McFlyLures

Sounds good. Yeah, I wish they came in something smaller than a 2 also. I just looked it up and they look great. I will order some. I have a fly I use a size 6 hook on though (not the one above). And it needs to be jigged. However it also has to be stout and good for saltwater. Hard to find hooks like that. I bend my own to get the jig part.

Ok thanks!

Chasing, nice work! Looks great! Mine obviously is more simple. I like your take on this fly. And yeah gamakatsu makes a great hook, my fear is in saltwater, would those bend on redfish? Like how stout are they? I have trouble finding eagle claws where I live for some reason. Any online sources you recommend?

Yeah, I agree. Its hard to find saltwater hooks with a 90 degree or 60 degree shank. Any recommendations on saltwater hooks like that?

This fly I created because of a request from a Customer of mine who was buying my hand tied flies. He said he wanted something like a clouser minnow, but one that was colored like a finger mullet. Now, finger mullet are big headed fish, and Clouser Minnows are thin, dainty little flies. So I set out to create a water pushing pattern, that also swam hook point up and jigged slightly like the Clouser Minnow, but could more closely represent a Mullet. And this was the final creation. After tying this, I realized this could be a good pattern to represent a number of different baitfish. Specifically Sculpin in the fresh water with their fat front bodies, I probably would shorten up the tail a bit more though for mimicking them. And even shad, if the body is cut correctly to be more narrow and tall it could very much represent them.

Yeah for sure, I know some people who fish smaller ones for fresh warm water species also.

Kwan flys are a loose representation of a cross between a shrimp and a crab. They work great for saltwater fish that target Crustaceans. Fish like redfish, speckled trout, permit, bonefish and more. They are fairly easy to tie, except for the body. However once you get the technique down of doing the x-wraps and tying tightly, it becomes fairly easy and quick to do. Granted I dont think anyone can bust out 20 per hour, but ive been known to tie 10+ in an hour. Now this one specifically I tied is a slight variation of the original. I use hackle, a chickabou feather and legs to accent it. There have been so many different variations of this pattern in the past that honestly I dont know exactly what the original is. However this is the style I go with, and find works best.

Thank you! Yeah they can be tough when you get down small. Use the super glue trick as that can help. I have tied down to 22, and that helps for sure!

Nice man! Glad it helped. I hope it was clear enough instructions. Im sure you will do great!

For sure! My buddy worked in food service for years, at a high end restaurant. Like the type of restaurant that people drop $1000+ at. He said that you better be super nice to your waiter or restaurant staff, or you probably will get things in your food you just shouldn't be eating. LOL.

The Adams fly is probably the most popular dry flies ever created, and the Parachute version of it isn't any different. Parachute flies lay differently on top of the water, and with the right conditions and time of hatch they can work even better than standard catskill style dries. However obviously there are certain times the catskill style can work better as well. So its always recommended having a few of each style in your boxes. These flies can be tied down to as small, or up to as large as you want. I generally tie them in sizes 10-24 myself, but ive seen people tie them larger and even smaller. They are fairly easy to tie, especially when using a cree hackle. But if you don't have cree, then you can use a brown hackle with a grizzly to give the same effect. Just it takes a bit more work to use two hackles.

HAHA, sorry! I hope I didnt turn you into a vegetarian?? HAHA. Well I guess even veggies can have things in them you wouldn't expect. Ok I should stop before you decide to go on a hunger strike.

Yes they are very often present. I know it grosses out many people but how things are I guess. Believe me, even foods you get in the grocery store can have some weird stuff in them that are worse than non harmful worms…. Lol

Sounds gross I know. It does happen though. Just about every fish in the salt can have them if they are bottom feeders. Flounder/halibut, drum, red snapper, and I’ve even found some in a few speckled trout before. I am sure if you have ordered fish before at a restaurant you most likely have eaten them as well. They don’t harm humans and as long as the fish is cooked well there is absolutely no chance of it harming you. The reason why sushi usually is with fish like tuna is because they are always in the open water with less chance of parasites.

The couple days before I had caught one Redfish in the slot size, and I hooked up to one undersized, and so did Johnny. However today was on fire! The reds were stirring like crazy! They were large, and willing to eat my flies. Fly fishing for reds is usually difficult, but it seemed easy today. Plus, I caught the largest red Ive ever caught on the fly rod, the biggest was pushing 27". Unfortunately Johnny didnt get one today, but I had 3 in the slot size, so I gave him one of mine before I left back home. Redfish is one of my favorite eating fish in the gulf where I fish, well 2nd to flounder. And I already ate one of them. Used blackening seasoning and it was amazing! Just watch out for the worms, because the larger sized reds will get worms in them. I did find one worm in my filet, but it was cooked through quite well so im not too worried about it. These worms actually dont harm humans from what im told.

Good thoughts, I like it.

Yeah it would be nice to have a kayak, however that costs some money that I just dont have. Also, my buddy has kayaks, but he never brings them out because he says they are a pain to deal with. Oh well. Ive tried the Yak thing before, but I never had tons of luck. I think it would be good to get to location, then get out and wade. Tough for me to fish out of one for some reason.

Oh sorry to hear you got skunked. Man I think I could get you on some fish Upstate! Let me know when your gonna be down and maybe we can meet up.

Thanks, give it a try it should work for ya. In fall 2022 they will be available at many fly shops.

This is a crayfish fly I created to fish in South Texas. Here the bass love crayfish, especially small crawfish. But they work great for a number of species here like Rio Cichlids, sunfish, bluegill, and more. I also have had great luck fishing for trout in both lakes and streams. In fact I caught a number of rainbow trout and brown trout up in Utah with this fly, along with a 2lb bass. I also sell flies, and have sold this to a number of my customers around the United States. Ive had reports from my customers that this fly works great everywhere they fish it. Of course its limited to water systems with crawdads in them. From Trout, to Bass, and even a few reports of some saltwater fish taking this fly. I guess in those instances it mimicked a shrimp. I do find a long shank, heavy wire, jig hook is hard to find. However there are a few out there. You do not have to use the fire hole sticks hooks I used here, however they are great hooks. They are barbless though, and if you want a barb, I know a few manufacturers make barbed jig hooks with longer shanks. The materials in general are able to be swapped out as well. For instance the Swiss straw, it can be swapped out for mylar, bug back, and anything else you want. But I find Swiss straw has some properties I really like for the fly.

nice they look good Rick

For sure Rick, it was a blast.

Another day, and a couple more reds! After years of heading down to corpus with horrible luck, finally I think I have figured out these reds. The last 3 trips Ive caught redfish, and this trip was one of the best Ive ever had. The weather was horrible, with rain, heavy wind, and the cold made me wish I was at home by a fire. However, all of that was worth it because the redfish were on fire! Now I went down, and fished 3 separate days. This video is on the first two days fishing. I fished alone the first day, and was able to fish with Johnny for a few hours on the 2nd day. The wind was very bad though on the 2nd day, which made it difficult to land any reds. However Johnny was able to get one the 2nd day, but it was just shy of the slot size. I got a 17-18" the first day, however I also was able to get a slot sized red that was 24". In Texas, the redfish have to be between 20-28" to keep. And you can keep up to 3 per day. This spot that we stumbled across a few months back is one of the best redfish spots ive ever fished! Its a flats area, that takes a while to walk to. In fact its about a 2 mile walk, though tall grass and mud. But the walk is worth it! The reds are everywhere, and generally you can see them chasing bait in the water. They are actively feeding in this area so they readily take flies if presented properly. The best part of it, is that the walk deters other fisherman from coming to that spot, and therefor we have the whole flats area to ourselves. I have never seen anyone back there, or even seen foot prints (except for hogs, deer and crane). Pristine fishing, that I am very happy we found.

This red annelid fly has worked wonders for me on the San Juan River and other western tailwaters. I created it to be a slightly more flashy version of the texas midge which is a quite effective pattern there. However I did not want it too flashy like the prices nymph as that can occasionally scare off the bigger fish. This fly has caught me more large rainbow on the San Juan River than any other fly Ive ever used. The best part about this pattern is its quick and easy to tie. Once you get the hang of tying these, you can fill a fly box in an hour or two. I usually would fish this as my point fly, and drop a black beauty (non beaded zebra midge) off the back as my lead fly. More often than not, the fish would eat the red annelid and not even touch the zebra midge. Usually this is not the case, attractor patterns used as a point fly dont always get the fish to take it, just bring them up to inspect, then they eat the less flashy lead fly. But with this pattern, they almost always ate it, rather than the zebra. Just amazing action on this fly!

This rather simple and easy to tie nymph works great as imitating stonefly nymphs, dragonfly or damselfly nymphs and as an all around attractor pattern. Great for nymphing for trout, or even fishing for sunfish and bluegill. I have even caught a few Rio Cichlids on this fly. I used a dubbing I got from tying the Rio Bandito fly I put on video last week. The material used on that fly produces so much Aussie possum dubbing I had to figure out a good way to use it. And this fly works perfectly for that. Waste not want not right? So check out that fly video from last week here.. https://youtu.be/1_yGn2T5vXU