Chefben4

Tarpon flies..

Diggin the bottom one! Does that have keel weight or anything?

hahahahhahaha i love this thread

Hmm.. Im going to duplicate this!! Nice fly dave

Bahahhahahaha. These poor unsuspecting posters have no idea what they are in for when they come over to the darkside aka the salty doldrums of the fly tying forum.

No problem bro, it comes complete with a half assed broken down, smelly old bastard to provide proper rigging and casting instructions. I also have acquired some "special hops" from Colorado for a special beer brew. I havent acquired any of the special colorado hop strains yet, but I have several pounds of my un-special brewing hops!

PJ ties all of his in this fashion because his "street walking" gig in a tutu isnt paying out and he needs to save money! Thread officially hi-jacked!!

If you recall PJ, I snapped this photo of Mikechell last year. It seems as if he has sold his "fish story" more times then once.

Man Ive been looking for a spool of this!! It'll make my flies so much better!! In all seriousness, I think there are quite a few classic tyers out there that like to use actual vintage material. Pretty cool if you have disposable income.

Thanks Bill! Id like to claim the "style" as my own but regretfully it, like many other techniques, has been done before. WIth that being said, itd be great to see renditions of it! I thought of making some smaller for bones and permit. Maybe even trying out some other dyed feathers for different colors! But there is something to be said about the natural colors too!

That fly wont work. Send it to me, Ill use it next month.

Thanks Bassmouth! You wont offend me if you post up pictures of your variations!! In fact, Id like to see them. On my Step by Step I used pretty heavy eyes and it seemed to ride the correct way. Also has a bit of a wobble. Probably depends on the hook, water movement, and every other unknown factor. As far a the claws.. I like the coated feathers for durability. I wish the stems were more "supple" so they would move, but the fact they look like claws may be the trigger point for the fish. Im not a huge rabbit fan in flies but I may mess around with the pattern a bit more.

Here you go dude. Let me know if you have any questions. http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=76728

Just posted a SBS for the pheasant crab I tied the other day. In some references Ive seen it called the Crabapple. Enjoy! http://wishinyouwerefishin.blogspot.com/2014/01/pheasant-crab-sbs-crabapple-crab.html

Im in, you know that. First chance of actually catching one for me will be the end of February

PJ is correct. Tarpon flies used to be snelled. The "look" has carried over although most don't snell them any longer.

Bassmouth, Ill try doing a SBS this weekend. Probably easier then trying to explain. Its a fairly easy fly and should work for a lot of species.

This is really cool!! Thanks Paul!

Jam' dont worry Im a still in my 20's and can hold my own most nights lol. Dave, Thanks for the kind words my friend. We are own harshest critic so I generally tell people my skills are marginal at best lol. I can definitely still brew the foamy stuff. Hopefully going to do a winter batch here shortly. The eyes are regular eyes. I do have a pack of those tab eyes, havent tried them yet though!!

Dont message TuTu's around here you will get PJ all excited. This is from last year..PJ made himself a TuTu with his left over material!

I use www.aofeathers.com for most of mine. Aaron will take care of you.

Ill be down in Estero fishing a few different areas. Mostly Pine Island Sound as well as some places further south. What PJ has done is deff irreparable. Its mostly down hill from here. The baitfish was actually a real easy tie. Its basically a deciever pattern. I tied up one that was white and gray yesterday. The eyes are Deer Creek Gator Eyez! The shrimp pattern is one of my "own" patterns.. Ive been tying it for sometime. There is a SBS for it on www.frankenfly.com. I called it a franken shrimp. In any case, it is a finn raccoon tail and schlappen body. They kick a$$ in all colors. Saltwater or freshwater. Those are some pretty flies ... and they should catch lots of large mouth bass or carp. But I am still looking for the salt water. You said you can tie salt water ... this I gotta see !!! Its MAGIC!! I cannot give out all my secrets.

You know what they say.. keep your friends close and your enemies closer. The govt prob thinks its safer they know where you are haha It is! It happens to me every trip. Its part of being an obsessed tyer too. Every year I go on multiple trips and it seems the flies I tied the previous years just arent good enough anymore! So they go in the bin of unwanted flies until they get the razor.

I never use beadalon for Musky or Pike, Ive had them bite through it one too many times. I only use 90 lb surflon wire. Some may think its excessive..but when you lose a 50" musky because of biting through wire you tend to change things up a bit.