Some New Rabbit Strip Flies for SoCal Surf

[ironmachin 0]

Hey Everyone

 

I've been looking at this forum for a while but haven't had much to contribute. I've just finished my first year of fly fishing and have made some flies that are doing pretty well. Mostly Surfperch so far but I'm hopeful that some other species might find them interesting. I've been wanting to try some larger flies in the surf but, didn't want to miss out of perch bites. These seemed like good candidates for this and so far they are doing well with perch. These are both two hook articulated flies; I thought about removing the bend of the first hook or using the shanks made for these kind of flies. So far the two hooks haven't caused any issues so I'll stick with them for now.

 

Any input positive or negative is appreciated.

 

I caught a nice perch on this one this morning before losing it in some rocks. My hope with the legs was that they might disturb the sand as it moved along the bottom. I'm not sure if they're actually contributing anything to the fly or not.

 

Over the last couple of trips, I've caught a few big perch on this.

[Piker20 0]

Look good. The legs add movement and the fish have told you they like em so stick with it.

[Peterjay 0]

Excellent work! If you're a beginner, I can't wait to see what you come up with five years from now. BTW - regarding the legs: IMO, anything that adds to the action of the fly is usually worth adding as long as it doesn't have some kind of negative impact. In this case, they certainly don't do any harm.

[ironmachin 0]

Thanks for the feedback, fellas. I just bought more rabbit strips and fish skulls to make some flies for tomorrow. I feel like this material is such a great fit for surf flies.

[Panama Red 0]

I really like barred rabbit on the first fly, great color combo. Sweet looking flies. Have you seen the sculpin helmets, would make for some killer patterns around the rocks.

 

Do you have corbina where you fish? Do you use sand flea or crab patterns in the surf?

 

We used to spear fish the kelp beds from Vandenberg AFB down to Santa Barbara and out to the channel islands. Calico and kelp bass, lingcod, sheepshead, rockfish were our most common catch, when we got lucky we would get some big halibut around the islands.

 

Wife and I have been home sick lately (both California natives), post some picks if you get a chance...

[SCOwens 0]

Barred rabbit always adds a little extra, in Charleston we tie a lot of darker patterns from black to olive

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I would say that first one would be great for small mouths here in Michigan