Jackpott

Hey guys was recently fishing around an incredible section of river which had a deck built over it. The deck had floodlights onto the water at night and the moths would hover around the lights in their thousands, falling in the water everywhere the light touched the surface. The water was like an aquarium with the catfish, bream, bass and yellowfish species (a fish here in SA that gets bigger and much stronger than trout) sipping the moths in like cookies. The larger moths tht skipped and hopped across the surface were actually chased by bass for ages and great distances before the bass got a chance to actually eat it. I took a few fish but got more refusals than hook ups. Any suggestions on fly patterns or links that i can see? Thanks lads.

have you tried fshing the pattern with epoxy yet? the divers i make have an incredible bubble stream, keep their bright colours, pop louder and look exactly the same as they did when i took them out the vice. You must only coat 3/4 of the bug. The back part you can leave so that it maintains that soft feel when fish mouth it, and also to have an entry point to squeeze some permanent hydrostop fly floatant in there towards the head with a syringe to make it beyond bouyant forever.

Right well the Jury is in about Epoxied Deerhair divers.... I N C R E D I B L E i will never tie another diver again without giving it a layer of epoxy. The fly dived better, it pushed more water, it popped better, it was easy to cast, it floated better---- EVERYTHING! and after a full days fishing, and even when my dropper fly got stuck in its face after a mishap cast, the fly looks...... exactly like it did when it came out the vice. The epoxy also gives it a nice shine and prevents the colour from fading. AWESOME. Just try it. Will post pix of the fly later this evening.

Steve Awesome post! Thanks for the right up and edification! *runs to his vice drooling*

incredible ties.... Please ellaborate on "spin deerhair into a cup" i must know how you tie that, its absolutely brilliant and just what im looking for to make a fly that creates a noise!

Jackpott: Sorry that I grossly misinterpreted your description of what they look like after a few fish. Assuming that I know understand correctly what your problem is, simply steaming them in the steam stream from a tea kettle will make them look like new again! You won't believe your eyes! perchjerker Really? thats awesome!!! thanks for the tip mate, much appreciated! Absolutely nothing to apologise about I have tied a rough prototype (too rough for me to post lol) of a epoxy chartruese diver pattern. I layerd a very thin coat of epoxy over very tightly packed deerhair and....well...it looks GREAT! :bugeyes: I did not put the eyes on properly or trim it quite as well as i should have as it is a prototype. Im going to test it on the water and report back as to: 1. Action 2. Castability 3. Floatation 4. Durability p.s still feels very light and have left the backward part of the deerhair collar free of epoxy, might drop a few drops of hydrostop permament fly floatant in there to seep in to the head from the back.... But i think the epoxy will actually seal in airpockets quite nicely. Was very impressed with the outcome.

Thanks steve!

the bugs are not being destroyed at all, but definately do not resemble what they did when i posted photos of them. They look very similar to the bug that hairstacker posted above after catching fish. In fairness i am fishing for catfish which have tiny little rough teeth on their pallet. Even the plastic eyes have rough scrape marks on them. its just upsetting to see hours of work go to waste after a few fish, they are still most definately fishable but....just not the same Believe me, the hair dont get tighter

You sir are the man! will try this out and report back.

agreed however i would rather have an epoxy fly that starts to crack after 15 fish than a hair fly that starts to rip apart after 4 or 5

Hi gents I was wondering what you guys did to make your bugs more durable. I spend hours tying up flies and they are super hard and packed tightly but as soon as i catch a few fish the deerhair fly is but a shadow of its former self The dahlberg diver patterns etc that i tie i actually fish close to and on the bottom so im not too bothered if the fly is not as bouyant as other bugs but have any of you ever considered putting a thin coat of epoxy over your deerhair divers and poppers, and if you have what can you tell me about it? i epoxy the faces of my deerhair poppers to make them more rigid and i think they look great... Any other ideas to make the flies more durable would be greatly appreciated. Thanks chaps Jack

Thanks bud! I have MUCH better methods of tying incredibly brilliant 100% weedless weedguard techniques that i have learnt from some other guys that i will post up with some of my other patterns so keep posted but to tie these weedguards you do the following: 1. Tie off your fly with whip finish 2. Flip your fly over in the vice 3. Take a 3 inch piece of 80lb fluorocarbon and expose the tip to the BLUE PART of an exposed flame from a match or a lighter. If you expose the fluoro to the orange flame it will fizzle and curl up. Keep the fluoro about as close to the blue part of the flame as possible without actually touching it. The fluoro will burn and "ball up" at the end. As quickly as possible before the heated end of the fluoro dries, push the heated fluoro onto the tied off thread wraps at a 60 degree angle making sure that it is perfectly in line with the hook, the heated ball will then flatten out over the wraps as you apply pressure. 4. Mix some epoxy and apply it over the flattened fluoro tip and all over the thread wraps evenly, this keeps this weedguard there for good. 5. When the epoxy is dry, take your scissors and cut the fluoro weedguard at a slight angle so that the fluoro tapers just to the hook point.

hey dude, tried to find you a link but was unsuccesful. The product is called UV Streamer Brush by- Just Add h20 products.... hope that helps

So you form a loop in the thread, place the material inside it (laying the thread on a flat surface im guessing so that it doesnt fall out) and then twist it to form a brush??? Awesome!

hey man, uncertain of the brand but ill find out for you and post it up here. It sparkles UV purple, irrespective of its actual colour in the light and the actual material makes rabbit fur and marabou look like a brick on the water it moves so incredibly. The key is to pick out the individual fibres after palmering it forward, it is really top notch stuff. Imagine any colour with thousands of little tints of UV sparkle and glitter shining off it as it undulates in the sun.

my word thats an icredible pattern.... awesome brushes can be made with craft fur too.... *starts to ponder* thanks man, going to tie up some killer patterns with ideas from this....

will post some pix up this evening of the patterns i have come up with....

Good idea!

This is most likely NOT the "approved" methd for spinning with EP fiber but it works for me....... also I am not a big fan of EP fiber for the price point reason.... I prefer congo hair. Simply make a ubbing loop, fill it with Ep fiber cut to a little longer than desidred length (so it can be trimmed) then after spinning the loop make sure to pick it out really well. Spin the loop onto the hook keeping the wraps as close together as possible, then pack with a hair stacker. Thus far I have had very good success with this method and because all my friends call me the dubbing loop king (a crown I wear proudly) it's rather simple and quick for me to accomplish. The amout of material you put in the loop is important.... not enough and you get a veil... as of yet I'm not too sure you can put too much into the loop as long as it will twist wthout breaking the thread (UTC 210 or 280 denier is what I use, with favor to the 280). The packing at the end is important to make sure that it's all as tight as possible, if need be you can always add in another small loop to finish filling the hook shank. If you have any more questions feel free to ask as I am always willing to throw out my ideas and thoughts. Steve Steve your a champion, thankyou! You wouldn't believe it but altough i consider myself a pretty masterful flytier i have NEVER used a dubbing loop.... Could you perhaps ellaborate on how to tie one up? Many thanks!

Hey man No i really appreciate the advise, you made me think hard and long about the bead/clicker patterns and i think i have it all figured out. 1. As aforementioned you need one heavy tungsten bead, preferrably a cone and another smaller/lighter bead made preferrably of a lighter metal like copper or so.... 2. You need to use light wire hooks and sparse flies to enhance jigging and see-sawing action of fly as beads slide up and down, as there is less resistance in water. 3. The pattern must be tied as far back as possible on the hook to A. increase the distance the bead swings for greater clicking/thumping vibration and B. For more leverage-as the bead slides up and down the hook shank it has a greater lever arm and thus greater impact on jigging motion of fly. 4. Flies must be fished suspended behind a more bouyant pattern, or more appropriately a popper of sorts, so that fly travels more in an up and down motion when stripped and thus jigging more. 5. Flies must be fished on a floating line to enhance up and down motion and light leader, so that the least amount of motion is impaired and finally one can add a piece of split shot, or better yet a free sliding bead on the leader to once again eccentuate the jigging of the fly. 6. The fly must be stripped in sharp, jerky, short strips so that as the tungsten bead plummets the fly downwards, it is yanked upwards again through the water colum where the tungsten bead will be forced back against the other smaller/lighter bead. Im pretty certain, that these flies will click using the aforementioned techniques or all of them at once. As Robert M pointed out sound travels much better underwater and if one clicks the fly by shaking it backward and forward you can feel a noticeable 'thumping' vibration that comes through the pattern when the beads click (especially with the big patterns and beads im using), so even if inaudible underwater, im certain that fish species can pick up the 'thump' of the beads with their lateral line. thanks for spurring the investigation!

Hey man! The bead clicker patterns i tie have two lose beads on them, in between the finished varnished head of the fly and the hook eye. I put either a tungsten bead or a much larger bead closer to the hook eye and a smaller bead closer to the varnished head. Thanks to the tungsten or heavier bead the fly does dip and see-saw in the water, which im HOPING does make beads click when either the heavier bead pulls the fly down and hits the eye or smacks the smaller bead tpward the fly with a sharp retrieve.

i find the scent comes off almost immediately in the water irrespective off how absorbant my flies material is.... can you recommed any good ones?

You guys are great! thanks to all! Im going to give all of these some serious thought, some brilliant ideas here. Tried spinning with EP fibre before...was ugly...can anyone give me some suggestions?

Hi gents I am tying flies for catfish, which here in South Africa, can be verocious predators and get ridiculously large. Generally the rule of thumb is that you need to tie big, dark flies that push a lot of water as the catfish has very poor eyesight (exacerbated by the very dark muddy water they inhabit) and rely on their lateral line and whiskers to detect their prey. The flies we generally use have stiff hackles or bulky muddler like deerhair heads and rattles of sorts to attract the fish or illicit a strike when your fly passes by the fishes head, on or near the bottom of the water. If you guys had to come up with patterns that move water big time or vibrate, snap, crackle and pop could you recommend techniques etc that i could incorporate to get my fly to make more noise under the surface to attract the cats? I have just tied up some of those "clicker" flies with the lose beads and im certain they will be great, have also tied patterns that have lose beads on the weedguards to rattle etc. Have also not come across propellors in SA, could you perhaps post a link of where i could purchase these, or get pictures of them so that i can get my local fly shop to order. Many thanks

hey man! remember to cut in pockets for the eyes, then use epoxy. This helps add rigidity to the fly and makes it more durable as the epoxy spreads a bit at the base of the fibres. Gamakatsu b10s are excellent hooks and the owner worm bend hooks are great (but you have to debarb the shank) and are my personal favourite. The best things to use for tails are: Rabbit strips- be sure to place a mono loop or tough fure under to prevent it from wrapping around the hook shank. Bucktail Crystal flash only (this is what Larry Dahlberg used originally) hope that helps