said I am not a good caster, but I did throw the fly into the weeds on purpose to show its snag resistant quality. Or you might want to watch the video if for no other reason than to hear my nephew play the guitar piece he composed for me to use here. Please forgive the poor "videographic" work, my apprentice/wife is still honing her camera skills. And for those of you wondering how I got Brad Pitt to do the casting, that is not him, it's me. Don't worry it's a common mistake, happens all the time, I'm used to it by now.

 

 

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Thanks for checking it out.

The Fly Samurai

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fantastic looking fly! The action is incredible. What did you use for for the tail?

 

By the way, I have the same problem with people confusing me for Brad Pitt as well, I had no idea so many of us looked like him :flex:

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Nice guitar piece. Good video, and great fly. Plenty of action from that bug. Your doing a fine job of casting there.

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Great looking fly and casting. While it casts once in the air, picking up any diving bug presents challenges and lipped flies are even more challenging. They dive and grab water as you pick up for the back cast and as can be seen in your video, has to be done slowly and for quite a long rod sweep to keep the fly close to the top before breaking the surface for the cast.

Divers are great blind casting flies where you cast out and retrieve to within twenty or thirty feet of the rod tip before picking up and re-casting. You can also do a roll cast your line to the fly on the water causing the line roll to pluck it up from the surface where you can begin your cast, kind of like when you unhook a fly from a log.

Divers especially lipped flies are very bad for sight casting where you often have to pick up your fly on an errant cast or refusal when it is still fifty or sixty feet out and re-cast it to a tracking fish.

I would put your fly in my box for bass fishing in a second and even use it for blind casting the estuary for redfish and speckled trout, awesome tie you have there.

 

Kirk

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fantastic looking fly! The action is incredible. What did you use for for the tail?

 

Looks like a piece of shammie

Nice action indeed

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I've never used or tied a lipped fly... Now I want to :) Saw this earlier today on a different forum and thought it was impressive, at second view, It's even more so!

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Awesome! Very nice fly! Actually, very co-incidental - last night watching World Fishing Network there was a short segment with the guy who designed fly lips, he had a pattern that looked almost exactly the same as this, and said interestingly some of his patterns can have the lip on upside down, it will still wiggle but wiggle 'upwards towards the surface', sounded very interesting for use with a weighted fly such as a shrimp. Think he also talked about how he was initially a spin fisherman and the idea of the fly lips came from chucking rapalas and the fact that his flies now caught a lot more fish because of the action. Great when you are watching tv and a guy appears on at the bench tying flies!

 

I think i may be sold on getting some lips, just have a question - is it much harder to cast as far as wind resistance or does the lip tangle and spin in the air?

 

*oh edit* for some reason i hadn't read Kirk's reply! Too much coffee! Or maybe sitting around all this head cement and sally hansen is taking its toll :rolleyes:

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WOW! That's an awesome looking fly! I really like that wiggle action! Reminds me of an eel! I use a lot of eel flies, LMBass & Stripers both like eels! :thumbup:

 

I also would like to see a recipe for it! :)

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thanks for all of the kind comments. Yes the tail is made of chamois. I dye the chamois and then cut it to shape. I like natural chamois better than ultra-sued as it has more of a "breathable action", for lack of a better term.

 

Kirk, I agree, lipped flies are not for all situations, and as with all fly choices, it is a trade-off. Flies with the lip facing down are definitely not meant to be picked up at great distances, not only is it difficult, it's hard on the lip. However when I'm sight casting to redfish, I don't throw a fly of this size and weight to begin with, as I am sure you are aware, shallow reds are mighty spooky. I do throw a lipped fly for them however, actually several, but the lip is tied in an "up" facing direction. This causes the fly to swim up, actually quite quickly , and then it can easily be picked from the surface. If the water is clear and the reds are searching the bottom I throw my 'Scapin' Shrimp, a realistic pattern that sinks slowly and then swims up off the bottom. If they are super shallow and extremely spooky, I throw my Topwater Seaducer. This fly lands like a whisper and then sinks very slowly and actually suspends. When retrieved it will swim to the surface where I allow it to "sea"-ductively swim along, creating a subtle but distinctive push. I also have the option of popping it on top, causing it to spit along with the pop sound.

 

post-25743-1296230798_thumb.jpg post-25743-1296230839_thumb.jpg post-25743-1296230942_thumb.jpg

The first photo is my 'Scapin' Shrimp, then a "Topwater Seaducer", and finally a photo of a client with a golden dorado taken in Bolivia on a Femme Fatale

 

Flyfishinjam, actually that video is me, I just had no idea it was being shown on TV. A videographer here in Pensacola made that along with a short clip about how to tie the Femme Fatale. He said they have not posted the "how to" part yet. Dang, between my "international" TV exposure and the Brad Pitt confusion, it's going to be tough for me to walk the streets and still avoid the paparazzi!!

 

The closest I can get at present to a "how-to", is a recipe posted on a fly tying contest site. If you want to see if that helps here is a link

http://flytyingcontest.com/2010/10/07/rlp-a-femme-fatale/

 

Sorry to go on, but hope this answers most of your questions. Be glad to help more if I can

Greg Saunders

The Fly Samurai

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Great looking shrimp and I like the seaducer/deceiver looking fly. The reds over here would eat those up.

Fortunately, I do not know about extra spooky redfish. Our redfish are so numerous and widespread that they don't get a lot of fishing pressure. We routinely fish 2 - 6" flies in less than 18" of water and poppers up to 1/0. I know in the gin clear waters of Texas, they consider a #4 popper to be large. Our water is clear but it has the tannic stain that makes the redfish have a really rich deep copper/orange color.

 

Kirk

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Kirk, I have fished Delacroix on occasion, and over here we have a saying, "In Louisiana it ain't fishin', its CATCHIN'!" Our reds are that same dark copper/gold color back in the bayous and on the grass flats but if they are out in the gulf for a while, they lighten up to a pinkish/white. This probably serves as a better camouflage against the white sands. However, I guess soon if they are to remain camouflaged, they are going to have to develop more and bigger spots to blend in with the tar balls that are expected to show up.

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Flyfishinjam, actually that video is me, I just had no idea it was being shown on TV. A videographer here in Pensacola made that along with a short clip about how to tie the Femme Fatale. He said they have not posted the "how to" part yet. Dang, between my "international" TV exposure and the Brad Pitt confusion, it's going to be tough for me to walk the streets and still avoid the paparazzi!!

 

Wow! I thought someone may have seen the same thing and ran off to the bench and tied some up. Even though the segment was short i think you did a really good job, you may be a natural for the tv cameras and in HD too! Certainly effective marketing as i am going to have to get some of these now. Humbled and joyed that we have tv personalities in here! Infact WFN is surprising me these days, have seen movies like chasing silver, bass, a few other things, since the move to HD its been pretty good. Hahaha you will have fishermen saying 'hmm don't i know you from somewhere?'

 

Can't wait to see more, i think that shrimp looks the goods! Most excellent tie.

 

 

 

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