Kirk Dietrich

Good looking flies AGN! Have to say I was a little dissappointed though, by the title, I was looking forward to some pics of you with some gnarly sheepshead caught pictures...

FLA, look in the first pic. There is a set of "V" mono legs coming up from the hook eye.

Good looking fly! If you miss any hooksets, you might try trimming down the length of the weedguard. That style weedguard is effective but if the length of the "legs" of the guard are to long, they can become fish guards as well. Nice tie.

Paper catalogs with a stack of Post-It pads sitting on the thrown has seen a lot of my dollars go by. Although, some sites like Orvis allow your items to stay in the basket for 30 days and I do like the "wish" lists on Amazon and Ebay to keep track of something I just have to have one day even though I may go to a paper catalog or online fly shop to order. Paper for sure though. That is a good question Norm.

Tim, that is one of my favorite colors, but I didn't have enough blank heads to do that, was trying to stay traditional to send these to Lefty and just threw in a blue as that has come up alongside chart/mottled back as one of my top choices, especially during summer when we have the big blue dragon flies. Thanks for the input, now I have to make another batch!

The saying down south here is any color as long as it is Chartreuse. That being said, my favorite is blue over white, if I had only one.

Bass and the little blue one I throw with a 4 or 5wt for bream but down here in south Louisiana, bass will eat that size six as well.

Yeah Mike, legs or no legs is always what I wonder when fishing. Ditz, thanks. I believe Lefty created that bug for SMB but told me he has since used it for many other species including offshore. Yes, the face is slanted just like I show in the red background photos. However, he doesn't cup the face. I decided to cup the face but ground down the bottom lip of the cup so it is still a flat slant face on mine, just pushed back into the slight cup. Always did like the simplicity of the Tap's bug too. Kirk

Feathers, it sure is. Allows your woodworking side get a fix without having to pull out the table saw...haha.

Some old style bugs I worked on this past week. Sometimes simple is best, at least according to Lefty. Here are some Lefty Poppers I did with a couple little harmless tweaks. The center top is tied by Lefty that he gave me last year. The other three I did and decided to cup the face but to keep it to his design of having a flat face for easy pick up, I removed the lip at the bottom of the cup so the face is still flat and angled just moved a little farther back giving a lip around the sides and top of the cup to catch some air/water for hopefully a easier pop. Also, I rounded off the edges of the bottle stopper for better top coat coverage. Can't wait to fish them. Common cork bottle stopper used to make his bug.

Don't know about smallmouth but when I use a dropper from a popper or slider, I like using something like a soft hackle or unweighted streamers like a wooly buggar or lightly weighted bucktails or Clouser type flies. I don't like using something that will pull the popper down. Usually I use 18 - 24" dropper in fishing stillwater - haven't tried that combo in moving water, could be different.

Den, I use ISOPON Aluminum Mesh for fish scales. Got it on Ebay out of the U.K. A lot of guys do use the fabric store netting though. Check out some of the lure making guys airbrush work, there are some amazing artists out there. Kirk

Haha Mikechell... Flysmallie, I use a base coat of Gesso and then an acrylic pearlescent. Could be the epoxy. I'm cool with hair and air brushing acrylics. Thanks for the input.

Fly, true about the inks. However, in my experience with these inks, they are fading without exposure to neither natural or unnatural light; that is why I was wondering if it was the pearlescent undercoating. I'm not going to experiment with different combinations for light colors, I have light colored bugs I painted twenty years ago that still have their color; I'll just use the Copic inks for the dark colors and red, which seems to hold up good.

That would work.

Just hand paint your base of yellow or chart and use the Copic for the darker back. Now, I haven't tested the fade resistance of yellow and chart ink on foam, it may last longer.

Thanks fshrmans. BCT, yes, they were coated with 30 minute cure epoxy. Also, the bodies had an undercoat of metallic irredescent white. Not sure if the undercoating helped speed up the fading or the epoxy top coat. The dark colors I've used such as olive, dark brown, dark blue and black have retained their original pigment over the last year or so. The fly on the left used to look like the one on the right; still very fishy/fishable just not the color I originally intended.

Thanks Ron. That is what I was told when I contacted Copic about my experience. Thing is the Chart and Lemon/Sun Yellow faded in a matter of months just sitting in a fly box on a shelf under my tying desk. Not sun or light exposure.

Fla, I've done them down to size #10. This is the basic idea except done with foam and no dimple. This is a size #8 or #10, great bream bug - with tail of course. Usually just a simple squirrel tail hair tail or tuft of rabbit hair and a little hackle or cactus chenille skirt trimmed flat on the bottom of course.

Hey Fla, Both of those diver heads are on a Mustad 33903 size #2. Don't have a tutorial on those on-line. The one with the dimple in the sloped face is a Walt Holman design. It is his simple diver named because it is a balsa plug of appriate diameter for your hook. It is then cut in half on a pretty flat angle as illustrated, slotted and glued to hook. Then if you choose, put that dimple near the top of the sloped face to catch some air to make a few bubbles - not really a pop but a little noise. The other is basically a tapered popper head - I just happened to make mine out of bottle stopper but I've used WAPSI popper heads too. After glued to hook like a Sneaky Pete, I just use my sanding drum bit for my rotary tool and scoop the top of the tapered slider off to make the sloped face. Not sure if it is noticeable in the pictures but I always trim the skirt material from the bottom of the hook to help them dive better - makes a big difference. Kirk

Decided to break out the Paasche airbrush after having my light colored Copic colored bugs fade. Figured to do some fresh "poppers" for the warmer weather that should be right around the corner. I've come to like Fire Tiger coloration as you might notice but played with some different tail/skirt configurations. Really like the fox fur. Some Comal floats tied on Mustad 34007, size #1 for bass and redfish. The other half of the floats tied on Gaelic Supreme hump shank hooks from Herter's, size #4. Some Walt Holman simple divers I made from balsa plugs. Some of my divers made from cork bottle stoppers; this design has been working for me since I first started making it back in 1988.

While applying a bead of CA to my tying thread, the tip of the superglue bottle caught on the thread and "twanged" it like a bow string causing the CA on the thread to fling into my eye - dried on my eye and scratched it - had to wear eye patch for three days!

Oh hell Norm, that is funny!

Holy Cow Norm! I'm impressed! Looks like a fly shop you have there. I would love to see the contents of some of those old drawer units in the last pic. Kirk

For bream bugs it is hard to beat the old U.S. commercial bugs sold by Accardo and Gaines. A few pieces of Rayon floss teased out with few strands of rubber legs tied on top. Super easy and the fish approve.